Carol [email protected]
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An 11-page lawsuit filed in Norfolk Circuit Court in November details the complaint made by an Accomack County family against the Norfolk, Virginia-based non-profit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Wilber Zarate Llaven and his young daughter, Cynthia Isabel Zarate Tovilla, allege in the lawsuit that two PETA workers, Victoria J. Carey and Jennifer L. Wood, on Oct. 18, 2014, took the family’s pet Chihuahua, Maya, from the porch of their home and that PETA later euthanized the dog.
The two women also are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The incident led to the arrest of the women on charges of dog larceny in Accomack County, but Accomack County Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Agar declined to prosecute them, citing a lack of evidence that the women had criminal intent when they took the dog.
Maya’s death provoked an outcry well beyond the Eastern Shore of Virginia, as well as sparking a rally in the town of Accomac and a petition signed by more than 2,000 people asking that the case be prosecuted.
