CALAIS, Maine — Calais officials say an officer who shot a dog Sunday night acted properly.
Calais Police Chief David Randall said the department received a call at approximately 9:59 p.m. July 19 about two dogs that tried to attack a third dog at a home on South Street.
People at the residence got their animal inside, then attempted to get the other two dogs out of their yard, according to the police chief.
“The dogs attempted to bite them,” Randall said.
When the officer located the dogs and tried to get them into the police car, one of the dogs growled and charged, and the officer shot it, the police chief said.
The dogs, he said, belong to Nick and Hillary Barnett, who live on a neighboring street.
Hillary Barnett said Tuesday that the family’s two Labrador retrievers, Brady and Sadie, had gotten out of the house and run off at about 8 p.m. Sunday, but no one worried because they “always come back.”
At about 9 p.m., her husband went looking for them but was unsuccessful in finding the dogs.
At about 10 p.m., she and her husband were in bed watching TV when she heard gun shots. She got up, went out to investigate and found a police officer and border patrol car pulled over. After she described her dogs, the border patrol officer summoned the police officer, who told her he had shot the yellow lab.
“Brady wouldn’t bite anyone and never has. He was protecting our chocolate lab,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “This could’ve been handled the right way. My dog didn’t deserve to be shot.”
“Obviously, it’s a horrific, terrible event that happened,” Randall said Tuesday. “I can’t even imagine what this family is going through.”
However, he said, the officer followed protocols.
Animal control officer David Townsend said he was not working that night, and in his absence police handle animal complaints.
City Manager Jim Porter said Nick Barnett did discuss the matter with him. Barnett felt the action taken by the officer “was unnecessary, but he was not present when the incident happened,” Porter said. “I listened to his concerns.”
Porter said he read the officer’s report and believes the officer was “justified.”
No further action will be taken, the city manager said.