[Purple]

By DAVE FORSTER, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 27, 2007
Last updated: 9:09 AM


COURTLAND

A judge on Tuesday allowed a felony theft charge to proceed against a PETA worker who picked up an unattended hunting dog later found to belong to a sheriff's deputy.

The attorney for Andrea Florence Benoit, 25, said Benoit was worried about the dog's welfare and wanted only to return it to its owner. She saw the fox hound October while working in Southampton County for Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Benoit and a co-worker, Carrie Beth Edwards, 26, were driving a van marked "Community Animal Project" about 10 a.m. Oct. 25 when they stopped along Va. 35 to pick up the animal. They were on their way to make a pre-arranged house call in the area, Benoit's attorney, Stephen D. Benjamin, said.

Prosecutors dropped their case against Edwards on Tuesday.

A motorist who saw one of the women placing the dog in the van testified Tuesday that the scene "didn't look right," so he called Southampton County Sheriff's Deputy J.T. Cooke Jr., an animal control officer for the county. Cooke found the van a few minutes later and discovered his Walker hound in the back.

Cooke testified that he had let out several of his hounds the night before to chase foxes, and one failed to return. The dog carried dye markings of numbers on its side and "JT" on its hip and wore a neon yellow collar bearing Cooke's name and cell phone number, Cooke said. It also had been outfitted with an orange collar fitted with an antenna that could track the animal for three to four miles.

By the time he found the PETA van, Cooke had received a second call alerting him that a dog that was likely his had been spotted in the area. So when Cooke stopped the van, he asked the driver - Benoit - whether she had just picked up a dog.

According to Cooke's testimony, they had the following conversation:

"No," she told him.

"You didn't just pick up a dog with zeroes on the side and 'JT' on the leg?" replied Cooke, who was in his sheriff's vehicle and uniform.

"Oh, you mean that dog. Yeah, it's in the back," Benoit responded.

Cooke saw that the dog no longer had on its tracking collar and asked Benoit where it was.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she told him.

The tracking collar was found near the side of the road where the dog was picked up. Benjamin said in court that the women had removed it. He said they were right to do so; otherwise they could have been charged with stealing the collar, he argued.

The prosecution dropped the charge of stealing the collar against Benoit, and both charges against Edwards.

The women were following PETA policy by not directly trying to contact the dog's owner through the phone number on the other collar, Benjamin said. They intended to call their office so PETA could reach Cooke, Benjamin said.

The hound was on its way home before they picked it up, prosecutor Steve Edwards said in his closing argument.

"The one thing that would have made it difficult to get the dog out of the county was left in the ditch," he said, referring to the tracking collar.

"What we have here is a hound that was picked up by an organization from another jurisdiction to do who-knows-what with it," Steve Edwards said.

General District Judge Robert B. Edwards said he had no doubt that Benoit believed she was doing the right thing, "but the right thing in this case was a felony."

The case will now be set for a trial in Circuit Court.

Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com

http://content.hamptonroads.com/stor...=159617&tref=y

[Michele]

PETA is the devil. Those bastards were gonna kill that dog.....

[Purple]

Helluva story, isn't it?

[Swan]

The women were following PETA policy by not directly trying to contact the dog's owner through the phone number on the other collar, Benjamin said. They intended to call their office so PETA could reach Cooke, Benjamin said.


Ummmmmmmmm okay why the f**** do we get collars for our dogs and get them chipped and so forth???


Who the hell are these people?


God I feel major morning sickness coming on here!!!


Well tell ya all what, any time I see a van that says.."Community Animal Project" I will KNOW what the means.


Peta is OUT OF CONTROL and there was a headline with similar events last year a collar was ditched.. need to find it it might take me some time...

[Sean W.]

If that wasn't a sheriff's dog we would've never heard this story.


oh yeah...PETA sucks.

[LuvinBullies]

UGH!!!!!!!!!! And WHY is this organization still permitted to exist as "non profit" with tax exempt status? These crooked @#!$%^@ raise millions every year in donations, don't pay out a dime (except to known domestic terrorist groups like the ALF [and Ray Coronado]), and our tax dollars help support this crap!!!! I tell ya what- this first presidential candidate dedicated to dismantling PETA has my vote. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[Sean W.]

People feel they do more good than harm. They're not going anywhere without another organization just as large and strong taking them down. And then what would be the benefit to the other organization to do that?