For a town with no leash law, a dog hearing before the Board of Selectmen (BOS) is a rare event, but town animal control officer Paul Willard and assistant officer Ann Bamford asked for one this week to recommend that two dogs with a taste for birds be banished from town, and the selectmen obliged.
According to Willard, Harvard resident Douglas Maclean of Littleton Road has repeatedly violated restraining orders issued by the town by failing to keep the free-ranging dogs under control. More seriously, however, they have, according to Willard, killed livestock—chickens and pheasants—on at least four occasions since 2009, digging their way into fenced coops as far away as Old Littleton and Slough Roads, more than two miles from their home. The two most recent incidents occurred at the end of March and in mid-April, the last resulting in the death of 15 chickens. There have been “dozens of times” when the dogs have been reported away from their property, “all over town,” according to Willard.
Asked why he had waited so long to take action, Willard told the selectmen, “It’s a serious thing to ask someone to lose their dogs, and you always hope that things will get better.” He said he had concluded that the problem was an “owner problem, not a dog problem,” and that the only fail-safe solution was to have the dogs moved elsewhere.
“If you don’t act firmly,” urged Bamford,” those dogs will be shot. Someday they’re going to run into the wrong farmer.”
At Tuesday night’s hearing, Bill Parkinson of Old Littleton Road and Jim Elkind of Slough Road, both of whom have lost birds to the miscreant dogs, spoke in support of their banishment. Parkinson said he had kept pheasants, some of them members of endangered species, since the ’70s. “I have never had an incident like this before, ever,” he said. Elkind observed that in their most recent coop invasion, the dogs had forced open a locked door to get to his chickens. He said he feared what would happen once warm weather arrives and his chickens were allowed outside.
Vijaya Maclean, wife of the owner, also appeared at the hearing. She apologized for the loss of the birds and said that they had paid damages in all cases. She listed all of the ways she and her husband had attempted to restrain their dogs—of which they have many—over the years, including electronic fences and leash lines attached to trees. “We’ve tried to be as responsible as we can be,” she said, “but it’s not perfect. They are bird dogs and I can’t guarantee anything.”
While Harvard does not have a leash law, the town nevertheless requires dogs to always be under the control of their owners, whether out for a walk, attending soccer games or chasing Frisbees. According to Town Clerk Janet Vellante, there are 1,013 licensed dogs in town.
“I have no grievance against dogs,” said Willard. “If there was a way to make sure the dogs never, ever, left their property—that would answer the problem.” But, he added, “Every single method that exists depends on people.”
“I think it’s a people problem,” agreed Selectman Bill Johnson once the hearing was closed. “There’s little evidence another chance would work.” The only other way he could see keeping the dogs in town was by constructing an escape-proof kennel or enclosure.
Though the selectmen delayed action until their next meeting, they did vote unanimously to have Selectman Tim Clark draft an order to require the Macleans to implement this last suggestion or, failing that, to find new homes for their two bird-dogging labs. A vote is expected at the next regular meeting of the selectmen on May 17.
