March 29, 2024
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Dog owners to pay fine for killing of cat

DOVER-FOXCROFT – A district court judge on Monday spared the life of a dog, but fined its owner in connection with an incident in June in which the dog mauled a cat and lunged at the cat’s owner and a police officer.

Shawn Boelens, who was threatened by the dog and who owned the cat that was killed, had asked that Riley, a bull mastiff owned by Stacey and Irvin Peterson, be euthanized.

Instead, 13th District Court Judge Kevin Stitham imposed fines of $100 on the Petersons for having a dog at large and $250 for keeping a dangerous dog. He also placed restrictions on Riley’s movement. The dog must be confined to the owner’s premises and under adult supervision when secured with either a leash or on a run outside. If the dog is off premises, it must be on a leash or inside a vehicle under an adult’s control.

Peterson said earlier that her 11-year-old son had been so excited about going fishing with his father that he forgot to lock the bottom of the kennel, allowing Riley and Jetta, a mixed breed, to escape. The mixed breed has been adopted by another family.

“I do feel bad for Mr. Boelens’ cat,” Stacey Peterson said during the trial.

Boelens said the two dogs traveled from the East Dover Road to his Route 15 home where they killed Persephone, his 6-year-old cat.

Boelens testified Monday that he first noticed the dogs tearing at his porch screen door and heard them barking at the family’s dogs inside the house. He said he slipped out a back door and was met by the bull mastiff, which charged at him.

“I turned tail and ran for the house,” Boelens said, so quickly that he injured a muscle in his foot.

After calling 911 for help, Boelens said he went outside with a gun, but the dogs had left. His cat, which had been curled up in a porch chair about an hour earlier, was nowhere to be found. Boelens noticed the tall grass behind his home had been trampled and that’s where he found his cat.

“It was stiff and it was covered in foamy slobber,” Boelens testified. “There was nothing left of it.”

When the dogs returned, the bull mastiff charged him again, as well as Dover-Foxcroft police Officer Michael Curtis, Boelens said.

Curtis said when he attempted to corral the two dogs, the bull mastiff charged him. “He seemed to be aggressive,” he said in court. “I was afraid he was going to bite me and I drew my gun.”

Amy Rideout, a motorist who watched Curtis try to secure the dogs, testified Monday that it appeared the bull mastiff was trying to protect the mixed breed when it took a “guard stance” toward Curtis.

“She was not slobbering; she was clearly worried about the little black dog,” Rideout testified.

Curtis said he eventually captured the dogs with help from another motorist. The dogs were taken to a local veterinarian where the owner picked them up.


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