Sarah Wheeler euthanizes her dog Moose after city order

The Fall of Moose: How a Prosecutor’s Dog and a City’s Order Ended in a Final, Private Decision

“I made the decision to put him down myself so that they would not take him, so that he would not be alone.” That choice, made by Sarah Wheeler, brought a grim close to a years-long municipal battle over a dog. Moose, a canine involved in at least seven attacks over three years, was euthanized by his owner rather than surrendered to city authorities, The Boston Globe reported.

The conflict traces back through public records obtained by the Globe, which detailed a pattern of aggression that included biting four adults and knocking over a child. Four of those incidents occurred after the city’s Animal Control Committee officially classified Moose as a “vicious dog” in March 2024 and ordered Wheeler to hand him over. Wheeler defied that directive repeatedly, insisting that the dog had done nothing wrong and arguing instead that humans needed education on how to behave around animals.

A Escalating Neighborhood Standoff

The saga drew heavy press attention as neighbors on the quiet suburban street fought to keep the animal away. Tensions flared again in April when Moose bit the lip of an attorney outside the St. Albans courthouse, where Wheeler had worked for decades. Following that incident and reports that Wheeler continued bringing the dog into the neighborhood in violation of previous orders, the Animal Control Committee held a hearing in August.

During the hearing, Wheeler denied bringing the dog back, claiming she had built “Moose-like statues” out of trash bags and placed them in her car to trick neighbors into thinking he was present. She accused residents of engaging in “stalking-like behavior” and declared them “more vicious than Moose.” City officials recommended euthanasia due to a “pattern of continued violations and the escalation in Moose’s violence,” leading the committee to vote in September to impound and euthanize the animal.

Wheeler argued that the committee lacked jurisdiction because neither she nor Moose lived in the city limits anymore. When the city ordered her to turn the dog over, she refused compliance, choosing instead to administer the final act herself days later.

Resignation, Relocation, and the Aftermath

The fallout extended far beyond the immediate neighborhood dispute. Days before the August hearing, Wheeler abruptly resigned from the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s Office. Around the same time, she and her mother, Carol Wheeler, listed their Burlington home for sale.

Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, one of Wheeler’s most vocal neighbors, lamented that the situation had reached the sad outcome everyone had wanted to avoid and worked so hard to avoid.

Critics throughout the ordeal accused Wheeler of acting as though she were above the law. Michaela Finneran, chair of the Animal Control Committee, told the Globe in June that the situation felt like someone “thumbing her nose at the system” — specifically noted as a system she was duty-bound to uphold. Wheeler did not respond to requests for comment.