Hanson Select Board Orders Belgian Malinois Removed After Series of Neighborhood Attacks

HANSON -- April 28, 2026, Hanson Select Board declared an 8-month-old Belgian Malinois a dangerous dog and ordered its removal from a Birchbark Drive property at the April 28 meeting. The unanimous ruling, the first time the board has gone that far in a dangerous-dog proceeding, came after five neighbors testified about four incidents between April 4 and April 13 in which the dog attacked other dogs, chased a 9-year-old child on a bike, and seriously mauled resident Brian Simonelli of 344 Birchbark Drive, who sustained bites to his hand, arm, and leg while prying the dog's jaws from his 8-pound Maltese. Animal Control Officer Joe Kenney recommended removal, and Town Counsel advised the board that state law prohibits ordering a dangerous dog transferred to another municipality, meaning removal carries an implicit outcome of euthanasia absent a successful district-court appeal by the owners, who did not appear and sent no notice. The board separately approved $362,000 in line-item transfers to partially cover a $612,000 snow-and-ice deficit, drawing from a generator appropriation, group health insurance surplus, veterans benefits, and the reserve fund, with the remaining roughly $258,000 to be addressed at the May 4 special town meeting, where Finance Committee Chair Eric Kealey warned that approximately $1,700 in free cash remains after the budget is balanced and that any floor amendment increasing a line item "is going to throw this into chaos."