My Wilson was attacked and almost killed by a pit bull. He's out of the woods now, thankfully. Hoping a few people might be willing to help out with his vet bills some.
Hey there, fellow Boston Terrier owners. Some of you might have seen my earlier post from a couple days ago now about how this past Sunday my Boston Terrier, Wilson, was attacked by an off-leash pit bull after finding his way out of the backyard.
We took him to the vet, and while his jugular vein was only narrowly missed when the pit grabbed hold of him, the veterinarian and vet-techs repaired the rather extensive damage on and around his neck and he's back home and recovering. He's on two antibiotics and a pretty strong painkiller, and his prognosis looks good at this point. That's the (really) good news.
The not so good news is that his surgery cost $2,206.89. My mom ended up taking out what's effectively a loan out in order to pay for the cost of things up front, but that has left us in some pretty tight financial straits. ??
I have set up a GoFundMe and am posting it here (with the permission of the mods) in an attempt to help raise a few dollars, and maybe offset some of the cost for things. Any donations would be greatly appreciated, and if you can't donate just forwarding the link somewhere else is a huge help in and of itself.
If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask. We're pretty exhausted from the past 72 hours but overall he's looking like he's on his way to a smooth recovery.
Thank you all for your time, and go and hug your small googley-eyed friends when you get a chance. They really are something else, and you should cherish every snort filled moment you have with them.
Update:
We've filed a report with the ASPCA (the police said we had to file with them because they only handle dog-on-human attacks) to have an official report on record.
We know the street where the pit owner lives on (he took off immediately when he realized I was Wilson's owner) and we will more than likely go through small claims court to see if we can't recoup some of the expenses.
He's been doing well with his recovery so far. He's on track to have his drains removed on Friday, and is eating and drinking no problem.
He's currently napping in the sun, the pain meds are keeping him knocked out a lot of the time so his body can heal. He's eating and drinking just fine though, which is always a good sign.
Wilson is a 12 year old Boston Terrier my mother adopted 3 years ago. On the afternoon of Nov. 27, a neighbor came to our door and told us that Wilson had found a way out of our backyard and been attacked by an off-leash pit bull. We immediately rushed him to the emergency room given how much he was bleeding, and upon a vet inspection were informed that one of the puncture wounds narrowly missed his jugular vein.
Thankfully, after an intensive surgery he was saved from his otherwise potentionally fatal wounds. However, the bill incurred was quite expensive, and we had to take out a large loan in order to pay for his treatment. We cannot locate the owner of the pit bull at the moment to discuss liabality damages, and are pursuing that through the ASPCA.
Wilson and his family are in need of some help to get through these tough times. He is an incredible dog who means the world to myself and especially my mother, who has had Boston Terriers all her life and loves them dearly. As of now he is making a slow but steady recovery, but as you can see his injures were quite severe.
Any and all contributions are greatly appreciated. All money donated will go directly to paying off the loan for his vet bills. We will keep you updated as time goes on with his recovery, and with any luck he will be back to his old self in just a few weeks.
CALIFORNIA -- Lesley Fullmer Kennedy posted on Facebook, November 24, 2017 at 11:25am ·
In response to one of the many, many pro-pit bull propaganda articles being pushed on us by media outlets lately, including this site called Rumble, Lesley responded:
·
Some pit bulls cannot be compared to labs and tiny dogs. Sometimes they are vicious killers. Don’t be stupid! My Boston was killed by a pit bull, not a Lab.
Labs don’t kill. Many pit bulls have killed people and other animals- they can be dangerous.
My dog died a horrible death playing in her own yard, but the female pit bull was not put down.☹️
Back in September, she posted that her little Boston Terrier named Stella was seriously mauled by a Pit Bull that jumped a fence into her yard.
"My dog Stella was mauled by a pit bull that broke into my friend's yard. Her intestines were exposed when I found her"
Stella survived about nine days before dying of her injuries from the Pit Bull attack. This sweet-looking elderly dog died a horrible death. Infuriating that the Pit Bull was not put down, but that's typical if the owner won't voluntarily euthanize their killer dog.
MAINE -- Surveillance video and a police 911 tape released Friday under a public records request reveal a harrowing account of two pit bulls attacking a woman and her small dog in Winslow.
