Stay of Execution: Dog Pardoned by Governor LePage Won’t Be Euthanized
Woof!
Today might be a wet one for walks and fetch, but it's a good day for Dakota the dog, who learned today that she won't be euthanized after all.
Today's ruling from a District Court Judge in Augusta finally put the multi-year saga to an end. According to the Bangor Daily News and the Kennebec Journal, the dog will receive training at an undisclosed facility here in Maine, and live.
The death sentence was handed down by a Maine court following two attacks on other animals. Dakota first attacked and killed a shih tzu terrier in May 2016, and then bit another dog, a pug, in 2017. The judge in the case ruled that the animal was too dangerous to be left alive following the attacks, and found its owner guilty of the civil offense of keeping a dangerous dog. She was ordered to be put down within 48 hours of that ruling.
In a reversal today, and after a controversial pardon by Governor LePage, the District Court will allow the dog to live.