SOUTH HADLEY — The fate of Ziggy the Saint Bernard is in the hands of a judge following a trial Wednesday in Eastern Hampshire District Court.
Judge Matthew Shea heard testimony from town officials, who are appealing Clerk Magistrate William P. Nagle Jr.’s Oct. 10 decision overturning their Aug. 8 euthanization order, as well as April Marion, the dog’s owner, and attorneys representing both sides.
The trial was a “de novo” review — meaning independent of prior decisions — of the town’s decision to deem 3-year-old Ziggy a “dangerous dog.”
“The town takes no pleasure or pride in seeking the remedy it seeks here,” said attorney Edward Ryan Jr., representing the town.
Ryan offered as evidence a disk containing video recordings of the three prior Select Board meetings discussing Ziggy’s behavior and ordering Marion’s sanctions.
Attorney Thomas Page, representing Marion, argued that some of the evidence submitted by the prosecution should be excluded on the grounds that the testimonies were “hearsay.”
Witnesses of the dogs’ aggression had not filed a formal complaint with the town, Page said, so the Select Board had no legal grounds to deem Ziggy a dangerous or nuisance dog. Town officials overstepped their authority even ordering Marion to leash and muzzle her dogs, and could not order Ziggy to be euthanized, according to Page.
“They were not authorized by law to discuss euthanasia without first coming to a determination whether the dog was a nuisance or a dangerous,” Page said.
Page contends that McClair Mailhott, the town’s animal control officer, was the only person who testified at the July 11 meeting at which Ziggy was deemed dangerous, even though he had not witnessed the incident firsthand.
Ryan argued that, as a town, anyone could be the complainant in this case, to which Page responded, “I don’t understand how the complainant can be the party doing the investigation. It’s bias, it’s nothing else.”
Dr. Timothy Galusha, the veterinarian who euthanized Ziggy’s mother, Tiara, neutered Ziggy, and treated him for the resulting infection, testified that Ziggy was an aggressive dog that had to be muzzled for the procedures and tried biting him in the face.
When Marion testified, she denied that Ziggy caused any problems at the veterinarian’s office because, she said, she called the office that day to ask.
“The vet, he completely made up a story,” Marion said. “I thought only the news media did that. Ziggy was never muzzled at the vet. Never.”
In response to repeated complaints about her dogs, the town placed certain sanctions on Marion for the first time in a May 2016 meeting. The dogs were to be leashed and muzzled on walks, kept in an enclosed area, and Marion was to buy a $100,000 dog bite insurance policy. She has yet to buy the insurance.
“I walk him every day and he’s fine,” Marion said of Ziggy. “I bring him to Petco and he’s fine.”
On May 18 of this year, both of Marion’s dogs had gotten loose and charged 74-year-old Richard Todrin while he was walking his dog. In his testimony Wednesday, Todrin claimed he ran at the dogs, trying to scare them away, when one of them bit him on the hand. Todrin received medical attention but was not certain which dog had bit him.
Marion euthanized Tiara at the request of South Hadley Public Health Director Sharon Hart following the incident. According to Marion, Hart ordered her to euthanize both Tiara and Ziggy that day by 4 p.m., or authorities would come to her house and do it for her.
“I’m hurt because I put her down,” Marion said. “It hurts every night. I’m like, why, why did I believe them? I believed their lies.”
Todrin is now suing Marion over the attack. When asked if he had filed a complaint or testified about the animals with the town, Todrin said he did not understand such a process existed.
According to Town Administrator Michael Sullivan, the town has spent around $6,000 on legal fees and lost productivity over this case. Sullivan spent all of Wednesday at the courthouse, along with Mailhott, the town’s animal control officer, and other administrative assistants.
Using $1,340 raised by a GoFundMe campaign, Marion hired Page, who says that this case could last a long while.
“Most of our cases go to federal court, and they take years,” Page said.
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com.
Editor’s note: This story was modified at 12:10 p.m. on Nov. 16 to remove “once again” from the first sentence. The previous decision on Ziggy’s fate was made by a clerk magistrate.