The release of the tapes come as authorities continue to investigate the disappearance of the dangerous dogs this week just minutes after the state’s high court upheld their death sentence.
DO YOU RECOGNIZE THESE MAULERS? DANIELLE JONES
HAS STOLEN THEM FROM THE SHELTER AND HIDDEN THEM
TO TRY TO PREVENT THEM FROM BEING EUTHANIZED.
In the video, obtained by police from a nearby business, Sharron Carey can be seen last year walking down Lucille Avenue in Winslow around 12:40 p.m. with her Boston terrier, Fergie Rose.
Two giant gray pit bulls sprint across the front yard and to the road from behind a home, viciously attacking the small dog as its owner, Sharron Carey, tries to fight them off with her hands.
The dogs then attacked Carey, seriously injuring her.
“The dog’s dead — oh, my God,” a 911 caller and witness who reported the attack is heard saying in a separate police audio tape.
The chilling surveillance video and tape from Aug. 30, 2016, were obtained Friday by the Morning Sentinel under a Freedom of Access Act request to the Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office.
The witness, a neighbor who has called police, frantically tells a dispatcher that pit bulls are attacking a woman and that she needs help.
“This is awful,” the caller cries, as the dispatcher asks her to tell Carey that help is on the way.
The neighbor, who repeatedly gasps and cries out, “Oh, my God,” throughout the tape, tells the dispatcher that people are trying to get the dogs off the woman and then says, “The owner is there … she can’t control them.”
The caller thought three dogs were mauling the small dog, but the third dog was later determined to not be involved in the attack.
The video tape shows the pit bulls’ owner, Danielle Jones, appearing from the side and going up the steps to her house. She turns around and simply stands there - as though she doesn't know what to do about her two Pit Bulls that are attacking a woman and tearing her beloved little dog into pieces.
The Pit Bulls can be seen latched onto the dog and thrashing it around the front yard and roadside.
Shortly thereafter, a police cruiser pulls up. Dogs are seen throughout the video, running around the lawn. Eventually, Jones leads one of the dogs into the house.
Two pit bulls in the attack were later declared dangerous by a court and ordered to be euthanized. Jones appealed the case and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday upheld that court ruling.
But the pit bulls, Kole and Bentley, remained nowhere to be found Friday, three days after Jones CLAIMED they had slipped their leashes and escaped as she was walking them outside the Webb Road animal shelter Tuesday afternoon.
Waterville police are investigating the case and Waterville police Chief Joseph Massey says it is doubtful the dogs actually slipped their leashes and are running loose.
“We’re still working on it and hopefully, we can come up with them,” Massey said Friday of the missing dogs.
The dogs had been held at the Humane Society Waterville Area animal shelter.
Michael Brown, president of the board of directors for the Humane Society Waterville Area, said Friday morning that he is not sure if there are rules regarding whether the owner of a dog deemed dangerous is allowed to come to the shelter and walk it outside, as Jones had apparently been allowed to do. Tuesday was not the first time Jones had come to walk the pit bulls — she had walked them outside the shelter on previous occasions, according to police.
“We’re looking into all those policies,” Brown said Friday morning. “I can’t tell you right now what the answer is to that, unfortunately. I know we’re looking into that.”
But Brown reiterated what he said Thursday about the Humane Society’s commitment to work with authorities to ensure the public and other animals are kept safely.
“As for the public safety, we’re going to work with the police departments and with the state of Maine to make sure we’re in compliance with any of those rules,” he said.
MAINE GOVERNOR PAUL LEPAGE BASICALLY CALLS THE PIT BULL OWNER, DANIELLE JONES, A LYING POS Gov. Paul LePage said in a phone conversation Friday that state officials are looking into the situation.
There’s “no question,” he said, that Jones knows where the dogs are and that she knew the court’s decision before she took them out of the shelter for a “walk.”
“I believe she’s on the lam with the dogs,” LePage said.
He also said he thinks Jones took the dogs out before Humane Society officials became aware of the court’s decision.
“She really was slick,” he said.
Winslow police Chief Shawn O’Leary says he suspects the dogs’ disappearance was a “coordinated effort.” Winslow police, he said, will work with Waterville police on the case with whatever they need.
