Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Heroic Dog Survives Afghan War But Not Homegrown Bureaucrat

From the U.K. Mail Online:
Target the dog lived through explosions in war-torn Afghanistan, saved the lives of U.S. soldiers and was featured on Oprah - but she couldn't survive a brief stay at an Arizona animal shelter.

An employee at the Pinal County facility was today on administrative leave after euthanizing the shepherd mix by mistake.

'When it comes to euthanizing an animal, there are some clear-cut procedures to follow,' said Ruth Stalter, director of the Animal Care And Control centre.

'Based on my preliminary investigation, our employee did not follow those procedures.'
....
The idiot who killed the dog is someone I would personally love to horsewhip, but the army sergeant who adopted the dog is partially to blame.  He did not license the dog nor get a microchip for it, either of which would have quickly identified the dog to the shelter and saved its life.

Dogs are such loving, loyal and trusting animals, and often we simply do not deserve them.

6 comments:

Always On Watch said...

What a sad end for this great dog! Makes me shudder and furious at the same time.

EM said...

I feel for everyone involved in this tragic incident, but, as unsympathetic as it may seem, I place far more of the blame on the owner. The shelter employee made a tragic but apparently unintentional mistake which they will have to live with, whereas the owner made a conscious choice not to tag or chip the dog.

Stogie said...

EM, I'd say the owner bears a lot of the responsibility. He was not proactive in protecting his dog. However, the idiot who put the dog down should be fired outright and then sued.

Stogie Jr said...

Well Said Pop!

kate said...

Bonjour Stogie ,je partage votre avis et votre révolte ! quel malheur ce qui est arrivé à ce pauvre chien , comment son maitre a t-il pu le laisser dans un refuge sans prendre toutes les précautions !La dernière phrase de votre article résume tout !

Stogie said...

Kate says:
Hello Stogie, I share your opinion and your disgust! What bad luck for this poor dog, how could his master leave him in a shelter without taking necessary precautions? The last sentence of your article says it all.