Stonington - The owner of a dog that will be quarantined at the local animal shelter for three months after picking up a dead bat is taking her fight to "Free Maggie" to the streets and the Internet.

Borough resident and business owner Nancy Apthorp, owner of the 9½-year-old boxer/Dalmatian mix, said she is planning a march from Cannon Square to the borough post office at 10 a.m. Saturday. Apthorp said she is checking into permit requirements and that there may be a rally afterward at the animal control facility.

Also, Apthorp said, she and her friends are creating a "Free Maggie" page on Facebook. She said Maggie, who has been in the pound since Oct. 22, is not doing well.

"I live in Stonington because it's a community that embraces our neighbors, our children, our animals," she said. "This whole incident is not reflective of what Stonington stands for."

Animal control officer Rae Jean Davis last month ordered Maggie to be quarantined at the pound for three months, then confined to home for three months, because the dog was three months overdue for her rabies shot when she picked up the bat carcass. The state laboratory tested the bat and 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.

Apthorp filed a lawsuit in New London Superior Court seeking Maggie's release. She claims, in part, that the dog was seized illegally and the local authorities have no jurisdiction in the matter. Judge Emmet L. Cosgrove asked Apthorp's attorney, Denise Ansell, and the town's attorney, Brian K. Estep, to obtain opinions from experts, asking them, "If the dog ate the brain of a dead rabid bat, is there a basis for continuing the quarantine?"

Ansell consulted Ronald D. Schultz, president and chairman of pathobiological sciences at the University of Wisconsin's school of veterinary medicine. Schultz reviewed the dog's vaccine history - its last shot was in July 2008 - and said there is "every reason to believe the dog is immune to rabies virus."

"Simply because the dog was several months beyond the three-year period from the most recent vaccine and, by law, should have been revaccinated by July 8, 2011, there is absolutely no scientific reason that this dog does not have immunity to the rabies virus!" he wrote in a letter to Ansell. He said the rabies virus doesn't "shut off" on the day or even the year the vaccine expires.

Schultz wrote that it would "not be unreasonable" to confine the dog at home for two to six months.

A pretrial conference is scheduled for Dec. 2 and a hearing for Jan. 4, but Ansell said she is trying to get a court date this week.

Apthorp, who underwent rabies shots because she had contact with the bat carcass, has admitted she was at fault and said she, not the dog, should be punished. She said she would carefully monitor Maggie at home. She said Maggie, who is old and frail, has lost weight and hair in the shelter and is biting herself from stress. She said Maggie is not let out enough and is soiling her bedding.

Town officials have declined to comment because of the lawsuit. Estep, the attorney representing Stonington, said he forwarded Schultz's letter and Maggie's health records to the state veterinarian, who he said is authorized to modify quarantine orders.

"Our position is that we are following the statute and the regulations established by the state of Connecticut, which does not provide for such leeway in the status of the rabies vaccination," Estep said. "You either have a valid rabies vaccination or you do not."

Rabies is an infectious and deadly disease, Estep said, and it is best to err on the side of caution to prohibit infection.

k.florin@theday.com