WATERBORO – A Waterboro man shot his neighbor’s Rottweiler in the leg this week after the dog ventured onto his Townhouse Road property, police said.

It is the second police investigation of a dog being shot in a neighbor’s yard in Waterboro with the first occurring in late March.

Additional Photos

Tyson, a Rottweiler, was shot in the right front leg Wednesday in Waterboro by a neighbor. Tyson is 3 years old and weighs 95 pounds. Photo courtesy of Melissa Carter

Tyson, a 3-year-old Rottweiler belonging to Glenn Carter and Melissa Carter, was shot in the lower right front leg Wednesday. The man who allegedly shot the dog lives next door to the Carters, although police would not provide his name or release the police report because the incident remains under investigation.

Maj. Thomas Baron of the York County Sheriff’s Office said it appears the dog approached the neighbor’s residence, and the homeowner told police he felt the dog was going to charge him when he fired a shot from a .22-caliber pistol.

There is not a fence between the two wooded properties, Melissa Carter said.

No summons has been issued yet but the case is under investigation by the sheriff’s office.

Melissa Carter said the 95-pound Tyson and the couple’s other Rottweiler, Harley, might look mean but are not aggressive. Of the two, she said, Tyson is the more cowardly, prone to running away when scared.

“They’re like big teddy bears,” Melissa Carter said. “We got them when they were puppies and I’ve always like gotten down right in their face, putting my face near their face when playing them and stuff to make sure they’re used to people and not scary.”

After three hours of surgery, Tyson is doing well and healing at a Norway veterinary hospital, Melissa Carter said. She estimated the medical bills will end up totaling about $3,000 and said Tyson will likely take several months to recover.

According to Town Clerk Yvette Murray, Waterboro doesn’t have any dog or leash-related ordinances on the books and defers to state law. Maine law doesn’t require dogs to be leashed but does prohibit them from being off the owner’s premises unattended.

The statute also says that unless the dog presents a danger, a person that kills or injures a dog is liable to the dog’s owner.

In the other recent incident in Waterboro, Nancy Clough of Federal Street was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, a Class C felony, after shooting and killing a dog March 27.

Clough told Sgt. David Chauvette that she had been in contact with the town’s Animal Control Officer about a dog named Shadow who kept wandering onto her property from a neighbor’s residence.

Upon seeing the 4-year-old bull mastiff mix acting aggressively in her backyard, Clough said, she went back inside, got her rifle and shot the dog in the back. Clough fired a second shot to kill the dog when she saw it was still moving.

That case is still pending in court.

Karen Antonacci can be contacted at 791-6377 or at:

kantonacci@mainetoday.com

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