The Middleton City Council on Tuesday voted to recommend that a 130-pound bull mastiff be euthanized after it mauled a dog one-tenth its size in a city dog park last week, causing injuries that led to its death.

The unanimous decision now goes to the Dane County Circuit Court, which will decide whether the dog will be put down.

After the vote, the dog's owner, Gary Lohrke — who didn't speak during the public comment part of the meeting — angrily told the council, "We'll see you in court."

The vote came after more than an hour of public comment, mostly from people who wanted to see the dog, named Igor, euthanized or at least taken from its owner and given a chance to be retrained. Many of them wore buttons with a photo of Lily, the 13-pound Bedlington terrier mauled by Igor at the Middleton Dog Park on Aug. 12, and the words "save our dogs."

"There are no circumstances under which Igor can become a safe member of our community," Michael Hobbs told the council. Hobbs, who lives in Madison, said he regularly takes his dog to the Middleton park.

The attack was the not the first time Igor had been aggressive toward other animals or people.

City Attorney Matt Fleming said the dog has been a problem going back two years, including an Aug. 13, 2006, attack on a woman who was walking past the dog's home, and an attack on another dog in March 2007.

That woman, Michele Ouelette, was at the meeting Tuesday and told the council Lohrke showed little regard for her well-being after the dog bit her repeatedly, leaving her with what Fleming said were puncture wounds on both legs.

"I don't remember Lohrke ever coming to get his dog," she said. "I seriously thought that this dog was going to kill me."

Igor had his defenders, however.

Marilyn Schuetz, who lives downstairs from Lohrke and the dog, said Igor has always interacted well with her two smaller dogs. She called the mastiff "very, very well-trained, I would say."

Before the council voted, Lohrke's attorney, Frank Medina, who said he had only been retained that night, asked the aldermen to delay their vote for a couple of weeks so he and his client could review how Police Chief Brad Keil came to the decision to recommend to the council that Igor be put down.

"All Mr. Lohrke is asking — and all Igor would be asking if he could talk — is a fair chance to be heard," he said.

Two women who were with Lily at the time of the attack said it was unprovoked, but Lohrke has said the smaller dog started nipping at Igor and that the dog's owner, Shirley Fulton, began hitting Igor with a cane once the attack started.