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It was one of those things you simply don’t expect to read in one of the hundreds of emails sent to the Cherokee Scout every week: “The DA offered a deal if we got the dog vocal cord removal surgery he would drop all charges.”
I had to read it twice. Then I read it again for good measure.
The message was from Michael Eddings of Graham County, whose family of five – plus one dog, Leo, a 7-year-old Great Pyrenees who weighs 120 pounds – moved into a new neighborhood in October. After a dispute with a nosy neighbor over an alarm going off, law enforcement received several calls about Leo’s barking.
On March 23, Eddings said he was given a ticket for Leo barking after officers asked him to put the dog in the back yard, muzzle him or keep him inside, which he declined to do. A few days later, he received yet another ticket.
“The first argument was that I didn’t comply when asked to move the dog,” Eddings wrote after a court appearance on May 31. “After that was stated, the DA offered a deal if we got the dog vocal cord removal surgery, he would drop all charges. I declined the offer and called PETA. Debarking surgery is inhumane; Leo barks to communicate with us when he feels there’s a threat.”
Unsurprisingly, Catie Cryar, a spokeswoman with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, agrees with Eddings. She told Newsweek, “Dogs bark to communicate – it’s their way of talking – and it’s no more acceptable to remove portions of their vocal cords than it would be to remove a human’s.”
She’s not alone. Several states have banned the “devocalization” of dogs altogether or place strict restrictions on when the procedure can be used. The American Animal Hospital Association also opposes debarking, which the group says contains health risks and “no medical benefit to the animals.”
District Attorney Ashley Welch confirmed that an assistant district attorney made the suggestion. And she wasn’t happy about it.
“An assistant district attorney in my district suggested, as a possible solution to violations of a town’s noise ordinance, that a dog’s vocal cords be surgically altered,” she said in a statement. “Whether offered in jest or seriousness, the suggestion was inappropriate. I am unable to offer additional comment as this is now a personnel matter.”
It’s unfortunate that the ADA apparently lost his job over this Tuesday, though it was a serious lapse in judgment.
I have lived with dogs my entire life, and today I’m dad to three Pomeranians – one who barks so much he probably thinks his real name is Shut Up. And one of my daughters has a Great Pyrenees, who can indeed let the decibels rip. But never in my wildest nightmares would I have ever thought about surgically removing any animal’s vocal cords.
Despite saying he has received messages from other officials calling this matter “a waste of the court’s time,” Eddings has another court appearance scheduled in October. From the sounds of Welch’s statement, Leo’s proposed surgery won’t likely be on the agenda, though Eddings told WLOS he has accumulated more than $750 in noise violation citations and attorney fees.
It’s worth noting as Cherokee County considers updating its noise ordinance that Graham County doesn’t define quiet hours in their ordinance, it just specifies between noise considered disturbing and unnecessary. Both criteria say noise should not be heard 50 feet from the noise source.
If that was the rule on this side of the county line, would we have had a better shot at getting new crypto mining facilities to keep their noise levels down? Or would it have just been another lawsuit waiting to happen?
Regardless, here’s hoping the situation gets resolved peacefully and Leo stays fully intact. Perhaps Eddings should put in a call to the good folks at Cold Nose College for professional, and compassionate, help with getting his dog to tone it down a notch.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on Twitter @daviddBstroh.