Stonington - Nancy Apthorp is allowed to visit her faithful companion, Maggie, at the local dog pound, but the get-togethers are strictly "no contact."

The 9-year-old boxer/Dalmatian mix was overdue for her rabies shot when she munched on a dead bat last month and is under quarantine.

In human terms, it is as if Maggie has been sentenced to three months in prison followed by three months of probation.

Apthorp, a borough resident and business owner, brings fresh bedding and treats to the visits. She talks to Maggie and holds her hand up to the Plexiglas that separates human from canine. Other friends from the borough also stop in to see the "prisoner." They all hope the ordeal will end soon, since Apthorp has retained a dog-loving attorney, Denise Ansell, in an attempt to get Maggie "paroled."

Apthorp feels she's failed Maggie, whom she rescued eight years ago after finding the dog cowering behind a stone wall on North Main Street.

"It's my responsibility," said Apthorp. "I didn't have her inoculated on time and I'm upset that she is being punished for this. Fine me, do whatever you want. I'll go in the cage. To make her suffer for it is not fair to her."

Maggie has been good to Apthorp, she said, staying by her side in her Water Street boutique, Indigo Bleu, accompanying her on errands and helping her mourn a dear friend who died in a car crash.

The dog was three months overdue for her rabies shot last month when she picked up the bat remains. Apthorp rushed Maggie to the Stonington Veterinary Hospital, which contacted the town. Animal Control Officer Rae Jean Davis ordered Apthorp to turn the dog over for three months of quarantine at the animal shelter followed by three months of quarantine at home.

When Apthorp brought the partial bat remains to the state laboratory, she was told that she would have to go for a series of rabies shots since she touched the bat.

"I told them I washed my hand," she said. "They said, 'Well, you can't wash the virus off.'"

The laboratory found no rabies, but the test results were inconclusive since the carcass was badly decomposed. Maggie cannot be tested for the deadly virus, since the only reliable method is to euthanize the dog and examine her brain tissue.

Both the vet and local officials say they are following the law, but Apthorp and Maggie's legal team say the dog was seized illegally and the local authorities have no jurisdiction over the matter.

Ansell said only the state veterinarian can order a dog quarantined.

"They have no jurisdiction to be holding the dog," she said. "Without the state vet having decided how long to quarantine the animal, they are without proper jurisdiction and the matter should be dismissed."

Ansell enlisted the help of the New York-based Lexus Project, an organization that provides free legal services for dogs and signs on to lawsuits to act in the best interest of the animals. Lexus attorney Richard Rosenthal said that keeping Maggie "incarcerated" is like a death sentence, since the dog is old and frail.

"We're asking the court to immediately turn the dog over and vacate the (quarantine) order," said Rosenthal. He too, said the local authorities have no jurisdiction.

"More important, they can only take the dog in if they have a reasonable belief that the dog has been exposed to rabies," Rosenthal. "In as much as they have already tested the bat remains and were unable to find rabies, they don't have a reasonable suspicion."

Maggie's vet, Richard J. Willner of the Stonington Veterinary Hospital, said the state rabies manual has very clear guidelines for a variety of scenarios, ranging from the obviously rabid animals to suspected rabid animals to vaccinated and unvaccinated animals that are exposed to rabies.

"The key to this whole particular issue is that not being current (on the rabies shot) puts you in a whole different category," he said. "In this instance, the bat was in such a debilitated state the test was inconclusive."

The incubation period for rabies is "extremely variable," Willner said, and can take up to six months. An animal that bites somebody must be quarantined for only 14 days, he said, because even though the animal could develop the virus after 14 days, if it is not showing symptoms, it is unable to transmit the rabies.

That does not apply in Maggie's scenario, he said, because if an animal is bitten it can take up to three months (or longer) to develop symptoms.

"None of the vets I've spoken to really feel the law is burdensome and unreasonable," Willner said. "We obviously are for people's pets and love them, but we also have a responsibility for public safety."

Willner said that rabies, a virus that is almost always fatal, has been endemic in the area for 15 to 20 years and that he received a report of a rabid cat just three weeks ago from a Pawcatuck veterinarian.

"It's here," he said. 'It's going to stay. "The most common transmission of rabies to dogs and cats is probably via raccoons. The most common form for people is via bats."

Cats and dogs do not often get rabies from bats, he said, though when a cat or even a human gets rabies from an unknown source, a bat, which is a tiny animal with strong, sharp teeth, is often suspected.

Maggie's three-year vaccination, which had expired three months before she picked up the bat, may still have been effective against rabies, but there is no way of knowing for sure.

"Vaccines rarely ever immediately end," Willner said. "All that ends is the testing that's been done on them. When you have a vaccine that's good for three years, the federal government has looked at data provided by the company on the vaccine and shown all the animals that were checked were protected at three years."

Apthorp worries that Maggie is not being let out often enough and said the dog is defecating on her bedding and is biting herself due to stress. She said Maggie appears anxious and is highly susceptible to the cold. She did say that Maggie is lying on a rubber foam mat rather than directly on a hard cement floor.

Stonington's animal shelter has recently been renovated and is heated. Willner, the vet, said he couldn't attest to the conditions there, since he has never seen the local pound. He said dogs have different reactions, but in most cases, "confinement itself is not the end of the world."

Ansell, the attorney, currently has no dogs and has offered to take in Maggie to her home, which she said is fenced in with Siberian Husky-proof materials. She said she would keep the dog confined and is willing to put her law license on the line to help Apthorp and Maggie.

"Let Nancy (the owner) be punished," Ansell said.

Apthorp said she understands rabies is serious and said she hopes that hearing Maggie's story will prompt people to keep their pets' vaccinations current. She said also that she hopes the law requiring the dog to be confined at the pound will be re-evaluated.

k.florin@theday.com