The DeKalb County Animal Control office, aided by the University Police, caught a stray dog last week which had been loose on campus for two years and had bitten four people.

University Police Lt. Ken Kaiser said he received a report Nov. 22 of an individual being bitten on the left leg by a dark gray female German Shepherd. He said the incident happened near the south end of Gabel Hall and that the dog ran to the west and out of sight. A subsequent police search of the area was unsuccessful.

Kaiser said he received another report about the same dog the next morning. He said the dog tried to bite a child outside the Child Development Laboratory of the Human and Family Resources Department at Gabel Hall.

Kaiser said the dog then ran under a nearby storage building, which the university grounds department attempted to raise. The dog was able to run away, but the grounds workers discovered six puppies beneath the building, he said.

Kaiser said University Police followed the dog around campus until 3 p.m. trying to catch it. He said the dog bit three more people during the chase.

The Animal Control Division of the DeKalb County Health Center continued the chase at 3 p.m., Kaiser said. He said Animal Control was able to catch the dog in a cage, using one of the puppies as a lure at about 6 p.m.

Animal Control office Director Mac McGee said the dog was confined at the Malta Veterinary Center. He said state law requires that stray dogs involved in bitings be left with a licensed veterinarian.

He said the dog, which is three to four years old, is not rabid and “is actually quite healthy.” Five of the puppies had to be put to sleep, but one has been left with its mother, McGee said.

“The dog is calm with her pup, but she snarls and growls and acts like she may be still on the vicious side,” he said. He said two of the bite reports indicated the dog had bitten because people were trying to play with her puppies.

McGee said Animal Control had been trying to catch the dog for two years. “She was once owned by three female students who lived in the High Terrace area,” he said. “They abandoned her when they graduated in May two years ago. Since then, the dog has had a regular route of restaurants” and other places to go for food.

The dog had been running around the north end of campus for a while with a dog owned by a fraternity member, McGee said. He said this is probably when the dog became pregnant.

e said the dog will have to be sent to Chicago to be put to sleep this afternoon if no one calls to claim it.

There are many stray animals on campus near residence halls and restaurants, Kaiser said. He said these places guarantee handouts and garbage for the animals to live on. However, there usually are not many problems with strays. “This is the first biting we’ve had in a long time, but there were extenuating circumstances with the puppies.”