Free Luna

Update: We lost the battle. Judges Malherbe and Archie agree with the Health Department - a bat in a house for a few minutes gives the county the right to take unvaccinated animals from their families and euthanize those animals, unless the families opt to spend thousands of dollars to quarantine the animal for 6 long months.

Luna served the entirety of her 6-month sentence. She is now back at home and, despite her long incarceration, she is a normal, happy puppy. She just needs some training and lots of love and attention! I posted a deatiled update on Luna's first weeks back at home in the Updates section.

Here's what happened...

Our puppy, Luna, was confined in institutional quarantine because a bat found its way into our house. Luna was 8 weeks old at the time – too young to receive the rabies vaccine. Since she was unvaccinated, the Mecklenburg County Health Department decided that she must be quarantined at an institution or euthanized. Luna served a sentence of 6 months in quarantine where she was isolated in a 2’x2’ cell, deprived of human and animal contact. This incarceration was at our expense – if we failed to pay the bill, she would have been immediately euthanized.

This hefty sentence was levied against Luna despite the fact that she never came into contact with the bat. In the few minutes that the bat was in our house, only our fully vaccinated cat and I, wearing gloves, came into contact with the bat. It happened late at night and Luna was safely crated behind a closed door upstairs, far from where the incident occurred. According to the county, the bat could have been living in our house for years and so the entire household had been exposed to a potentially rabid animal. The decision was made before anyone from the county ever spoke to us. Not even the vet spoke to us before reporting the incident. I only spoke to a receptionist at the vet’s office briefly, concerned about our cat. Without notice, Animal Control showed up at our house to seize Luna. The officer informed us that he would come back with a warrant to forcibly remove Luna from our home if we failed to comply. Afraid for Luna, we complied.

We would later find out during our hearing to appeal the county's decision, that this is simply county policy. There is no case by case evaluation, only a minimal formula is used to determine the fate of unlucky dogs and cats and their families in Mecklenburg County:

Bat in house + Unvaccinated animal = 6 months quarantine (or euthanasia, if the family can't afford the quarantine)

We decided to fight it. The absurdity of such a policy combined with the fact that the Health Department conducted no investigation and, in Luna's case, the law is on our side (her age at the time of the incident exempts her from the statute that allows up to 6 months in quarantine) begs for a second opinion. Our only option for appeal was to challenge the decision in Administrate Court. We did and, to our surprise, we lost. If you'd been in court that day, you would have thought we won, hands down. We appealed the Administrative Court's decision in Superior Court. We lost again. Neither judge provided a reason for their decision. They simply stated that the county did no wrong.

Nearly everyday, for 6 long months, we visited Luna in quarantine. Animal Control provided a list of only 5 institutions that provide this service (this number has since decreased to 4) and the facility we selected was more affordable than others and they allowed us to visit at any time, so long as they were open. It's about a 45-minute drive, one way, to the clinic. We probably spent at least 20 hours each week visiting Luna, desperate to curb some of the damage isolation would undoubtedly do to her. It was so hard leaving her in that cell at the end of each visit, unable to make her understand what was happening to her and that I couldn't take her home no matter how much I wanted to. We endured it, just as Luna endured it. 

Luna is now home and, to our surprise, she quickly adjusted to freedom and is a normal, happy puppy. She quickly rekindled her bond with our 3-year-old dachshund, Oliver, and, for about a week, she refused to rest - too many new sights and sounds and smells! She requires a tremendous amount of physical and mental exercise to occupy her mind and burn off the excess energy she's accumulated for the last 6 months. Luna has a lot to learn about boundaries and she needs some serious training, but she is super playful and loving and her adventures are a delight to watch.

The emotional and financial harm this incident caused our family is tremendous - I never would have imagined its extent. The financial damage will likely take a few years to overcome and I'm not sure the emotional damage will ever heal completely, but all that hurt and anger has faded since Luna returned home.  It's hard to feel negative emotions when a furry bundle of joy is constantly vying for your love and attention! Despite the hardships of this ordeal, Luna is a blessing - we're grateful she's a part of our family.

Please share our story with your fellow pet parents. This could happen to anyone and we want others to be informed and prepared – unlike us.

Thank you for reading Luna's story and thank you for your support. I cannot express how much your support lifted our spirits and kept us moving forward with our fight.

About Luna
Luna is a Chihuahua mix who came into our lives when she was just 4 weeks old as her previous owner could not provide the level of care that a young puppy Luna’s age required. Luna could barely walk when she first came to us. Before she was taken, she was running and jumping and playing and chewing everything in sight. She loved to growl – while wagging her tail – because she could and she had just discovered how to bark and climb stairs. Luna loved to cuddle and to play with her best friend, Oliver, a black and white dapple Mini Dachshund. Luna was a happy puppy just discovering the world and it was a joy to watch her discoveries unfold. Luna was taken from us when she was just 8 weeks old. She weighed about 3 pounds when her sentence began. At the end of her 6-month sentence, she weighed around 10 pounds. We missed so much. But we're so glad she's back home, rediscovering the world.

Video of Luna in quarantine:

Video of Luna at home: