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One Can Only Imagine

Currently sitting in the Guilford Animal Pound is a dog who was arrested in August of last year. It is now May. He is now on month nine of incarceration. The charge, one may ask? Protecting his own property when a teenaged neighbor trespassed into his yard while waving a lacrosse stick. This person was bitten on the leg. Animal Control responded. The dog was taken to the pound for the mandatory 14-day quarantine period. The animal control officer stated to the dog owner that since the bite happened on his own property, the dog would likely be returned home following quarantine. I have read the police report myself, and there is no record of this dog having bitten anyone prior to this incident.

What did happen was that a group of neighborhood parents have thus far managed to influence town officials. They either want the dog placed “on a farm somewhere” or destroyed. No physical fence is good enough for them. Why can’t this dog be at home behind an eight-foot stockade fence while the appeals process plays out? This group of parents should not be allowed to dictate town policy. Is there not such a thing as due process here? And what about trespass charges against the teenager? Shouldn’t he bear some responsibility? Interesting.

So many questions. It seems to me that this case was grossly mismanaged from the very beginning and the town won’t back down now. One can only imagine the financial cost of all this never-ending legal wrangling.

Karen Anderson

Guilford