Carol Vaughn

cvvaughn@delmarvanow.com

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.

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The lawsuit filed by Zarate claims PETA altered documents submitted to government authorities in an effort to cover up the incident, and that the defendants' actions were part of an established pattern where PETA representatives "routinely kill companion animals in violation of law, regulation and decency."

Cynthia Zarate, who was 9 at the time, was severely upset by her pet's death — "she cried for weeks, became lethargic, lost sleep, refrained from eating and lost weight," among other signs of emotional distress, the lawsuit says.

The Zarates asked for a jury trial in the lawsuit, which claims damages of $9.7 million.

Attorneys William H. Shewmake and John M. Robb III of the Richmond law firm LeClairRyan are representing the Zarates.

An attorney for PETA said the lawsuit "is filled with twisted allegations and outright fabrications and has no basis in law."

General Counsel for PETA Jeffrey S. Kerr went on to say, "It is a money grab against a charity that had been called in to help a community, did its best, and made one tragic mistake for which it has tried hard to make amends."

Kerr said those efforts at making amends have been refused.

"PETA will mount a vigorous and aggressive defense," he said.

The lawsuit details alleged events between 2011, when the dog was given as a Christmas gift, to the time of its death and shortly thereafter.

Wilber Zarate got the Chihuahua puppy to give to his daughter for Christmas 2011, according to the lawsuit, which says, "As the family dog, Maya became an important part of the family who was loved by all members of Wilber's family, and was especially adored by Cynthia."

The lawsuit describes Maya as "a very small dog who was afraid of strangers and larger dogs" and notes Zarate regularly took the dog to the veterinarian for care and annual vaccinations.

The family later moved to Dreamland 2 mobile home park in Hopeton, where other members of the extended family lived.

The lawsuit says at one time the park's residents included primarily members of two different ethnic communities, Hispanic and Haitian, but that gradually the Haitian residents moved away "and some of the departing people left large dogs behind."

The mobile home park's owner in 2014 asked PETA if it would remove the dogs that had been left behind. The organization agreed but did not make any effort to capture those animals, according to the lawsuit.

Instead, PETA representatives "took the opportunity to enter the park to surreptitiously take the residents' pets for the purpose of killing them," the lawsuit claims, adding that the non-profit "believed that given the socioeconomic status of the residents, PETA could take the pets and kill them without any repercussion to PETA."

Prosecutor: Evidence lacked to convict PETA workers

Carey and Wood visited the mobile home park over a period of time "and began to ingratiate themselves with the residents in order to build trust with the residents," telling them they would try to find good homes for the dogs they captured, the document says.

Carey knew Maya belonged to the Zarates and told Wilber Zarate that PETA would be glad to have Maya vaccinated. Based on that, Zarate waited for PETA to provide the dog her annual vaccinations in 2014, but that did not happen, according to the lawsuit.

Zarate returned from a shopping trip on the morning of Oct. 18 — one of the items he purchased was a pillow for the dog — and found Maya was missing; his niece who lived nearby told him her dog also was missing.

Zarate had a security camera on his porch and footage from it showed the PETA workers "had first tried to have two children in the neighborhood lure Maya off her porch," the lawsuit says, alleging the children were paid to do so.

When that didn't work, the workers backed their van into Zarate's driveway, took Maya off the porch, loaded her in the van and drove away.

Zarate called the PETA animal shelter the same day, but got no answer. His niece called PETA the next day and spoke with Carey, the lawsuit says.

Carey denied they had taken any dogs that day and then hung up abruptly when the niece told her Zarate had a video showing they had taken Maya.

Carey and another PETA representative came to Zarate's house on Oct. 21 carrying a fruit basket and admitted that PETA had euthanized Maya, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges PETA violated Virginia law by euthanizing the dog within 24 hours of taking her; the law says an animal shelter must wait at least five days after receiving a companion animal before euthanizing it.

A spokeswoman for the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies said the organization is "grateful to the Zarate family for standing up for Maya and bringing even greater attention to PETA's lethal practices."

"While the average euthanasia rate for all private shelters in Virginia in 2014 (PETA excluded) was only 2 percent, PETA killed nearly 90 percent of the dogs and cats it took in," said Debra Griggs, President of the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies.

Griggs added, "PETA defends its shocking kill rate by saying that the dogs and cats it takes in are too ill to be treated and saved, and yet the video of Maya shows a healthy, happy dog which PETA stole from her own front porch and killed within hours."

No trial date has been set in the case.

On Twitter @cvvaughnESN

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