SOUTH HADLEY — Residents, involved parties and elected officials all watched and listened during a dangerous dog hearing on Aug. 5 where it was unanimously decided that Boone, the dog, was deemed too dangerous to other pets and ruled it should be humanely euthanized.
During a previous Selectboard meeting on July 9, multiple residents near the Pynchon Road neighborhood filled the room and took the time to address their concerns after a dog attacked and killed another dog during an incident in June.
Kevin Lumb is a resident in the neighborhood and talked about an incident that occurred on June 24 while he and his family were having dinner.
He said two small breed dogs, Scarlett and Harper, were being walked on a leash by their owners, the Walls, in front of his house when his wife noticed “a loose pit bull bolt down the middle of the street heading from behind the Walls.”
Lumb and his son ran out to help when he heard the two women screaming. Lumb said after he got closer, he saw Harper was in the pit bull’s mouth and tried to free the dog by hitting the pit bull with an umbrella, but he didn’t budge.
Lumb, who was wearing an arm sling due to a full torn rotator cuff and detached ligament from the incident, said the dog was finally released after Lumb’s son chased after the dog and struck it with an umbrella a few more times.
It was unfortunately too late as Harper was found dead at the scene. Georgia and Stephaine Wall also had blood on them, and Stephanie Wall was examined for a laceration she endured during the attack.
Animal Control Officer Steven Mailhott talked to Mathew Jeznach, Boone’s owner, after the June incident, who said his dog likely crawled under their fence to get loose. Mailhott described Jeznach as upset and emphatic after hearing the outcome of the incident that he was too late to stop.
Multiple members from the Wall family were both present at the hearing and shared their emotional perspective of the traumatic incident during the hearing.
Georgia Wall, fighting back tears, said, “I didn’t see the dog coming, I just saw it bite Harper. It bit her and I didn’t see it take its mouth off her. I’m not that strong but I was using my whole body to get my dog out of its mouth and then someone came out, they were wacking the dog and it wouldn’t let go. Finally, the dog started running with her in its mouth like a stuffed animal.”
Police officers were called to the scene and Lumb said the trauma that was endured by everyone that night will be hard to overcome.
There have also been two previous reports of incidents involving the same dog where it bit two dogs in August 2023 and December 2023.
After the June incident, the dog was ordered to be muzzled, leashed and placed in 45-day quarantine and a new fence was installed.
The Jeznach’s attorney Jeremy Cohen, from Boston Dog Lawyers, spoke to local leaders pleading his case as to why Boone should not be put down.
Cohen said that every time there’s been an incident with Boone, the Jeznachs have responded, including putting in a $16,000 vinyl fence to prevent weak spots and gaps where Boone could get out.
Cohen added, “What happened is horrible but what we know happened can be preventive from happening again. This isn’t a Boone problem, this is a Jeznach’s problem. They made it so that their dog got out and attacked this small dog. Anyone who has a dog understands that when a dog, especially a dog of Boone’s size sees a small animal, they have a prey drive that makes them want to go and grab it and that’s what Boone did here.”
Cohen also said that there are other ways to work with on helping the dog instead of euthanizing him.
“It’d be so nice and simple to not have to have 100 people come out tonight and say, ‘hey when a dog bites you kill it,’ but that’s not where we are. That’s not where we are as a society, especially as people who live in the Northeast. This is a terrible thing that happened, but we are smarter than that. There are trainers, there’s behaviorists and there’s equipment. They’ve engaged the muzzle,” Cohen said.
Mathew and Alice Jeznach attended Monday’s meeting and Alice Jeznach shared their condolences and apologies for what took place.
After evidence was presented, statements, testimonies and cross examinations were completed, the two and a half hour meeting ended with the Select Board ruled that Boone was a dangerous dog.
Select Board Chair Andrea Miles said, “I make the motion that because of the finding of Boone as a dangerous dog with all the testimony that I enter the order under Mass. General Law, Chapter 140 Section 15, that the dog be humanely euthanized.”
The decision will be drafted and issued to the Jeznachs, who will have 10 days to appeal the order to the district court if they choose to do so.
Cohen added during the meeting that there are also civil suits that will take place in court between the Jeznachs and Walls.
