When a couple went to court to address a series of citations about their barking dog, they were horrified to hear what a prosecutor had to say.
“Their plea offer was, ‘We will drop all the charges if you will have your dog’s vocal chords surgically removed,” Katlyn Eddings, who owns the dog with her husband, Michael, told McClatchy News. “We were like, ‘No. We’re not accepting that.’”
A few months after the couple moved to Robbinsville, North Carolina, with their 135-pound Great Pyrenees, Leo, a neighbor began to complain about the dog’s barking, she said. Robbinsville is located in Western North Carolina, about 70 miles south of Knoxville, Tennessee.
In March, a police officer came to the family’s house to deliver a noise citation. The couple said they have since been cited two more times for violating the county noise ordinance.
While Leo is a big dog who barks occasionally, Katlyn Eddings said he doesn’t bark excessively, and the family feels they are being singled out by their neighbor.
But the couple says the plea offer given to them by an assistant district attorney when in court on Tuesday, May 31, upset them even more.
They refused to accept the plea deal that involved removing their dog’s vocal cords, and another court date is scheduled for Oct. 10, Katlyn Eddings said.
“I just cannot believe that this is what’s going on, that this is what’s suggested,” Katlyn Eddings said.
Ashley Welch, the district attorney that represents Graham County — where the couple lives — asked the assistant district attorney who made that suggestion to resign on June 2, according to a spokeswoman for the office. The spokeswoman declined to name the prosecutor.
“She does not approve, support or condone the suggestion,” the spokeswoman told McClatchy News. “And she requested and received (the assistant district attorney’s) resignation.”
Michael Eddings wrote in a Facebook message that he contacted People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) after hearing the prosecutor’s comments.
“Debarking surgery is inhumane,” he wrote. “Leo barks to communicate with us when he feels there’s a threat.”
Debarking or devocalization is “an invasive surgical procedure that involves removing a large amount of laryngeal tissue,” according to PETA. “It involves a great deal of postoperative pain. Because this procedure is unnecessary and inherently cruel, many veterinarians condemn it and refuse to perform it.”
Massachusetts and New Jersey have outlawed the procedure unless it’s determined medically necessary by a veterinarian, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Pennsylvania prohibits it unless it’s performed by a veterinarian using anesthesia, while California and Rhode Island have made it illegal to allow devocalization of dogs to be a condition of tenancy for real estate properties.
Now, Katlyn Eddings said she hopes they won’t have to return to court.
“What we are hoping is that the court system drops this,” she said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/remove-barking-dog-vocal-cords-195238654.html