It’s Exile, Not Euthanasia, for Death Row Dog in Oregon

Facing a flood of protests over the scheduled euthanasia of a family dog that chased a horse, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners in Oregon issued a reprieve Thursday that will allow the dog to be transported to an animal sanctuary in Utah.

“We need to end this thing. We’re having threats against my life, threats against other commissioners;our telephone system is so overloaded with calls that we can’t even access our own offices,” commission Chairman Jack Walker said before the vote in Medford.

An emergency ordinance adopted by the commission modifies an Oregon state law that requires dogs to be killed if they kill, injure or chase livestock. Nadas, a 3-year-old collie-malamute mix that chased a neighbor’s horse in 1996, had been scheduled to die as early as Tuesday.

Under the new ordinance, owners whose dogs are caught chasing livestock will be allowed the option, as long as the livestock is not injured, of paying a $100 fine and having the dog transported outside the state.

In the case of Nadas, whose plight has attracted sympathy across the country, the county has specified that the dog must be transported to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah, never be adopted by a family and have no future contact with his owner, 21-year-old Sean Roach.

In those conditions, county commissioners were apparently bowing to concerns from the livestock industry that cattle-chasing dogs should not be allowed to become a new problem to ranchers in other states. Walker said Roach should not be allowed to see the dog again because county officials believe he was an irresponsible pet owner.

“He is the reason this whole thing has cost the taxpayers of Jackson County tens of thousands of dollars. The evidence shows that he didn’t take care of his pet in the first place. . . . This wasn’t the first time that dog got caught chasing,” Walker said.

Roach, who was warned after Nadas was seen chasing cattle in the neighborhood several months earlier, has said he kept the dog tethered on a long chain while he was at work, but the dog apparently broke loose on the day it chased the next-door neighbor’s horse through the pasture.

There was no indication the dog intended to harm the horse, but after the neighbor complained, county animal control officers seized Nadas under the state law requiring euthanasia for animals caught chasing livestock, even when no injury is involved.

Nadas has been held without contact with the family for nearly a year and a half as the family filed a series of legal appeals.

On Thursday, the Oregon Supreme Court issued a new stay of execution, an issue that could become moot if Nadas is transported outside the state.

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Before the commissioners voted, Sharon Roach, Sean’s mother, said it was “extremely wonderful news” that the county is taking steps to save Nadas.

“Sean is still concerned with the fact they said he could never ever be adopted in his lifetime and that Sean isn’t allowed to ever see Nadas. That’s kind of a tough one,” said Roach, who has paid more than $4,500 in kennel fees to house the dog during the dispute.

Robert Babcock, attorney for the family, called the reprieve with its tough conditions “a harsh, vindictive approach, but probably the best we can get out of Jackson County.

“I am sure that Sean will elect under this ordinance to save his dog’s life rather than run the risk of a second loss in the Supreme Court. But I don’t sing any hosannas to Jackson County for doing less than they should have done a year and a half ago.”

He said animal-rights activists would press ahead with an initiative campaign to revise Oregon’s law.

The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, situated on several hundred acres in rural southern Utah, is the nation’s largest no-kill domestic animal sanctuary, maintaining a population of about 1,500 animals, mostly cats and dogs. The sanctuary offered to take in the dog in a letter to the county in November. County officials initially rejected the offer, citing possible county legal liability should Nadas bite anyone there.

Roach and his supporters have scoffed at the idea, saying Nadas is a friendly dog who has never attacked anyone or injured any other animal.

Many other states have laws allowing dogs to be killed if they are attacking livestock, according to the Humane Society of the United States. However, most such laws require the dog to be caught in the act of an attack and do not allow, as the Oregon statute does, the hunting down of the dog later. Most states also allow for the recovery of financial damages.

In California, the livestock owner may sue for twice the amount of the financial loss. Some states, like Montana, impose criminal penalties on the dog owner.

A few other counties in Oregon have adopted local ordinances modifying the mandatory euthanasia requirements of state law, but Walker said the county is reluctant to adopt wholesale changes.

“This is an agricultural county, a county that still has a lot of ranches, a lot of livestock, and to maintain those businesses, you can’t have domestic animals chasing sheep and lambs and cows and horses around,” he said. “This is not L.A. or Chicago, and there’s a need for some different laws.”

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Rod Dowse, executive vice president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Assn., said the group will be meeting with representatives of veterinary medicine, the sheep industry and animal protection groups in Oregon to consider changes in state law. State legislators considered relaxing the mandatory euthanasia law last year, but the bill’s sponsor dropped it after vigorous opposition from the livestock industry.

“Sometimes livestock producers kind of get this coldhearted rap on this issue. The tough thing is, I can’t think of anyone more compassionate toward animals than someone who works with them on a daily basis,” Dowse said. “Most agriculturalists have pets as well, but they know through being a responsible pet owner and training those animals that there’s really no need for them to be out there chasing livestock.”