On Good Friday, April 02, Lladk began his journey to a highly regarded No Kill animal sanctuary in Southern California where he arrived this weekend and will spend the rest of his life in peace. The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners relented during the final days and agreed to consider sanctuary options with the restrictive conditions requiring a one-million-dollar insurance plan and a lifelong prohibition on adoption. His departure was threatened by one final settlement obstacle: a demand on April 01 that all outstanding remaining board fees, $3800 from a total of $7,500 be paid in full immediately. The funds were paid in the final hours by Good Samaritans.
Nine months passed from July 2020 when Lladk was first impounded to his release this past Friday as multiple legal appeals both at the state and federal levels were repeatedly sought and denied. At the state level the Circuit Court affirmed the county hearings officer Joe Turner decision, agreeing that he had applied Clackamas County’s Dangerous Dog law properly, despite the absence of objective standards or guidelines. At the Federal level, District Judge Marco Hernandez ruled that the Americans with Disability Act does not recognize that a dog deemed “dangerous” by a county government should be returned to his owners as a reasonable accommodation.
Once the original county hearing ended and Lladk was labeled a Dangerous Dog by the county his fate was sealed at each subsequent level appeal. Whether the designation was accurate or not by objective professional standards was never reviewed; never questioned. Execution starts with the county ‘s ordinance which has unjustly condemned to death so many innocent companion dogs and left their families suffering in this county.
The laws did not free Lladk. They imprisoned and nearly killed him. Left in place those same laws will kill innocent animals again and again unless citizens continue to speak out and protest as unrelentingly as they have for Lladk’s life. Change will not be easy. It has its enemies, but unless we strive for that change and establish minimum objective county standards of justice and due process, injustice will always win the battle.
Now is the time to begin that fight.