HARTFORD — A federal judge is being asked to decide whether Connecticut has violated the rights of dog owners by holding animals deemed dangerous for years on what amounts to a canine death row.
A hearing on Monday comes in a class action lawsuit. The dogs involved include Kato and Kleo, a pair of Rottweilers who have been held since being ordered destroyed in 2012. Kim Miller, the dogs’ owner, said the pair got out of her Hamden yard and bit a neighbor only after they were attacked.
Her lawyers said the state has no standards for determining when an animal should be euthanized, leaving it to the discretion of local animal control officers.
They said that is a violation of due process and an unreasonable seizure of property.
