Dog Owners Threatened With $750,000 Fine Over Missing Dog Posters | Animals | Forums

that's asinine

A D.C. dog owner did what anyone with a missing pet would do. He posted fliers — but then, he says, police threatened him with a $750,000 fine.

Roger Horowitz was out Friday, ripping down fliers he posted about his missing dog, Ollie — not because the dog has been found, but because he's afraid of being hit with the huge fine.

Horowitz and his wife, Annemarie, had recently adopted Ollie, a rescue dog that had been shot in Georgia.

"He'd been abused by his previous owner and actually shot with a shotgun," Horowitz said. "So he has about 23 pellets still in his back."

On March 30, Horowitz was walking Ollie near Georgia Avenue and Euclid Street NW when the dog broke loose.

"A car just backfired, and he suddenly just bolted and managed to get away with the leash," he said.

He filed a missing dog report, and said he was initially encouraged by police to post fliers. Volunteers helped put out thousands of them — but then a phone call changed everything

The couple said they got a call from a D.C. officer, saying the signs had to come down or they'd face a hefty fine

"So he told me that regardless if we put up the fliers, or if other people put them up, we had made the original flier that had my phone number, and that we could get fined up to 750,000," Horowitz said.

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