A Brooklyn judge ordered a city animal shelter yesterday to release a runaway mastiff it’s been holding since last month because the facility demanded that the owner agree to the pooch’s sterilization first.
“What he was brought in with, he leaves the center with,” the judge, Arthur Schack, added as he announced his decision in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
Owner Pete Georgoutsos – who lost his mastiff, Spartacus, May 28 when his truck was broken into on a Queens street – praised the decision.
“I am grateful that the judge listened to the facts and made his own decision,” he said. “The evidence spoke for itself.”
A lawyer for the city, Paula Van Meter, said she would appeal the order and the dog would be held.
The judge found that the City Council had clearly not intended the law to apply to cases like this one. And he ripped the shelter’s tough line.
“We’ll hold him hostage and then we’ll kill him,” said Schack. “That’s what it sounds like.”