TORONTO — A man who refused to turn over his aggressive Doberman pinscher to be euthanized was found in contempt of court Friday.
In its ruling, Ontario's Court of Appeal sided with health authorities in finding Rob Szalas had defied the spirit of previous court orders by sending the animal to the United States.
"Mr. Szalas demonstrated blatant contempt for the administration of justice by ignoring repeated orders and demands to surrender the dog," the Appeal Court ruled.
Dr. Jim Chirico, the medical officer of health for the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, had ordered Szalas to turn over his dog to the humane society be put down after it bit four people, without provocation, in 2013 and 2014.
Szalas initially handed over the Doberman but appealed the euthanasia order and was allowed to keep the dog pending the outcome of that battle. He breached several conditions, including that the dog be leashed and muzzled, court records show.
His appeals were ultimately rejected and a representative of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals went to his home to retrieve the dog so it could be put down. Szalas again refused to let that happen and, instead, sent the animal to the U.S.
Chirico went back to court to argue the owner was in contempt of his euthanasia order but in April 2015, Superior Court Justice Paul Rivard dismissed the contempt motion, despite finding that Szalas had behaved in a "wilful and deliberate way."
Rivard decided that the order had been to turn over the Doberman to the humane society — but it was the SPCA that came to collect it.
Chirico turned to the Ontario Court of Appeal, which found Szalas had failed to follow the spirit of the order.
"By not giving up possession of his dog to be euthanized, Mr. Szalas did just that," the Appeal Court ruled. "Simply put, the days are long gone when someone subject to a court order can get away with circumventing it by relying on a benign technicality."
The Appeal Court referred the matter back to a lower court judge other than Rivard to allow Szalas the chance to purge his contempt. The lower court will then determine the appropriate sanction.
The court also ordered Szalas to pay Chirico $1,500 in costs for the appeal.
