100 Protest N.J. Dog's Death Sentence
More than 100 people protested outside Princetown Township Municipal Court in New Jersey over a judge’s order to euthanize a dog.
The 2-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd named Congo was determined to be vicious after he attacked and mauled a landscaper who came into his yard last June, reports an ABC-affiliated station in Philadelphia.
However, his owner, Guy James, says a landscaping crew didn’t follow his Spanish-language instruction to stay in their car until Congo and five other dogs finished eating. What the station describes as a “chaotic scene” ensued. Another family member, Elizabeth James, says one of the landscapers hit the dogs with a rake and another grabbed her after she tried to take control of the situation.
An earlier story in the Times, a Trenton, N.J., newspaper, says that the crew arrived about an hour early and went into the yard, which was fenced but apparently had an unlocked gate. Congo is “innocent” and “did nothing more than protect my wife. He never bit anyone until she was grabbed and pulled to the ground,” Guy James told the Times.
The victim of the mauling reportedly has been paid a $250,000 insurance settlement.
Congo is being held in a shelter and the death sentence has been stayed pending an appeal to state superior court.
(Hat tip: For the Love of the Dog.)
