Select Board Declares Farm Dog Anna a Nuisance
Northfield's Select Board declared a free-roaming Great Pyrenees mix named Anna a nuisance dog and ordered her owners to capture her within 14 days.
Select Board · Meeting of April 21, 2026
Northfield's Select Board declared a free-roaming Great Pyrenees mix named Anna a nuisance dog and ordered her owners to capture her within 14 days. Members voted 5-0 on a series of findings during a continued hearing that ran from 6:02 p.m. to adjournment at 7:58 p.m., built on more than 20 documented dispatch calls dating to December 2024. Owners Elspeth and Jesse Robertson DuBois of Finicky Farm LLC must retain an expert to capture Anna with a tracking tranquilizer dart, then spay, vaccinate and train her.
If she isn't caught in 14 days, the town may take over at the owners' expense, with fines of up to $500 a day under Chapter 140, Section 157A. Town Counsel Jeff Blake said that in "hundreds" of similar hearings he had "never seen a situation where you had to use a tranquilizer gun to catch a dog." Vice Chair Bernard Boudreau called the dog "in a wild state." The farm must also provide proof of liability insurance.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 893 words
Source: the Select Board meeting of April 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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