LAS VEGAS—A New York-based animal rescue group resumed its fight Wednesday in Nevada to save a 120-pound dog slated for euthanasia for fatally mauling a 1-year-old boy at a Henderson home more than two weeks ago.
Officials with the Lexus Project Inc. submitted documents asking a state court judge in Las Vegas to reconsider her Friday ruling that the rescue group didn’t have legal standing to take possession of the 6-year-old mastiff-Rhodesian ridgeback mix, named Onion, to send him to a sanctuary near Denver.
Robin Mittasch, president of the Oceanside, N.Y., organization, said the grandmother who owned the dog before the April 27 attack, Elizabeth Keller, signed ownership of the animal over last Saturday to the Lexus Project.
“Ms. Keller has concerns about how Onion is being treated by Henderson Animal Control and wants him to be in better hands,” Mittasch said in a statement distributed to the media.
Keller said in an affidavit submitted Wednesday to the court that she didn’t understand the implications of a form she signed that night transferring ownership and custody to a Henderson animal control officer. She said she was trying to care for her mortally injured grandson at the time.
Mittasch said she wouldn’t ask Keller to confirm the claim for The Associated Press. Keller and the boy’s father, Christopher Shahan, did not immediately respond to a message. A former family spokeswoman, Elizabeth Trosper, reached them by telephone and said they told her they wanted to be left alone.
Last week, the family issued a statement through Trosper saying that “due to the seriousness of the situation, they relinquished all ownership rights of their dog, Onion, to the City of Henderson Animal Control Division” and would no longer express any opinion or comment about the dog’s future.”
Clark County District Court Judge Joanna Kishner sided Friday with Henderson city attorneys who argued the attack proved the dog is vicious, and that “despite good intentions” an uninvited third party with no ties to the family had no legal right to step in to try to save it.
On Wednesday, lawyer Kathy McCarthy, for the Lexus Project, said the judge should hold another hearing on Keller’s wishes.
“Our contention is we own the dog,” McCarthy told AP. “The judge said, ‘You don’t have standing.’ This gives us standing and a basis to bring this claim.”
Court spokeswoman Mary Ann Price confirmed the Lexus Project had filed documents, but said their meaning was unclear. A court hearing was not immediately scheduled.
Henderson city spokesman Keith Paul said the dog was being cared for at the city animal shelter pending the judge’s signature on documents clearing the way for euthanasia.
