Community Corner

Akitas' Owners Given One Week to Save Dogs Lives

West Tisbury selectmen postpone signing euthanization order for one week while new owners are found

This past Wednesday, February 15th, the West Tisbury selectmen agreed to continue to postpone their signing a euthanization order for two Akitas. Just last week, the selectmen ordered the two dogs to be destroyed for killing a neighbor's chickens and geese three times in three months.

According to an article in the Martha’s Vineyard Times, “Selectmen did not vote on what is effectively a stay of execution, issued February 8 for the two dogs. Instead the selectmen instructed an attorney for the two dogs' owners – Taggart Young and Anna Bolotovsky – to draft an agreement calling for the dogs to be given to a qualified new owner.”

The two young dogs, named Zion and Sensi killed neighboring farmer Richard Andre’s livestock three times after getting loose from their owner's property. One of the dogs, Zion, is now at Animal Health Care, a veterinary hospital that serves as the town pound. The other, Sensi, is in Newton with Bolotvsky's mother.

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The Times reported that selectmen rejected a proposal from Jonathon Rankin of Framingham, the attorney for Young and Bolotvsky asking that the dogs go to Bolotovsky's sister or mother who live off Island.

Instead, the selectmen gave the owners and their lawyer an additional week to come up with an agreement that includes Young and Bolotovsky giving up ownership of the dogs. The selectmen suggested that the agreement include that both dogs will be turned over to the town, which would then oversee the dogs safely transferred to an Akita rescue group or a new owner who has been approved by such a group.

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Additionally, selectmen stated that the agreement would include that Andre be provided with compensation for his lost livestock and reminded the dog owners that it was the selectmen’s responsibility to protect the town’s livestock, not find suitable dog owners.

The Times reported that Rankin, “reminded selectmen that both the dogs are under one year and essentially puppies. He said he was confident they could draft an acceptable agreement, even if it called for the current owners to face criminal or civil charges if they ever brought the dogs back to the Island.”

Young apologized for trying to remove Zion from the Animal Health Center on February 2nd without the permission of the selectmen and for pretending that the selectmen had permitted the removal. And Bolotovsky pleaded with the selectmen to spare the dogs lives.

The West Tisbury Board of Selectmen meet this coming Wednesday, February 22nd at 4:30 pm.

 


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