Greenfield Recorder – After Alleged Violations, Whately Selectboard Bans Owner From Licensing Dog for 5 Years

WHATELY – Following a litany of alleged violations of a 2023 ordinance and conditions regarding a dangerous dog, the Selectboard has ordered that its owner cannot license a dog in Massachusetts for five years.

Police Chief James Sevigne Jr. described “numerous incidents” in which Denise Donohue allegedly violated a Selectboard order requiring her dog, a boxer named Miles, to be confined on her property after numerous residents alleged that She accessed their properties, often with the dog. without a leash.

Sevigne told the Selectboard on Monday that the Whately Police Department received several complaints from residents, as well as reports of incidents in Sunderland, Holyoke and Northampton, from July 4, 2023 through May of this year, which resulted in the seizure of the dog. on May 29 after “impeding traffic” in the city for an hour and 45 minutes.

“The order is the dog is not supposed to go off your property, period,” Selectboard Chairman Fred Baron said, noting that includes other towns. “It’s up to us to take it back because it’s a violation of our order.”

Donohue said most of the alleged incidents occurred near his home and stressed that Miles is an old dog who “isn't out to catch anyone.”

Baron said he was willing to give Donohue “the benefit of the doubt” when it came to violations in her neighborhood, but she also allegedly violated the order outside of Whately.

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office Regional Dog Shelter has custody of Miles, but he is “more or less in quarantine” because he is not vaccinated and is “too unstable” around staff, according to Kyle Dragon, who is the regional animal control officer.

“The shelter was not willing to put the individuals in harm’s way,” Dragon said, adding that the Turners Falls shelter would not rehome or transfer the dog because of his behavior.

Due to the nature and number of violations, Baron and fellow board members Julie Wagoner and Joyce Palmer-Fortune voted to ban Donohue from licensing a dog in Massachusetts for five years, which is authorized under Chapter 140, Section 157 of the Massachusetts General Law. appeal the decision.