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http://www.wbtv.com/story/37026295/...o-free-little-luna-a-shocking-amount-of-moneyBefore dawn on June 14, Angela Munson got out of bed to investigate a downstairs noise. In the couple’s kitchen, she found that her cat has cornered a bat. Munson says she used gloves and a dish towel to first pick up the invader and then release it outside. The bat flew away.
Luna, 8 weeks old at the time, was asleep upstairs in her locked crate, behind the closed door of the Munsons’ bedroom – all of which turned out to be an irrelevant defense.
The next morning, Angela Munson called her vet to report the incident and learn if there was anything else she needed to do. The vet, as required by law, notified the health department. Matters began unfolding quickly after that.
In a courtroom, everyone is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Rabies law doesn’t work that way. If there’s no bat to test, health officials say they must assume it was rabid. Since the Munsons couldn’t say how long the bat had been in their home, the county operated under the belief that the couple and all their pets had been exposed.
Under state law, vaccinated animals suspected of being rabid are confined for 10 days of observation. Of the Munsons’ five animals, only one had not been inoculated. That was Luna, who was too young at the time to get the shot. That brought the six-month quarantine into play – a period unanimously recommended by federal, state and county health experts. The couple’s only other choice: Put their puppy down.
In court, the Munsons asked two judges for more discretion. Given that there was little chance of infection and that Luna had not shown any symptoms, they said the puppy should have been freed after 10 days.
First county Administrative Law Judge Selena Malherbe and then Archie disagreed.
Next week, the Munsons will retrieve Luna, who has now spent three-quarters of her life in seclusion. The couple doesn’t know how the puppy will interact with them or their other pets, and they plan on letting Luna settle in for two weeks or so before they do any celebrating. That would put them right around Christmas.
Asked if she would do anything differently, Angela Munson had a quick response: She would not have followed the rules.
“I would never have called that vet,” “The penalties are so harsh. The most sensible option for people is to keep their mouths shut. Does anybody really need to know?”
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