Essex Select Board Issues Final Warning to Owner of Dog With Five Attack Incidents

ESSEX — February 24, 2025 — Essex Select Board tightens leash and muzzle order for dog with five bite incidents, sparing it from euthanasia. The board voted unanimously Monday to impose a more restrictive order on Vicki Cataldo, owner of a dog named Tilly, after a fifth documented attack in early 2025 violated a 2021 board order requiring the animal to be muzzled and leashed outdoors. Town Counsel Greg Corbo, joining remotely, outlined the statutory options under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 140, Section 157, including mandatory dog surrender and a five-year ownership ban for the owner, but Animal Health Inspector Pamela Stone recommended against euthanasia, calling it "a harsh punishment for Tilly" and offering to help identify a properly fitted muzzle from her 40 years of animal-hospital experience. The new order prohibits Tilly from being walked anywhere in Essex outside the owner's property and requires a muzzle any time the dog leaves the residence. Separately, Finance Committee Chair Jody Harris told the board that the Manchester Essex Regional School District's most recent budget revision shows Essex's apportionment rising 8.64 percent, driven by a 27 percent health insurance increase and a 6.2 percent rise in teacher personnel costs, a combination that would exceed the town's Proposition 2½ levy limit and points toward a potential override question on the annual town meeting warrant.