I was sure the case against Spork would have been tossed out by now.
It tells you what I know about courts, the law, and tiny, allegedly vicious dogs.
If you haven’t heard about Spork yet, certainly a lot of others have. As of Friday afternoon, 20,775 people were signed up as members on the Save Spork page on Facebook.
In a nutshell, Spork is a 10-year-old miniature dachshund that last August was taken to a veterinary hospital in Lafayette to have work done on a bad tooth.
He was in pain and shaking wildly with fear when his owner, Kelly Walker, carried him into the vet. It was so bad that Spork defecated on the woman’s arm. The real trouble started when a technician came to take Spork.
The dog bit her right on the mouth, tearing skin from both of the technician’s lips.
The technician decided to call Lafayette police to press vicious-animal charges against Spork.
Tim and Kelly Walker were issued a citation and have spent more than $6,000 in legal and other fees to save their dog from possible euthanasia or other sanctions such as lifelong kenneling.
A judge on Friday took under advisement a motion by the Walkers to have the charge dismissed. The couple contends state law should override the city’s vicious-animal law. Under state law, workers in veterinary offices cannot press charges in animal-bite cases.
I am, it appears, the 20,776th person who believes the judge should have apologized to the Walkers as he quickly tossed the case. I do feel bad for the vet-tech. Yet I have to go with Jennifer Edwards, attorney for the Walkers.
“It happened in a veterinary clinic,” she said. “There is an assumption of risk there.”
That said, I am hardly among the small legion of knuckleheads who have telephoned and e-mailed threats to and are proposing a boycott of Jasper Animal Hospital, where the incident took place.
Sure, Dr. Donald Dodge, founder of the hospital, is supporting his tech. And he was required to report the bite.
But he has not said he wants Spork dead. He is not the problem and certainly should not have been the target of two death threats he has reported to Lafayette police.
The problem is the city of Lafayette, which will not admit flaws in its 2-year-old vicious-animal law, which was created so pit bulls could live in town unless they bit someone. The law doesn’t address bites at an animal hospital.
Gary Klaphke, the city administrator, said in a statement the city basically has confidence in the judge making the right call on Spork.
If the case isn’t dismissed, a trial is scheduled for April 20.
So what is likely to happen to a guilty Spork? It is unlikely that he would be put down, Edwards said. He could be ordered confined to an enclosure for the rest of his life, or ordered muzzled at all times he is in public.
Of the Save Spork movement, she says, “I have never seen that before.” And she is a lawyer with the Animal Law Center in Wheat Ridge who has handled similar cases.
“It has just really struck a nerve with people,” she said. “This case goes to the core of people’s love for their animals, that they are not simply property, like the law says they are, but loving members of the family.”
The outrage would be Spork meeting his demise on a complaint filed by those charged with his care, and a city unwilling to see the irony.
Bill Johnson writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-2763 or wjohnson@denverpost.com.
