Animal Cruelty Charges Against Margaret Boisture Dismissed

Hartford, August 29, 2023 – The animal cruelty charges against Margaret Boisture were dismissed today by Judge Stephanie Damiani of the Connecticut Superior Court on a motion by the State’s Attorney. In his statement in support of his dismissal motion, Assistant State’s Attorney Edward Azzaro highlighted the lack of evidence to support the felony charge of cruelty to animals and the lesser charges of unlawful tethering of animals and operation of a kennel without a license. Judge Damiani acknowledged Ms. Boisture’s guilty plea to one count of failure to administer a timely rabies vaccine, an infraction under Connecticut law, but immediately waived the fine and, in an unusual gesture, apologized to Ms. Boisture on behalf of the state for the ordeal inflicted on her by these charges.
The charges stemmed from a January 2020 raid on Ms. Boisture’s Star Mountain Kennel by the Bloomfield, Connecticut, animal control officer and police. Prior to that, Ms. Boisture was one of the leading breeders of Portuguese Podengo Pequenos in the United States, her dogs having won many honors on the national and local scene. Most of her top dogs were confiscated in the raid and, to save them from subsequent sale or destruction by the state, Ms. Boisture was forced, at great expense, to give them away. Also as a result of the charges brought against her, the American Kennel Club suspended her privileges, effectively ending her championship lines of dogs. Vicious local publicity brought her into disrepute and made her the subject of harassment by her neighbors that continues to this day.
Finally, after three and a half years, the state has dismissed the charges for lack of evidence. “I am grateful to Judge Damiani and State’s Attorney Azzaro, both only recently assigned my case, for taking the time and making the effort to review these baseless charges,” Ms. Boisture said after the proceedings today. “But what happened to me is all too typical of the attacks on responsible dog breeders by overzealous “animal rights” ideologues. All of my careful work of ten years was destroyed in a day, for absolutely no reason. A large part of my heart went with all my dogs, scattered to the four winds. I will never get it back, or them.”

Star Mountain Kennel has begun rebuilding its championship breeding operation and Ms. Boisture expects that the AKC will shortly reinstate her to full club privileges. A new generation of top dogs is up and coming, with generous help and advice from Ms. Boisture’s friends in the dog world throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia. “I want to send my sincere thanks to all the friends, old and new, who stood with me in so many ways through all of this,” Ms. Boisture said. “I cannot imagine what might have happened had I not had such steady, generous support. Words cannot express how grateful I am to each of them.”