After 38 years of marriage, Cathryn Washington and her husband recently separated. Ms. Washington wanted to move away from their Seattle home – all the way across the country to West Virginia in fact – and demanded she be allowed to take the couple’s 14 year old Labrador, Delta, with her.
Never mind that Delta was more of a daddy’s girl (Mr. Washington still has her puppy teeth as a keepsake), or the stress that it would cause an elderly dog to move across the country in these circumstances, or the fact that it’s HOT right now – Ms. Washington is a former nursing professor so presumably she would know how to take good care of a pet.
Delta lived just 11 days in Ms. Washington’s care before suffering a cruel and entirely preventable death:
Cathryn Washington, 67, left 14-year-old Delta in the vehicle as she ran in [to Costco] to buy some pet products on an afternoon when the temperature hit 104 degrees, said Sgt. David Luckenbaugh of Frederick Animal Control.
She intended to just be 15 minutes or so, she later told her estranged husband, Charles Washington. She returned after about an hour and 15 minutes to find Delta clinging to life.
Clinging to life. That sounds dire. And so naturally, being a former nursing professor, Ms. Washington acted quickly – to get her money back:
Luckenbaugh said the precise moment of Delta’s death was unclear. After Cathryn returned to the vehicle, investigators say she went back inside the Costco and returned the dog food, bedding and treats she had purchased. At that point, she told Costco employees the dog was dead, authorities said.
Dead, clinging to life – eh, what’s the diff? Can I get cash on these returns or do I have to take store credit?
The store called AC on her and they caught up with Ms. Washington somewhere else. (She probably had other errands to run, pets to kill, etc.) Ms. Washington has been charged with animal cruelty and her court date is set for August 31.
The A**hole did this because the dog liked her husband better than her, maybe when she has her court date set they will chain her chair outside and when they call for her they can forget she is outside…………
Huh. Kudos to Costco employees for dropping the dime.
They have a no-hassle return policy. Guess she shouldn’t have volunteered the reason.
I’m going to have to call this one 110 percent preventable, at the very least, because she had a second chance.
The thing that just makes me mad enough to spit is her leaving the dog the second time. Wouldn’t any normal owner be racing back into the Costco, screaming for cold water, directions to the nearest vet, etc? Even if she thought the dog was dead (and I’m really questioning her “nursing” capabilities), I know I’d still TRY – just in case I was wrong or in case a miracle might happen or *whatever*.
I think of the dog, suffering in the car, and FINALLY the owner shows up and the dog was prolly like “Oh thank GOD! I’m dying here!” but the woman’s thoughts apparently turned to the inconvenient extra trip she’d have to make to return the stuff to Costco if the dog didn’t pull through.
She wanted that dog dead to punish her ex. That’ll teach him, eh?
Poor dog.
I want to turn in my human being card.
Without the integrity of the Costco employees she probably would have gotten away with it.
Why did the Mr give up the dog in the first place? He should have fought to keep her-of course the whole story isn’t here so I should not assume he din’t try hard. If he knew what his (ex-)wife was about I would not have trusted her with a flea! NEVER trust a nurse. The nurses I have known personally all have “issues” and are some of the most whacked out people out there-generally and personally speaking!~
OMG! What an awful woman! To think she worked with human patients and could do this. That poor, poor dog!
Lol, yep that’s right, we should sponsor a law that prohibets nurses from having dogs because they are … what was that again? … all whacked out. Of course, no animal loving rescuer would do such a thing … oh wait … there is this that happened last year, surely a spca director should know better.
http://fortheloveofthedogblog.com/news-updates/richmond-spca-directors-dog-dies-after-4-hours-in-hot-car-video
And then K9 cops would never forget their dog, their partner? Or would they?
http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=53461
The woman is a heartless vindictive bitch, being a nurse has nothing to do with it. Accidents do happen, even to the best of us.
God, I hate humanity more and more every day.
Today I can’t even read my own freakin’ email, because I have two dead dog in car stories, and I am just not UP to it.
Head/desk
This kind of thing breaks our hearts and makes us want to lash out.