Dog-collar case against worker at PETA dismissed

COURTLAND

A judge on Thursday dismissed a misdemeanor charge against a worker for Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals who had been accused of stealing a hunting dog’s tracking collar.

The circuit judge overseeing the case of Ondrea Harris , 26, called her a “meddlesome do-gooder” for picking up a foxhound on a Southampton County road that leads to North Carolina.

The incident occurred in October 2006, on the side of Va. 35 between Courtland and Boykins. Harris – who at the time was named Andrea Florence Benoit but has since married and changed her first and last names – was on a call as a community outreach worker. .

Harris and another outreach worker saw the hound on the side of the road. A motorist who witnessed the pickup called Southampton County Sheriff’s Deputy J.T. Cooke Jr., an animal control officer. The hunting dog happened to belong to Cooke.

Harris , who was driving a PETA van, and co-worker Carrie Beth Edwards were accused of stealing the dog and charged with felony theft . The charge against Edwards was later dropped, and the charge against Harris was reduced to misdemeanor petty larceny, for the alleged theft of the collar. She had removed the collar and left it on the roadside.

Harris contended that she was attempting to save a dog that she found on the edge of a road where the speed limit is 55 mph.

Assistant Southampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Edwards said the judge ruled prosecutors failed to prove Harris had intended to permanently deprive the collar’s owner of its possession.

David Perle, a PETA spokesman, praised the decision.

“Resources would have been better spent investigating the poor condition and abandonment of hunting dogs instead of impugning the motives of a decent young woman who tried to help a dog,” he said. “Our employee acted out of a humane desire to try to protect a dog from getting hurt on the highway.”

PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch said the outcome was what the organization expected.

Harris, she said, still works in community outreach.

Linda McNatt, (757) 222-5561, linda.mcnatt@pilotonline.com