Vet sued in deaths of impounded dogs
Staff writer
A Peabody woman is claiming a Whitewater veterinary clinic starved and neglected her dogs, contributing to their deaths.
Terri Tucker, who repeatedly had been cited by Peabody police for letting the dogs run free, has filed suit against the clinic in Butler County District Court.
The first two times she was ticketed, then-police chief Bruce Burke returned the dogs to her. When he picked up her dogs Dec. 24, 2021, he boarded them instead at Countryaid Vet Services in Whitewater.
Tucker appealed a ruling ordering her to pick up the dogs from boarding and not return them to Peabody or they would be adopted out.
She was ordered Jan. 12, 2022, to pay $265 for having dogs at large. She pleaded no contest in exchange for dismissal of two charges of having no proof of vaccination and two charges of having dogs with no city tags. Those charges stemmed from a June 6, 2021, citation.
By Jan. 12 of last year, the dogs had been at Countryaid 19 days. Boarding charges totaled $570.
She eventually reached an agreement with the city and dismissed her appeal.
In July of last year, Burke said the dogs had not been returned to Peabody but adopted by “appropriate homes.”
Efforts to reach Tucker by phone Tuesday to find out when the dogs died were unsuccessful.
Countryaid had no comment Tuesday about the case. However, in a note to Burke distributed at a Peabody city council meeting Monday, a representative from the clinic said: “We are not completely surprised but certainly don’t have $4,000 laying around to pay this.”
A trial is set for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 13, court records show.