Storm Lake Council upholds removal of Rottweiler after bite injury to boy

Storm Lake leaders kept a Rottweiler named Chucky out of the city after a bite that left a 13-year-old boy with puncture wounds to his leg and hand, voting 4-1 to uphold a removal order City Manager Keri Navratil issued March 2.

The council’s decision followed a special hearing that drew testimony from the dog’s owner, Laurie Maldonado, the boy’s family and Storm Lake police officers who responded to the scene in the alley between Hudson and Superior streets. The bite happened Feb. 28, and police said the boy was taken to Buena Vista Regional Medical Center after suffering injuries to his leg and hand.

City officials said the dog was one year overdue on its rabies vaccination and did not have a valid city license, violations that added to the public-safety concerns already before the council. Under Storm Lake’s ordinance, a vicious animal is one that causes a serious injury, and the code defines serious injury as any bite that breaks the skin. That standard gave the council little room once the puncture wounds were documented.

During the hearing, Maldonado argued that the dogs had gotten out accidentally when a 3-year-old nephew opened the door. She also disputed whether Chucky was the dog that bit the boy, saying a second dog, her sister’s pit bull named Mini, had shown aggression before and was later euthanized after the incident.

The boy’s mother, Martha Esmeralda Cruz Barragan, responded through a translator and pushed back on claims that the animals were usually supervised. Lt. Matt Younie described the scene in the alley, and Officer Oscar Garcia told the council the boy was too shaken to identify which dog had bitten him. That uncertainty did not sway the outcome. After the hearing closed, the council moved quickly into deliberation and approved the removal order, with Councilmember Maria Ramos casting the lone no vote.

The ruling leaves Chucky permanently barred from Storm Lake city limits and shows how aggressively the city is now enforcing its animal code when a bite leaves visible injury. Storm Lake updated its animal ordinances in 2024, requiring dog and cat owners to apply for a license within six months of owning a pet or moving to town and to renew it each year by Jan. 1, with proof of current vaccinations. The city also used its vicious-animal code in another dog-bite case in June 2025, signaling that this was not an isolated action but part of a firmer approach to dangerous-animal disputes in Buena Vista County’s largest city.