A family is suing People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals after workers for the nonprofit snatched a pet Chihuahua off their
porch and killed it.
Wilber Zarate and his daughter, Cynthia, seek more than $9
million. They each sued the Norfolk-based animal rights group Tuesday in
Norfolk Circuit Court for $2 million and are asking for $5 million in punitive
damages. Zarate and his daughter also are suing PETA workers Victoria Carey and
Jennifer Woods for $350,000 each.
A PETA official declined to comment on the suit Tuesday,
saying the group hadn’t read it yet.
Carey and Woods went to the Zarates’ trailer park home in
Accomack County in October 2014 and took the young girl’s 3-year-old Chihuahua,
Maya, off the family’s porch, according to court documents.
Carey was a contract worker for PETA and had been the
nonprofit’s human resources director. Woods is PETA’s senior communications
administrator and had volunteered to go with Carey on her own time.
Maya was euthanized that day, but state law required her to
be held for five days.
Cynthia was distraught after Maya was killed, Zarate said
of his daughter in the lawsuit.
“She cried for weeks, became lethargic, lost sleep,
refrained from eating and lost weight,” he said. “Maya was irreplaceable.”
Carey and Woods had come to the park before Maya was taken.
The trailer park’s manager had contacted PETA after a group of residents moved
out, leaving behind their large dogs, Zarate said in his lawsuit. The PETA
workers developed relationships with residents and promised to find good homes for
their dogs once they caught them.
A security camera shows two children trying to lure Maya
off the porch, according to the lawsuit. When they fail, Woods plays lookout
while Carey snatches the dog. Carey and Woods paid the kids to coax the
Chihuahua, Zarate said in the suit.
Four months after euthanizing the dog, PETA admitted it
euthanized Maya and apologized.
In February, Daphna Nachminovitch, a PETA senior vice
president who oversees the team that was responsible for the euthanization,
said Carey mistook Maya for another Chihuahua.
Zarate said Carey met Maya during one of her visits and
promised to get her vaccinated, Zarate said in the suit, adding that she never
did.
The state conducted an investigation and determined that
PETA violated state law by failing to ensure that the animal was properly
identified and failing to keep the dog alive for five days before killing it,
according to the notice from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services.
Because of this “critical finding” and the “severity of
this lapse in judgment,” the agency issued PETA the organization’s first-ever
violation and imposed the largest fine allowed, $500.
“We were pretty devastated that this happened for obvious
reasons,” Nachminovitch said after the investigation’s results were made
public. “It shouldn’t have happened. It was a terrible mistake.”
PETA has made several changes to prevent such an incident
from happening again, Nachminovitch said in February. Field workers who pick up
animals now must complete a form to verify that all proper steps have been
taken. Supervisors also must approve unscheduled “animal surrenders” in the
field.
Carey’s contract was terminated, and Woods kept her job.
