The pit bull-boxer mix that killed a 5-month-old puppy in Hollis on Wednesday could be euthanized because it had a previous violation for attacking another puppy in the same area along the Saco River in 2012.
Louis Marchand, the Hollis animal control officer who is investigating this week’s attack, said Friday he has been in contact with the York County district attorney’s office, but he wouldn’t comment further on the case.
Under Maine law, a judge can order that a dog be euthanized if the animal “… has killed, maimed or inflicted serious bodily injury upon a person or has a history of a prior assault or a prior finding by the court of being a dangerous dog.”
Biddeford District Court records show that Mitchell Marquis, 21, of Hollis, admitted that his dog Ziggy went after a puppy owned by Christine Tilburg of Buxton on June 18, 2012. Marquis was cited for keeping a dangerous dog, paid a $100 fine and was ordered to keep the pit bull on a leash at all times, according to court records.
Tilburg said in an interview Friday that she was walking in the woods along the river near the Salmon Falls Library in 2012 when the dog suddenly appeared and lunged at her 5-month-old Norwegian Elkhound.
“The dog came out of the woods and had (my) puppy in its mouth,” she said.
Tilburg said the dog knocked her over, but she grabbed its collar and freed her puppy.
Marquis said in an interview Friday that while he paid the fine in 2012, he doesn’t believe his dog was a threat to Tilburg. “It was her word against mine,” he said. “I had a lot going on at the time, and I didn’t fight it.”
Marquis had told the Press Herald on Thursday that his dog had no history of being aggressive around other animals.
On Wednesday, around 6 p.m., the pit bull-boxer was running free when it killed Rob Rocheville’s Shiba Inu puppy as Rocheville was walking the dog along the riverbank. Marquis has been issued a summons – once again – on a complaint for keeping a dangerous dog, which is a civil violation, like a speeding ticket. A judge will decide whether the dog should be classified as dangerous.
Rocheville’s fiancee, Lynn Holston, said Friday that even knowing the dog’s history, she doesn’t blame the animal.
“It all boils down to responsible ownership,” Holston said. She didn’t want to comment on whether the dog should be euthanized, but did say she believes the dog has problems. “The dog is sick, for lack of a better word,” she said.
But Tilburg, whose puppy was grabbed in the 2012 attack, said the dog is a menace and not safe under any circumstances.
“It needs to be put down,” she said.
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