O’Leary said that the town of Winslow will still have stray animals brought to the Waterville shelter, but if there is a situation involving a dangerous dog that needs to be taken to a shelter and there is a question about it, the animal will be taken to a shelter in Augusta. He said if changes in management and policy at the Waterville shelter do not change by 2018, Winslow will start having all animals taken to a different shelter.
Jones’ lawyers, Tom Page and Bonnie Martinolich, did not return calls Thursday and Friday seeking comment in the case.
Decisions by the court are normally published on the court’s website at 11 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursday. An employee in the clerk’s office said the decision in the dog case was posted as usual Tuesday and attorneys involved receive an email within minutes after the decision is posted.
The Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office received an email at 11:11 a.m. Tuesday, notifying officials in that office that the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision had been posted upholding the death sentence against the two pit bulls. Jones’ attorneys would have received that at the same time.
Waterville police first learned of the court decision around 12:30 p.m. and tried contacting the animal shelter, but couldn’t reach anyone. Jones, meanwhile, was allowed to walk the two dogs outside the shelter property sometime between 12:30-1 p.m.
Lisa Smith, executive director of Humane Society Waterville Area, did not return phone calls, texts or emails sent to her on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Brown said Thursday that Smith would release a statement later that day, but she never did and Brown said on Friday he doesn’t know why.
Meanwhile, the Morning Sentinel also submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to both Waterville and Winslow police and the municipalities of Waterville and Winslow seeking any written communications with town and city officials and the Humane Society between Tuesday and Friday. Both municipalities reported on Friday they had no such communication with the organization.
Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said Friday that the order in the case says Jones has “ownership of the pit bulls but not the right to possession.”
Asked about the process taken in such cases, Maloney said that all criminal cases and investigations proceed the same way — police collect evidence and interview witnesses and if they think a search warrant is needed they apply for one and that is a process the district attorney’s office takes part in. If they find enough evidence to charge someone, they do so.
With some cases, if police are not sure, they will send a case to the District Attorney’s Office for review, which means they ask that office to make the first call, according to Maloney. If a charge is brought forward by police, the district attorney’s office can then read the case and decide to bring that charge or additional charges or no charge at all in the case, according to Maloney.
MAINE -- Local police chiefs say they doubt two dangerous dogs ordered by the court to be euthanized now are running loose in the area after their previous owner, Danielle Jones, told officials they escaped while she was walking them Tuesday afternoon outside an animal shelter.
One of those chiefs said he suspects the dogs’ disappearance was a “coordinated effort.”
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday a court order to euthanize the pit bulls declared dangerous because they had killed a Boston terrier, Fergie Rose, and seriously injured its owner, Sharron Carey, last year in Winslow.
The killer Pit Bulls, named Bentley and Kole, have been held at the Humane Society Waterville Area animal shelter on Webb Road.
Minutes after the Supreme Court decision Tuesday, Jones was walking the dogs near the shelter when, she CLAIMS, the dogs escaped their leashes and ran off into the woods.
Waterville police Chief Joseph Massey, who is investigating the case, said he thinks if two pit bulls were wandering in the city, police would have received calls from the public by now.
“I find that to be very doubtful since we’ve gotten no calls,” Massey said Thursday morning.
Winslow police Chief Shawn O’Leary went so far as to say he believes the dogs were deliberately taken from the shelter’s care because the Supreme Court upheld a decision to euthanize them.
O’Leary also said the incident has alarmed Winslow officials so much that they no longer will take animals to the Waterville shelter until changes are made at the facility.
“I don’t believe that they are loose, that they’re running through the woods,” O’Leary said of the dangerous dogs. “This was a coordinated effort.”
Asked if people found to be harboring the pit bulls would be charged criminally, Massey said it would depend on the circumstances. For instance, police would ask how they got the dogs and whether they knew there was a court order for the dogs to be euthanized when they received the dogs. If they answered “yes” to the questions, police would report that to the district attorney.
As to whether Jones would be charged if she were found to have the dogs, Massey said there is a special state statute that deals with violation of court orders, that this situation is unique, and the district attorney would be involved.
Michael Brown, president of the Humane Society Waterville Area’s board of directors, said Thursday that he is doing everything possible to help police investigate the case.
