Since we found her with a wound we couldn't explain, in spite of the fact that she was seen by two vets in Florida, cleared, and fully vaccinated, the county animal control in Orange County, North Carolina is taking a hard line and essentially "throwing the book" at this poor sweet dog.
The wound was a simple puncture wound, under her forearm - the sort of wound typical of dogs used to bay and hunt wild pigs. The sort of wound that any other animal would have a very hard time inflicting.
We didn't know for sure that's what happened, but the emergency vet, and the park ranger we talked to in Florida seemed confident about it. Swine don't typically carry rabies - it's not out of the realm of possibility, but it's rare - in fact it hasn't been reported in the state (the entire state!) of Florida since 1969: http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/rabies/_documents/20-year-rabies-species-summary1994-2013.pdf
This "wound of unknown origin" business seemed to be the crux of animal control's stance. The law states notion of "reasonable suspicion", and defers to the discretion of the local authorities: http://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_130a/gs_130a-197.html
After pleading with the manager to no avail, we decided to ramp up efforts to find the person who lost her. We came to understand that the article of clothing we found next to her (a pair of men's underwear), is a common way for hunters to leave a marker for their lost dogs to find.
I made a post on craigslist, a local lost/found dog database, and shared it with some local dog rescues.
I even made a flyer, and got it posted at the local Bass Pro Shops (super awesome people by the way), and on their Facebook. I had some printed and sent to my mom to start posting around the areas where we found her.
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About a week later, we were contacted by the person who lost her: https://www.facebook.com/BLP123/posts/948545878493131
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This man also reached out to us via phone and e-mail.
I did some digging. Any doubt about this person being the guy who lost Peanut was cast aside when I found this post on a hog dog facebook group, dated the day before we found her: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=292959740899782&set=gm.757185687693752&type=1
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The man I talked to assured me that Peanut was definitely lost during a pig hunt, and that she was most certainly injured by a wild pig. He only owned her for a few months. He was OK with us keeping her, and he said he would do whatever he could to help get Peanut out of this situation.
I also managed to find a listing in another group from a few months prior, offering her up to a good home - but also indicating at least two previous owners in the last 6 months: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=830818350270066&set=gm.631004343679399
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All inquiries about rabies vaccination seemed to go nowhere. Attempts to reach out to the earliest owner I could find were fruitless.
At this point, I decided to appeal to reason - I read more information about rabies, the law, and wrote a letter to the director of animal control. The argument boiling down to this:
We know how she was injured. We know that the animal that injured her is not known to carry rabies. She's been in custody for weeks, and it's been a month since she was injured. She's shown no signs of infection. It is no longer reasonable to suspect that she's been exposed to rabies.
We went back and fourth a little bit, but ultimately animal control could not reach Peanut's previous owner, or he has decided not to cooperate anymore. Now they are pushing for quarantine again.
Here's the e-mail thread (there's an e-mail missing where I give them the e-mail and phone number that Peanut's original owner used to reach out to us, but otherwise this is complete):
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So at this point, we're at a loss. We've been, after a lot of runaround with the clinic where she has to be quarantined, finally quoted between $4500 and $5200 dollars. We were, after much debate, allowed to treat her heartworms while she's incarcerated. That will run about $875, which we've always been prepared to pay. However, facing $5k in costs will be a hardship for us.
But what's worse is the hardship for poor sweet Peanut - she's facing minimal contact, solitary confinement, and will always have death looming over her - if she shows any signs of aggression she will be put down without notice.
We have until next Monday, November 24th, to convince the folks at animal control that they've made a huge mistake. We really don't know what to do, so we're reaching out to anyone who can help us. My understanding of the law and the situation tells me that this really comes down to the opinion of people who are not vets. People who I believe have good hearts and are reasonable, rational people. We need to compel the people who can make this decision, to end this nonsense.
In my searching (and I mentioned this in my correspondence with animal control), I ran across the recent story of a couple in Forcyth county who faced a similar situation. Their dog was merely SPRAYED by a skunk - not bit, not scratched, merely SPRAYED, and that caused a similar over-reaction by animal control. Their story had a happy ending, and their dog was returned - without explanation. I hope that if enough people hear what's going on, that something similar with happen with Peanut.
Please spread the word! We've set up a petition, please sign it!
UPDATE (11/22/2014): We've attempted to start the quarantine process, and due to some folks being out of the office at Animal Control, Peanut will likely not be put into quarantine until sometime after the initial deadline of 11/24. It's highly likely that it won't happen until after the Thanksgiving holiday. We've gotten a ton of signatures on the petition and lots of shares and support - thanks everyone! The delay means we have more time to get signatures and spread the word. See What Can I Do To Help? for suggestions and links to continue the momentum!
UPDATE (11/28/2014): We have a new deadline of 6/5/2014 to get Peanut into quarantine. We're waiting for OCAS to send us the paperwork. This buys us more time to collect information and get more signatures. See What Can I Do To Help? We've also added a FAQ to clarify some things about our situation.
UPDATE (12/4/2014): We've been forced to start the process of putting Peanut into quarantine. The full story of how we got where we're at since the last update is documented in The Latest Resistance To Reason. OCAS is not listening to us at all - we've verified how Peanut was injured, the man who lost her is in contact with them now, and we even got some general advice from the CDC indicating that anything more than a 2-3 month observation period would be excessive, even in the unlikely event that Peanut was exposed to rabies. OCAS just doesn't care about our evidence.
Our story has been picked up by The Examiner, and our petition has nearly 5100 signatures now. The FaceBook Page has nearly 2100 likes. Momentum is really growing.
Peanut entering quarantine is a setback, but not the end of our fight! OCAS can still be compelled to change their mind and let us take Peanut home!
Please see What Can I Do To Help? for ideas and links to things you can do to help us convince OCAS to release Peanut from her quarantine.
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