To the Editor:
Last week the Martha’s Vineyard Times printed several disturbing articles that included false accusations that my mother, Ellen Harley, made about my actions and motivations regarding my dog. I sympathize with her sadness, but contrary to her claim, my children and I loved Fergus, and he loved us. My decision to humanely end his life was sad and painful. I concluded that Fergus had become a menace to innocent strangers, including friends of my children.
My mother loves animals, and has devoted much of her life to their care and protection, but we have different views on the boundaries of tolerable animal behavior, and what a dangerous dog is. Over the years she has had many such animals in her household. They have bitten her, her husband, me, my son, my brother-in-law, people who help around her property, a veterinary technician, and strangers. Although I do not condemn her for exposing people to the danger of dog attack, after all, she is my mother, I have different views about the tradeoff between human safety and animal rights.
I am so grateful that my parents cared for Fergus and Lola while my house was under construction. After Fergus attacked an unsuspecting female neighbor who was knocking on my mother’s front door, my mother wrote me that she was anxious for both dogs to return to my care. Since the woman was injured enough to require medical care, and Fergus’s bite had broken her skin, animal control required him to be quarantined for 10 days. On July 11, my mother texted, “Greg; Ed and I have found that at our ages having two large young energetic dogs is too much.” I took this as a prodding to get my yard finished as quickly as I could. I kept her husband, Ed, informed of my progress, and promised that I’d be by as soon as my fence was completed to retrieve my dogs.
When my daughter and I brought Fergus home, I was hopeful that the intervention of antidepressants and the training that my mother arranged had been effective. When I saw Fergus lunge, growling with his hackles raised, at a visiting 12-year-old boy, I immediately restrained him. It is a good thing I was there, and this terrified me. I sadly called our veterinarian to have him euthanized.
Greg Worley
Edgartown