“At the end of the day, the public’s safety is our main concern,” Brown said. “We’re cooperating with all the people investigating the case in all ways possible, and our biggest concern is a safe resolution.”
Carey, the victim of the dog attack, has filed a civil lawsuit against Jones.
Jones said in a telephone interview Thursday morning from where she works, The Muddy Paw, on Bay Street in Winslow, that she was referring all calls to her lawyers and declined to comment on the missing pit bulls. She said she no longer owns The Muddy Paw.
"There’s a lawsuit being brought against me by Sharron Carey, so I’m not at will to speak to anybody; but my lawyers should be able to talk to you,” said Jones, who on Thursday provided the Morning Sentinel with photos of the two dogs.
Her lawyer, Tom Page, did not return a call seeking comment. Jones’ other attorney, Bonnie Martinolich, also did not return a call.
Lisa Smith, executive director of the Humane Society Waterville Area, did not return calls placed Thursday morning to both her cellphone and the shelter, nor did she respond to an email. Smith also did not respond to a phone message or text sent Wednesday and was not at the shelter late Wednesday afternoon. A shelter official on Monday told the Morning Sentinel that Smith was away and would return Wednesday this week.
Brown said Smith was going to release a statement Thursday about the case, but that never happened.
Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney did not return an email immediately seeking comment about what her office’s role will be in the case, but Massey said once police determine where the dogs are, they will consult with the district attorney’s office.
“We’ll want to seize those dogs because the court ordered them euthanized and get them into a secure facility,” he said.
Massey said shelter officials knew Jones was walking the dogs Tuesday, and she had walked them on previous occasions. He said he did not know if Smith, the shelter’s executive director, was at the shelter that day.
It is not clear whether Jones knew about the Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to uphold the euthanization when she walked the dogs Tuesday. The high court issued its decision upholding the euthanasia order around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, and Jones took the two pit bulls for a walk near the Webb Road animal shelter between 12:30 and 1 p.m.
Massey said police are continuing to try to find the pit bulls.
“Unfortunately, when we contacted their owner, who was the last one to see those dogs, she refused to talk to us,” Massey said. “That has made it difficult to locate the dogs.”
He said that if the dogs were running loose, the concern would be that they might hurt people or other animals.
NEIGHBORS’ VIEW
In the neighborhood around Lucille Avenue where the two pit bulls killed the other dog and injured its owner, some residents on Thursday afternoon said they were concerned, while others said the facts of the case may not be completely clear.
Most, however, said that the recent “escape” of the dogs was probably a calculated effort by their owner, Jones, who lives on Lucille Avenue.
On Aug. 30, 2016, Sharron Carey was walking her Boston terrier, Fergie Rose, down Lucille Avenue near her home when pit bulls Bentley and Kole broke free from their yard at 12 Lucille Ave. The pit bulls attacked Carey and her dog. Fergie Rose died later that day and Carey was seriously injured.
Jones’ home is surrounded by a double fence that is supposed to contain the dogs. However, police previously told the Morning Sentinel that the dogs climbed up the first fence, breaking it, and then broke through the second fence, which wasn’t secured at the bottom.
Chris Rusnov, 65, said she didn’t even know the dogs existed until the attack last year. Rusnov lives on Bolduc Avenue, behind Lucille Avenue, close to Jones’ yard surrounded by the black fence.
Rusnov knows Carey, the woman who was attacked.
“I was pretty outraged at what happened,” she said. “To me, you don’t have dogs that are proven to be that sick. They shouldn’t be anywhere.”
Rusnov, like many others in the neighborhood, often takes walks, and she avoids walking near dogs that seem aggressive.
Another neighbor a few houses down from the site of the attack on Lucille Avenue said the owners should have euthanized the dogs on their own to be responsible, though she didn’t want to give her name.
“When I found out what happened, it made me sick,” she said. “We walked our dog to the corner over there all the time.”
Now the woman won’t walk her dog, which isn’t any bigger than Fergie Rose, near the site of the attack at all.
Gary Michaud, 63, said the two pit bulls never bothered him or his own dog, a large mastiff mix named Ripley.
While the attack was “pretty bad,” he said, it didn’t affect him. He agrees with the law requiring euthanization “to an extent,” he said, but added that in this case “you really don’t know what happened.”
