GUILFORD — Selectboard questions dog officer's duties
GUILFORD ― After questions about the dog officer's duties arose during the March 14 Selectboard meeting due to an animal complaint, some Board members brought their research to the March 28 meeting. But, there was some disagreement on the findings.
The question of whether the dog officer's duties include shooting dogs caused two different interpretations of state statute.
According to Board member Gabriella Ciuffreda, it is not the dog officer's job to shoot dogs.
Her colleague, Dick Clark, disputed Ciuffreda's assertion.
Clark discussed the town's recent history of dogs biting people and other animals, and said state law supports the dog officer shooting a dog “when it's worrying animals” or it bites livestock. He said these statutes go back to “when Vermont was sheep country."
Ciuffreda respectfully disagreed with Clark, and offered to gather the statutes, present them to the other Board members, and discuss the matter at a future meeting.