A state Department of Agriculture hearing officer this week issued a proposed decision that would allow authorities to euthanize a dog, owned by an animal rights advocate and former state lawmaker, that fatally mauled a 95-year-old woman in Suffield last November.
The dog’s owners, Neil and Annie Hornish, have been fighting efforts to euthanize the dog since shortly after the attack. They believe that the dog was provoked into biting Janet D’Aleo of Enfield, who was a family friend, in their home, and that the dog is otherwise a gentle animal.
Authorities in Suffield, however, believe that Dexter, a pit bull max, is a danger to the public and sought to have the animal euthanized.