A Happy End In Sight for Akitas

On Wednesday evening, West Tisbury selectmen voted 2-1 to sign an agreement with the owners of the two fated to be euthanized to spare the dogs. Instead, the dogs will be given to the Lexus Project. The Lexus Project is a legal defense for dogs who have been deemed vicious or dangerous through no fault of their own.

This past week, dog owners Taggart Young and Anna Bolotovsky contacted the Lexus Project about their young Akitas Zion and Sensi. The Lexus Project agreed to take the dogs and evaluate whether they can find them new owners. According to Lexus Project President, Robin Mittasch, "We came into this case at the request of the local attorney who represented the owners because the dogs were facing death. It should be noted that the Lexus Project does not represent people, JUST the dogs."

The agreement requires that Bolotovsky and Young spay and neuter the dogs before they are handed over to the Lexus Project next week. Town Administrator Jennifer Rand said that both dogs have appointments for their procedures on Tuesday. Currently, Zion is at the Animal Health Center at the airport that serves as the Island’s pound and Sensi is with Bolotovsky’s mother in Newton. Young and Bolotovsky will be required to pay damages to Richard Andre, the neighboring farmer whose chickens and geese the dogs killed on three occasions. They will also have to pay the boarding costs for Zion’s time at the Animal Health Center.

According to Rand, both dogs will travel from their current locations to Woods Hole next week where they will be handed over to the Lexus Project under the supervision of West Tisbury town officials. A separate agreement between the town and the Lexus Project states that the dogs will never be allowed to return to Martha’s Vineyard and that any new owners of the dogs are also bound by that agreement.

This all began after the first attack in early November, when the dog owners were ordered to build a chain link enclosure for the dogs and pay $150 to Andre, which they did. However the chain link enclosure did not keep the dogs from getting out two more times killing over 14 chickens and a number of geese.

On February 1^st, the selectmen voted 2-1 not to euthanize the dogs, but instead to ban them from the Island forever. All of this changed on February 2^nd when Young went to Animal Health Care and told them that the selectmen had given him permission to take Zion. As a result, the selectmen voted to rescind their vote and instead ordered that the dogs be euthanized.

A good amount of community out cry and protests resulted in the prospect of placing the dogs with a rescue group. Selectmen gave the owners one week to come up with a plan to turn the dogs over to such an organization and insure they never return to the Island.

Rand said, “Everyone is happy that we’ve come to an agreement. This has been a long and emotional process for a lot of people.”