Dogs accused of killing sheep still alive

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CHARLOTTE – The owners of the husky dogs accused of killing and maiming nearly two dozen sheep 10 days ago have delayed euthanizing the pets, law enforcement officials said Monday.

The dogs that belong to Alan and Valerie Fenderson of Charlotte have had their rabies shots, but were not licensed.

Paula Farrar, who along with her husband, Stephen, owns Done Roving Farm and Carding Mill, said Monday that she was surprised and troubled by the news. She said more sheep have died since the Aug. 5 attack, bringing the total to 14 including her prized Jacob sheep, one of the oldest breeds in existence.

A male Jacob lamb that had been dragging its left rear leg over the weekend as it struggled to walk and may have suffered a spinal cord injury after the attack had to be euthanized. Of the original eight Jacob sheep the Farrars acquired in June, only two healthy ones remain.

The Farrars’ flock has dwindled from 58 to 44. Two are still being treated.

The dogs have been quarantined at their owners’ house since they broke into a pasture belonging to the Farrars, killing nine sheep and injuring 10 others.

Shortly after the dogs were returned to the owners, the Fendersons told the town’s animal control officer they would voluntarily have the dogs euthanized.

The couple apparently have since changed their minds and a new summons for keeping dangerous dogs has been issued.

The town’s animal control officer, Larry Colarusso, said he hoped to deliver the summons to the Fendersons Monday night. The ACO said the Fendersons told him they were acting on the advice of their insurance company.

The Fendersons did not return a telephone call from the Bangor Daily News on Monday.

“The [couple’s] insurance company said they want to hold them 14 days,” said Sgt. Lester Seeley of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department who is acting in an advisory role to the ACO. “I told [Colarusso] that I will be up [Monday] and write you a summons to serve on them for keeping dangerous dogs and see what their insurance is going to do now. I figure we’ve got to do something because this has gone too far.”

Colarusso confirmed the couple’s change of heart. “I don’t know what that’s all about, they didn’t elaborate,” he said.

But Paula Farrar said she was mystified that an insurance company would give such advice.

“I don’t believe it, maybe that’s not a good thing to say,” she said. “I can’t imagine an insurance company that is potentially covering liability losses to [advise people to] keep a dangerous dog. [If] an insurance company said that, I’m flabbergasted,” she said.

Farrar questioned the Fenderson’s ability to keep the dogs controlled. The Fenderson’s live 3.1 miles from the Farrar farm. She said she was not going to sleep well at night fearing the dogs might escape again.

“These dogs are still alive and still in the care [of people] who couldn’t keep them under control before. How can they now? I am not just worried about sheep here, there’s a lot of children between our properties,” she said.

The sergeant said the summons was the first step and warned that if the couple did not take action by Monday, Aug. 21, he would help the animal control officer take it to the next level.

“If they are not gone by a week from today [Monday, I want to] see if I can’t get a court injunction to dispose of the dogs [or] I want to see if I can get a court injunction to take the dogs and put them in a confined holding facility,” Seeley said.

The sergeant is concerned the dogs might escape again. “Now school will be opening up and we’ve got to have something done with the dogs,” he said.

The animal control officer, who was bitten on the hands and arm by one of the dogs, said the couple had promised him that the dogs would remain locked up, but he’s skeptical.

“If they want to get out bad enough, they are going to go,” he said. “I don’t want to see anybody put their dogs down, but they’ve got to.” The dogs also threatened a woman and two children who are neighbors of the Farrars.

The Fendersons told the animal control officer shortly after the incident that the dogs had escaped after they chewed through each other’s collars. They also said the dogs had chewed through the chainlink fence that housed them.

This latest summons is on top of others the couple has been issued by the animal control officer including dogs at large.

Washington County Deputy District Attorney Carletta Bassano said Monday that although she could not address the Fenderson case, she could talk about the summons process.

She said that keeping a dangerous dog was a civil violation with a fine that ranged from $250 to $1,000.

“Assuming the procedures are followed correctly in terms of the notice time frame or the service of the process then there would be a hearing,” she explained. “If the owners are charged with keeping a dangerous dog … then the court has to have a hearing to determine whether … they are keeping a dangerous dog. Then the court has an obligation to either order the animal restrained under very specific guidelines or they can order the animals euthanized.”

Bassano said that to have a dog euthanized, the state would have to prove that the dogs “had killed, maimed or done serious injury on a person or has history of a prior attack.”

She said that section of the law did not address the issue of dogs killing sheep.

If the dogs were to escape again, Bassano said, the state would not look favorably upon it.

“These people are certainly on notice of the allegations against their dogs whether they accept them as true or not,” she said. “There would be another summons for dog at large, another summons for whatever injury they might cause. But there is no graduated statutory structure that says the first time your dog does this it is a civil infraction, but the next time it’s criminal. I am not aware of anything like that.”

The Fendersons have an October date on the civil matter in 4th District Court in Calais.