Both Michaud and Rusnov said they don’t believe the dogs, now missing, ran off on their own while on a walk with Jones at the Humane Society Waterville Area.
“She should not get away with doing this,” Rusnov said. “I think she was calculated.”
While the dogs don’t appear to be back in Winslow, Rusnov said their disappearance still concerns her. “That’s just scary. Someone else is in danger now.”
SHELTER CONCERNS
Meanwhile, Winslow officials have notified the shelter that they no longer will take animals to the shelter until changes are made there. O’Leary said from now on, animals will be taken to the shelter in Augusta, which will cost the town additional money and places an extra financial burden on Winslow.
He said it is the shelter’s responsibility to ensure the pit bulls, which are the property of the state, are euthanized per the court’s order.
O’Leary said further that the town of Winslow pays more than $10,000 a year to the animal shelter to take stray animals and deal with situations such as this, and it is the town’s position that the current shelter administration did not follow through on its contract.
“If the shelter leadership and the management does not change by next year, we’ll be going somewhere else, which is going to be a huge loss of funding for them,” O’Leary said. “As a trustee of the town, we don’t ask a lot. This is a unique situation that went through two long court hearings.”
Further, O’Leary said, a lot of police resources are being placed on a case that never should have developed, when they are otherwise dealing with more serious crimes.
O’Leary said Winslow police will help Waterville police with whatever they need to investigate the case. Winslow’s work was completed when the lower court ordered the dogs were dangerous and needed to be put down, he said, and then Jones appealed the case.
Brown, the humane society president, said he did not want to jeopardize the police investigation and referred questions about the incident to Massey.
Brown said he met Wednesday with both Massey and O’Leary about the case “to make sure we’re doing all we can to help them solve this.”
“They are investigating, so I’d be more than happy to speak with you once this is finalized,” Brown said. “I’d rather have it come from them right now.”
After a feline distemper outbreak occurred at the shelter earlier this month, killing more than three dozen cats and kittens, Brown said Humane Society officials were working to review all shelter policies and procedures to ensure best practices are being used there to make sure animals are safe. The shelter closed during the outbreak, on Oct. 1, and reopened this past weekend.
Rest in peace, Fergie
On Thursday morning, he reiterated that stance.
“We’re working internally around protocol and procedure,” Brown said. “Internally, we’re doing the best to make sure all our policies and procedures protect the public and our animals.”
MAINE -- The Maine Supreme Judicial Court released its decision around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday upholding an order to euthanize two pit bulls declared dangerous in court, and minutes later they reportedly got loose.
Their owner, Danielle Jones, had been allowed by the Humane Society Waterville Area to take the two Pit Bulls for a walk between 12:30 and 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to police.
DANIELLE JONES' KILLER PIT BULLS
She returned to the shelter around 1 p.m. to tell officials there that the two dogs had gotten loose and run off into the woods.
Yeah, her own dogs just both happened to get loose. And they both happened to run away from her, their owner. She's is a liar - and these people at the shelter are complete idiots for ever having let her do anything other than view the dogs through a padlocked cage. It's their fault these Pit Bulls are missing - and we all know DANIELLE JONES IS HIDING THEM.
The pit bulls, named Bentley and Kole, were ordered euthanized after attacking a woman, Sharron Carey, and her dog, Fergie Rose, who were walking on Aug. 30, 2016, near Jones’ home in Winslow. The dogs killed the 10-month-old Boston terrier and seriously injured Carey.
Fergie Rose, killed by Danielle Jones' maulers
Police initially had trouble contacting Jones, but they found her around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home.
Danielle Jones - REFUSING TO SAY A WORD - instead handed the detective a slip of paper that said “direct all questions to my attorney” and refused to speak further, according to Waterville police Chief Joseph Massey.
Winslow police Chief Shawn O’Leary said the incident seems “suspicious, to say the least.”
He’s also disappointed in the animal shelter staff for apparently allowing Jones to take the dogs out.
“I’m completely dumbfounded why the director would allow them to take the dogs off the property,” O’Leary said. “We feel that this is a serious issue, that two dangerous dogs are now out and about and … you know, this is putting a lot of resources into dealing with this situation. … I’m very disappointed in the management.”
