Q: Can animal control take my dogs even if there’s no proof from my neighbor’s allegations?
Animal control showed up with a complaint from one of our neighbors saying two black dogs were in their yard through the fence. While I have two black dogs and a third small tri color dog, no new fence boards are up and they were watched all day when being let outside. The officer said the fence was probably already fixed and if it happens again they can take our dogs. Can they take them even though we know it wasn’t our dogs but our neighbor swears it was? What actions can we take to protect them?
A:
Animal control is being a little overzealous, here, in that threat. They technically can take your dogs, but they usually don't, especially when they can locate the owner.
And yes, you can get a criminal charge based on some random neighbor making some random complaint, without video or audio evidence to back it up. Unfortunately, while the adage is: "innocent until proven guilty," the actual machinations of our justice system results in people being treated as guilty until they prove themselves innocent at a trial.
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