PETA worker fails dognapping 101
A PETA worker is going to be tried for felony theft for stealing a foxhound. She says she was rescuing a stray. Except, well, she took a tracking collar off the dog, and also ignored the fact that the dog’s name and owner’s phone number were on the other collar.
Courtland, VA - An animal rights advocate who said she was rescuing a stray will be prosecuted on a felony theft charge for loading a deputy sheriff’s hunting dog into a van and driving away.
A judge on Tuesday allowed the case to proceed against Andrea Florence Benoit, 25, who contends she was worried about the dog’s welfare and only wanted to return it to its owner.
The Chesapeake woman picked up the fox hound while working in Southampton County for Norfolk’s People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Prosecutors dropped charges against another PETA worker in the van.
A motorist who saw the women pick up the dog called Southampton County Deputy Sheriff J.T. Cooke Jr., an animal control officer for the county. Cooke found the van a few minutes later and discovered his Walker hound in the back.
Cooke testified that he had let out several of his hounds the night before to chase foxes, and one failed to return. The dog carried dye markings of numbers on its side and “JT” on its hip and wore a neon yellow collar bearing Cooke’s name and cell phone number, the deputy said.
The animal also had been outfitted with an orange collar fitted with an antenna that could track the animal for three to four miles.
The tracking collar was found near the side of the road where the dog was picked up.
Oops. Apparently, though, she was following PETA policy. Yes, that’s right, PETA tells its workers to steal animals and not contact their owners directly.
The women were following PETA policy by not directly trying to contact the dog’s owner through the phone number on the other collar, Benoit’s lawyer, Stephen D. Benjamin, said. They intended to call their office so PETA could reach Cooke, he said.
While General District Judge Robert B. Edwards said he had no doubt that Benoit believed she was doing the right thing, “the right thing in this case was a felony.”
I like that judge. Of course, it’s going to be plea-bargained down to a misdemeanor, just as the case of the PETA workers taking animals from vets, killing them, and throwing them into a dumpster was.
