Biting dog to be put down after board hears complaint
Shawn Cunningham | Aug 14, 2024 | Comments 2
By Shawn Cunningham
© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC
Karen Orchitt testifies during the hearing
At a meeting in April, Karen Orchitt told the board of several incidents in which the unnamed “white dog” bit her while she was walking along Andover Road. In those instances, the dog did not break the skin through her heavy clothing. But on Monday, Aug. 5, according to Orchitt’s complaint, the dog broke free of its restraint at the home of Tom and Terri Steele – its owners – and bit her twice, breaking the skin on her knee and buttock.
Orchitt wrote that she tried to walk away from the dog, but it followed her. She walked backwards facing the dog until she was able to flag down a driver who took her to her home next door to the Steeles’.
In her complaint, Orchitt said the dog also had bitten her in November of 2023 and February of this year, with the latter attack resulting in a bruise.
Town Manager Julie Hance said there had not been other formal complaints, but there have been reports of the “white dog” chasing walkers and bikers. She told The Telegraph that the Steeles had been personally served with a notice of the hearing, but did not attend.
After the hearing, the board deliberated and issued a decision that found the dog met the definition of “vicious” and was not properly licensed in Chester, which meant the town could not determine whether it was up-to-date with rabies shots. In its “protective order” the board said the dog should be impounded and euthanized. The dog has not yet been taken by the town as the impound facility – Springfield Humane Society – was not open on Monday or Tuesday.
Filed Under: Chester • Latest News
Years ago, not in Chester, but in rural Massachusetts, I was riding my motorcycle peacefully down a country road. Suddenly, out of a depressed driveway, a motorcycle chasing dog dashed out in front of me and I hit it causing my motorcycle to upset and it and me sliding down the pavement. Ordinance or no ordinance, people who own animals that bite people, chase bicycles and motorcycles, and otherwise create a dangerous nuisance need to be dealt with. In this case, the owners are so indifferent they didn’t show up at the hearing. In the late 19th century, when bicycles became popular, it was acceptable for bicyclists to defend themselves from dog attacks by shooting them with a firearm. Some firearms, called Velo-Dog guns, were designed and sold for that purpose. Perhaps this is a justification for pedestrians to carry a firearm for self protection.
So just what empowers a municipality to put any animal down here? ~S~