"Our private property rights are intended to protect us from this type of government intrusion"

.Harrassment by Animal Control division
From:  “Rob Fisher” <rjfisher1234@gmail.com>To::   Greg Kisela” <gkisela@port-orange.org> “Shannon Lewis” <slewis@port-orange.org> “Gerald Monahan” <geraldm@p
Dear Sir:
I never imagined I would ever have to write a letter like this, but unfortunately, due to select individuals in the Port Orange Animal Control Division, it has become necessary. About 2 years ago is when this began. We had a dog who as he got to the old age of 13 years old, decided to take himself for a walk, about once every 2 months or so randomly. We were contacted by animal control a couple times about it. We did not deny his strange random walks, and were of the mindset that he has only a few days left, and it was his only pleasure he had left.
Let me also mention that all our neighbors knew “Dakota”, and he was the gentlest soul you would ever meet. He never barked at anyone, and every person he came across was greeted with a wagging tail. About 2 months ago, and by this point “Dakota” was not able to get to his feet without assistance most of the time, we were approached by an Animal Control officer, who was aggressive, and rude, while claiming “Dakota” was 5 doors down, when in fact, she was answering a call 5 doors down, and saw “Dakota” in our front yard.
We were aware of him being in our front yard, but knew he was not going anywhere. Instead of protecting the citizens of the city from stray animals, they at that point, had crossed the line of aggressively targeting us because of our dog. It was about 1 month later that we had to put “Dakota” down, due to he could no longer stand up, but in the eyes of your Animal Control officers, he is a danger to our community, that they need to be involved in?
Today was the last straw. We opened our garage door, to go in our front yard to throw the ball with our other dog, “chloe” . We were getting her ball to throw for her, when we heard a car stop, and heard her bark. Immediately, we called “chloe” to come back to us, which she did, when we heard your Animal Control officer, Christine Martin, yelling at us to “come out here now, and bring your drivers licence!” “chloe” does not bark at cars driving by, or run in the street.
Mrs. Martin stated that she almost ran her over, which is not possible, as “chloe” did not have enough time to do so, and as I said she does not run in the street. She was waiting for us to throw the ball to her, and she knows what that means when we tell her that.
What really happened was Martin was driving up the street, saw “chloe”, and drove up along the curb, intending fully to cause a scene. When she drove up along the curb, “chloe” does protect us from anyone who comes on our yard, by notifiying us by barking. She does not bite, and has never gotten aggressive with anyone, just barks to warn us.
When we got “chloe” back in the house which took all of 1-2 minutes, as she is a well behaved dog, and came to us right away, we closed our garage door and met Martin at our front door. Martin continued her aggressive, abusing demeanor, demanding that my wife Joanna, produce a drivers licence, as she was writing us a ticket for dog at large.
We continued to tell Martin that our dog was on our property, and thus was not at large. Martin replied that our dog must be on a leash even on our yard. I asked Martin how we are supposed to be able to play ball with our dog in OUR yard, if she had to be on a leash. Martin told us that we are not allowed to play ball with our dog, stating, “that we have to take her to a dog park if infact we would like to play with her.”
We bought a home with a yard, for our children, and pets have an area to play in. This is a serious over reach, and harassment by the Animal Control Division. Martin handed us a copy of the leash law, trying to point out the part of needing to have animals on a leash, to which I pointed out the first sentence, which clearly says, “ when leaving the property”, which I pointed out to the Port Orange police officer Martin called, when we informed her we would not be giving her a drivers licence, to complete her erroneous ticket.
I also informed the police officer that we were being harassed by the Animal Control division, telling him the story about “Dakota”, when Martin interrupted me, saying “we found him 5 doors down”, which only reinforced the collective harassment by her, and the division, as she knew the details already, although not the true details.
We want this harassment stopped, as we want the officers that are harassing us to cease and desist Our private property rights are intended to protect us from this type of government intrusion. We intend to take this to as many people, and media outlets it takes to get the correct resolution to this injustice. You have been given this letter, to provide you the opportunity to resolve this before it gets to that point.
On top of it all, Martin has this attitude on Easter of all days. Not even on this very religious day, can Martin maintain a civil disposition? The animal control division is paid with my tax dollars, intended to provide a service for us, not to harass us.
Respectfully,
Robert, and Joanna Fisher
1783 Creekwater blvd.
Port Orange Fl. 32128