Dog on Death Row Given Reprieve After Outpouring

A Labrador retriever that last week was sentenced to die by lethal injection for chasing mail carriers won a reprieve Friday when a judge dismissed the case against the canine.

But nature may carry out the sentence anyway. Veterinarians this week found out that 5-year-old Smokey has heart worms and will die unless he gets treatment. And they said owner Craig Shawn Jackson has told them that he would rather see the animal go naturally.

Smokey’s legal case drew hundreds of phone calls and petitions from around the world after Danville City Judge T. Ryland Dodson ordered the dog destroyed Dec. 6 for chasing--but not biting--three mail carriers.

The pleas for clemency included a letter to Dodson from former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and a petition from 40 members of the Italian Senate.

“This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard of,” Dodson said Friday in a telephone interview.

“The whole community’s been harassed for more than a year, including the mail people, who won’t even deliver mail on that street. The news media quite often doesn’t get the total picture,” he said.

Paulette Dean, director of the Danville Humane Society, said authorities returned Smokey to Jackson on Friday, but the owner, who no longer faces a $50 fine for keeping a vicious animal, has refused to consider the treatment, which can cost up to $350.

But she said other members of Jackson’s family pledged to make sure the dog recovers.

Dodson said he chose to spring Smokey after finding that the city ordinance was not in compliance with a recent amendment to state law.