Shelter Director Lisa Smith did not return a phone or text message seeking comment and was not at the shelter late Wednesday afternoon.
Jones couldn’t be reached by the Morning Sentinel at her business, The Muddy Paw Grooming Spa on Bay Street in Winslow, on which a sign said it was closed Wednesday.
The Morning Sentinel also attempted to reach Jones on Wednesday afternoon at her residence on Lucille Avenue, but no one answered the door. A number of dogs could be heard barking loudly within the house once the door was knocked on, though, and a woman wearing a black shirt that said “pit bull” later walked through the door and ignored a request for comment.
Police said they don’t know if Jones owned other dogs besides Bentley and Kole.
A judge in Augusta found that Jones had committed two civil violations of keeping a dangerous dog and ordered them both euthanized within 30 days. The order was stayed pending an appeal made by Jones, and the dogs have been held at the Waterville animal shelter at 100 Webb Road.
On Tuesday, the state’s highest court upheld the death ruling in the dogs’ case. In its decision upholding the euthanasia order, the Supreme Court said that “competent evidence in the record” supported the finding that the dogs had injured a person seriously.
District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said Tuesday the case was “about community safety. It’s about feeling safe to walk the sidewalks of our neighborhoods.”
Winslow police received news that the euthanization order was upheld about 12:40 p.m. Tuesday, O’Leary said, and contacted the shelter multiple times afterward about paperwork. But it wasn’t until the evening that the shelter told them that the dogs had gotten loose earlier in the day.
O’Leary said he’s disappointed in the shelter management, which didn’t tell police about the disappearance until 6:45 p.m. Tuesday — hours after the dogs were gone.
“That makes me very concerned and upset,” O’Leary said Wednesday.
Sharron Carey’s husband, Bill Carey, said by phone Wednesday evening they can’t comment on the latest incident as they pursue a civil lawsuit.
Sharron Carey has filed a civil lawsuit in Kennebec County Superior Court against Jones and the dogs’ co-owner, Brandon Ross, as well as against Danielle Doyon, of Waterville, owner of the home on Lucille Street.
Carey’s attorney, Steve Blackwell, of Lanham, Blackwell and Baber in Bangor, said the current issue is for law enforcement to handle, but said that Sharron Carey is the victim and didn’t want the dogs to harm anyone else.
“It’s very sad and no one wins here,” Blackwell said, adding that there may be some changes “in the way things are handled” at the shelter.
Maloney, the district attorney, said Wednesday that she’s interested in what the investigation finds, but she declined to comment on whether the latest incident could result in criminal charges.
Asked about issues concerning the shelter and the timeline of the dogs’ disappearances, she said, “Those are the questions that I want to have answered.”
Jones told shelter workers that the dogs broke free while she was walking them and ran into the nearby woods, according to Massey.
The dogs still would have their leashes and harnesses dangling from their collars, Jones reportedly told the animal shelter, but police have yet to hear any reports of loose dogs dragging their leashes.
“I really don’t know where the dogs are,” Massey said. “If they are running loose, I certainly would have some concerns.”
Another high-profile dangerous dog, Dakota the husky, also was held at the Humane Society Waterville Area shelter while the case was resolved.
Ultimately, Dakota was spared a euthanasia order after a court-ordered settlement sent the dog to live at least initially at a veterinary hospital with a boarding kennel and be trained by a canine behavior expert.
IF YOU KNOW WHERE DANIELLE JONES IS HIDING THESE TWO KILLER PIT BULLS, PLEASE CALL 911 AND REPORT IT!
MAINE -- A euthanasia order will remain in place for two Winslow dogs that killed another dog and injured its owner.
An effort to have the order overturned on appeal was rejected in a decision issued Tuesday by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
That court heard arguments in the appeal on Oct. 13 during a special session at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford.
Fergie Rose, killed by Danielle Jones' maulers
The two pit bulls, named Bentley and Kole - "somehow" escaped from their fenced-in backyard and killed Fergie Rose, a 10-month-old Boston terrier on Aug. 30, 2016, in Winslow.
The owner of Fergie Rose, Sharron Carey, was injured. A judge in Augusta then found that Danielle Jones, the pit bulls’ owner, had committed two civil violations of keeping a dangerous dog.
