This time, it was another dog, a tiny papillon called Baby, which Biggie, the pit bull crossbreed, nearly killed. It was the fear of what might happen next time which led Tisbury selectmen on Tuesday night to take unprecedented action.

They don’t just want Biggie muzzled, and his owners to pay $3,600 in restitution for veterinary bills. They want the dog impounded and then removed, not just from the town but from the Vineyard.

“This,” said selectman Geoghan Coogan, after hearing the facts of the case brought before the board on Tuesday night, “is extremely bad. I think it’s going to lead to something else eventually.

“A little girl next, at the Tisbury school? My son? Someone else’s son?”

No one spoke in opposition to his determination to take the strongest possible action against the dog, although animal control officer Laurie Clements — who earlier wept as she recounted the story of the attack — expressed concern about the emotional impact the decision would have on Biggie’s 16-year-old owner.

You see, Tiara Lee Matthews’ father gave her the pit bull-dalmatian-border collie cross, shortly before he was killed in a construction accident in July 2007, in Florida. Bereft of its breadwinner, the family — Tiara, her mother Nicole and brother Elijah — came to live with relatives on the Vineyard. They could not afford to bring their pets.

It was only through the efforts of good Samaritans here and in Florida that Biggie was able to be brought here to join them.

At the time this paper wrote about it, and Ms. Clements tendered the Oct. 26, 2007 story to the selectmen to provide context to what is a tragic story for all concerned.

For clearly, while Biggie was loved, he was not well cared for. Ms. Matthews’ grandmother, with whom her family was staying, did not like having the dog in the house. So he was left alone during the day in another house on William street, owned by a friend of the Matthews but which is unoccupied except on weekends.

Board chairman Tristan Israel said the circumstance amounted to cruelty to the dog.

The inevitable tragedy happened at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, when Tiara was walking Biggie and Teresa Jaworski was walking Baby, near the corner of West William and Look streets in Tisbury.

As related by Ms. Clements to the selectmen, Ms. Jaworski and Baby were opposite the intersection of William and Look streets, not far from her home, when “out of the blue” the pit ull attacked. The little dog was partially disemboweled and its screaming brought neighbors from their houses.

Ms. Clements said she was told a girl — subsequently identified as Tiara — had been riding her bicycle, while the pit bull ran alongside on a long lead. After the attack, the girl pulled Biggie away and started walking from the scene. When one of the neighbors, Johanna Erickson, challenged her and asked her name, she kept walking.

“She just left,” Ms. Clements said.

There was a description of the dog — a black and white pit bull — but it was not registered. It was only through the detective work of Ms. Erikson over succeeding days, knocking on doors around the neighborhood, that it was established who owned the dog.

Meanwhile, the papillon, Baby, nearly died. Her owner, Anna Dye, spent $3,600 on vet bills.

Eleven days after the attack, Ms. Clements went to the house where Tiara and her family were staying. Ms. Clements was accompanied by a police officer — she had been advised not to go alone — and confronted Tiara, who at first denied any knowledge of the incident, then confessed.

The meeting heard from Baby’s owner, Anna Dye, who said Teresa, her mother, now was afraid to walk down William street and would no longer walk Baby.

“This is a very vicious dog,” she said of Biggie.

Biggie had previously attacked another girl, she said.

Dr. Gerry Yukevich, who lives on William street near where the pit bull spends its days, said he had previously seen the dog and considered it dangerous.

He said he had recently treated people with severe wounds inflicted by other dogs, and he urged as “a citizen, a physician and a neighbor” that the selectmen act.

“Teresa was terrorized. She is living in a situation of terror,” he said.

No one from the Matthews family attended the hearing.

Initially, Ms. Clements recommended the selectmen direct the Matthews family to pay restitution of $3,607.73, and require that Biggie wear a muzzle at all times when out, that he be kept on a leash no more than six feet long, and that Tiara not be allowed to walk him while riding a bicycle.

But that was not strong enough for the board.

Mr. Coogan said it spoke “volumes” that Biggie’s owners did not turn up for the hearing, and said the selectmen should exercise whatever powers they had to “get these dogs out of here.”

Fellow selectman Jeff Kristal agreed, saying there should be “zero tolerance” for the irresponsible owners of dangerous dogs, and that he would like to see Biggie removed not just from the town, but from the Island.

Mr. Israel said the county might have powers to do that.

There was considerable discussion among the board members about the extent of their legal powers to enforce restitution, and to enter private property to seize and impound a dog, and the problem that if Tisbury banned the dog from town, it could simply become a danger for another Island town.

In the end they passed a motion to impound Biggie, seek restitution, ban the dog from Tisbury and ask the county to ban him from the Island. And pending that action and possible delays through legal action by the owners, they ordered the dog be muzzled on no more than a six-foot leash.