NEW YORK -- Applause and tears filled the Hopewell Town Courthouse Tuesday afternoon when the town justice ruled a 10-month-old puppy accused of [attacking] a neighbor's dog will be going home to be with her owners Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
The Hopewell Town Justice Nancy Wooden, who originally deemed the dog, Ruby, a dangerous dog and led the owners to believe she could be euthanized, reached her decision after an hour and twenty minute closed door conference with the dog's owners, Carrie and Kirk Klug, and their lawyer.
Ruby is accused of [attacking] the neighbor's dog on March 24 and since been held at the Ontario County Humane Society.
But this release comes with demands from the justice.
One has already been met -- paying the injured dog's vet bill of $318. Two more demands will be met Wednesday when Ruby is released. She will be licensed and have her rabies shots.
She must also be microchipped and spayed (an appointment has been made for later this week), kept in a kennel at home when she is outside, walked on a leash by someone 21 or older, and wear a muzzle when in public.
The owners must also get a liability insurance policy no less than $100,000.
The justice also ordered Ruby to take and complete behavioral classes as quickly as the program allows, and the owners must pay the Ontario County Humane Society for boarding Ruby.
The justice then ordered the decision be adjourned until next year.
"I want everyone to know one thing," Justice Wooden said. "I never ordered the dog to be put down. My heart is too big, unless the dog kills someone."
Well that's nice to hear.... tell that to someone whose beloved pet is lying in pieces at their feet -- mauled to death by a neighbor's dog. Tell that to a child whose kitten has been disemboweled and is lying there crying and dying that your heart is too big to order a dog be euthanized. Say hey, kid, it's not like it killed a person or something....
At least 50 people showed their support for the puppy sat in the courtroom for Tuesday's decision.
Among them, a group from Utica who say social media is just one tool they use to fight decisions like this one, but being in court shows the judge that they mean business and the support is real.
More than 22,000 people signed a Change.org petition to save Ruby online. It's all support the owners are grateful for.
"This caught on fire when something does have a voice needs help and all these people come out and help it really gives you faith in humanity," the dog's owner Kirk Klug said.
Klug's son Kevin says the first thing he's going to do when Ruby gets home is give her a hug.
(13WHAM Rochester - Apr 7, 2015)
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