Part of the judgment included an order for the dogs to be euthanized within 30 days. That order was stayed pending appeal.
The attack was captured on a surveillance camera that was mounted outside Jones’ home in Winslow. It was shown during the nonjury trial and justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, also known as the Law Court, indicated Oct. 13 that they had viewed it as well.
The justices at that time appeared to adopt the state’s position and said that District Court Judge Eric Walker, who presided at the two-day trial, took a considered, thoughtful approach to the case and his explanation about why he opted for euthanasia for the animals rather than confinement or muzzles. The Law Court’s decision came in the form of a Memorandum of Decision, meaning it has only brief discussion.
In it, the court says that “competent evidence in the record” supports the court’s finding that the dogs seriously injured a person, and that there was no “obvious error.”
Bonnie Martinolich, one of the attorneys representing Danielle Jones, was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said in an email Tuesday, “This case is about community safety. It’s about feeling safe to walk the sidewalks of our neighborhoods.”
She also speculated that the decision was issued in this form rather than a longer decision because the court “probably didn’t see any issues they needed to discuss.”
At oral arguments, Kennebec County Assistant District Attorney Tracy DeVoll asked the court to affirm the lower court’s euthanasia order, saying the dogs are too dangerous and the owner cannot control them.
“This case is about protection,” DeVoll said. “It’s about protecting people — men, women, children, babies — and their pets. It’s about protecting them from the defendant’s two dangerous, deadly dogs.”
Part of Walker’s original order granted the state motion for the forfeiture of the dogs.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Andrew Mead noted at the hearing that forfeiting dogs to the state was different from forfeiting a piece of property, such as a boat or motorcycle.
“Dogs are members of the family,” Mead said.
RICHARD ROSENTHAL IS AN ODIOUS CRETIN Richard Rosenthal, a Queens, New York-based attorney who calls himself the “dog lawyer” on his website, argued on behalf of Jones.
Rosenthal maintained that the dangerous-dog prosecution is quasi-criminal in nature rather than simply civil because it was “brought by police, prosecuted by the district attorney’s office and it deals with a forfeiture.”
He said Jones should have had a jury trial at which the state would have been required to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the dogs were dangerous.
He also argued that it was unclear which dog actually inflicted the fatal injuries on Fergie Rose.
At the trial, Carey testified that she believed the two pit bulls would turn on her next after they finished tearing her dog apart. Carey said she had been walking her dog on a leash near the street in front of Jones’ home when the two dogs came at them.
Carey said she was bitten on both her right wrist and on her back.
“They had Fergie on the ground, and she was crying,” she testified. “There was nothing I could do. I was kicking them and screaming, and I was screaming for help and no one came. They were just killing my dog, and there was blood everywhere.”
Fergie Rose died about 10 minutes later at a veterinarian’s office.
Winslow Animal Control Officer Christopher Martinez testified he took the two pit bulls, 3-year-old Kole and Bentley — each with blood on their muzzles — from their owners for quarantine and later filed paperwork to have the animals confined until a court could decide their fate.
After the verdict, Bill Carey, Sharron Carey’s husband said. “It’s all about justice for Fergie,” adding, “No one wants to see dogs put down. That’s horrible.”
Carey has filed a civil lawsuit in Kennebec County Superior Court against Jones and the dogs’ co-owner Brandon Ross, as well as against Danielle Doyon, of Waterville, owner of the home at 12 Lucille St.
Carey, through attorney Steven Blackwell, said that she suffered injuries to her hands, in particular to her left wrist, when the two dogs dragged her to the ground while tearing Fergie Rose from her arms. Carey seeks compensation for her injuries and damages as well as medical and veterinary expenses.
The claim is brought under state statutes, one of which permits “reimbursement for damage done by animals.”
In a separate case, another dog under a court-ordered death sentence was spared after the attorneys — including Maloney — worked out a deal to have the animal placed at a boarding kennel at a veterinary hospital and have a canine behavior expert brought in as a trainer. The animal, Dakota, killed one dog in Waterville and then months later seriously injured another dog owned by the same family.
The case drew the attention of Gov. Paul LePage, who issued a documented “pardon” to Dakota. It was appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and raised questions about the appropriate punishment for dogs deemed dangerous; however, the settlement, which was approved by a judge, ended that appeal.
