The Burlington Animal Control Committee has ordered the euthanasia of Moose, a problem dog with a history of violence owned by former Franklin County prosecutor Diane Wheeler.
The City of Burlington recommended the step at a hearing held last month. The committee, which includes members of the police commission and local animal experts, handed down its official order on Monday.
“Moose’s long-standing pattern of aggression and reactivity presents an ongoing public safety risk that will not be abated until he is humanely euthanized,” the order said.
Wheeler or her sister, Deborah Lessor, must immediately deliver Moose to one of two designated kennels as he awaits his fate. Then, the Burlington Police Department’s animal control unit will “facilitate Moose’s humane euthanasia” at the Chittenden County Humane Society.
Wheeler or Lessor will be required to cover the costs of the euthanasia and “fully cooperate,” according to the order, which specifically forbids them from “interfering with the means and methods” of the humane society.
Neither Wheeler nor Lessor could be reached for comment on Monday. But the former deputy state’s attorney has already disputed that the animal control committee has authority over her or her problem hound. She told the panel at Moose’s hearing last month that she had moved out of Burlington.
“This committee has no jurisdiction over Moose or me,” Wheeler said at the time.
In its order requiring Moose’s euthanasia, the committee determined that, no matter where Wheeler claimed to be living, she and the dog had been seen in Burlington as recently as this month. The committee concluded that “this matter poses a live issue in Burlington regardless of where Moose is kept a majority of the time.”
Ahead of the animal control committee’s meeting last month, Wheeler submitted her resignation as a deputy state’s attorney in Franklin County, where she had worked for 30 years. The resignation was effective as of Sunday.
An initial rash of Moose attacks prompted the committee in 2024 to demand the mutt receive additional training. In 2025, the committee required Wheeler to give up custody of her dog to Lessor. Wheeler was forbidden from bringing Moose to the New North End neighborhood where she lived.
But Wheeler’s neighbors continued to spot the dog in her possession, which violated the committee’s order and led them to revisit the issue. Wheeler claimed that she was using “Moose-like statues” to fool observers, though she admitted to having him in her car within Burlington city limits on a few occasions.
Moose struck again in an April when he lunged at defense lawyer Betsy Hibbitts’ face outside the St. Albans courthouse. Moose tore her upper lip, and she was treated at the hospital. Hibbitts told the animal control committee that Moose was “not a safe dog” and was unsure how he could be made safe.
The committee agreed. They found Wheeler had failed to follow the recommendations of Moose’s prior trainers such as using an electric shock collar and keeping him in the care of a “capable handler” when he was out in public.
Citing Wheeler’s “lengthy history of non-compliance” with their previous orders, Hibbitt’s severe injury and Lessor being “unable or unwilling” to be Moose’s primary caretaker, the committee determined that “the only remaining option to protect the public welfare is humane euthanasia.”
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