If you lose your dog in Harrisburg, PA and someone calls in a report of a stray dog to authorities, a police officer will promptly respond to the scene. The officer will then ask the caller if he’d like to adopt your dog. If the caller says no, the officer will decide if he’d like to adopt your dog himself. If the officer thinks your dog is aggressive or sick, he may shoot your dog. If the officer doesn’t shoot or adopt your dog, he will put your dog into the prisoner van, drive him out to the country and abandon your dog. If the officer chooses to keep your dog himself or dump him outside of town, he’s not allowed to tell the caller.
The city of Harrisburg used to have a contract with a local Humane Society for shelter services. But apparently the city hasn’t paid the bill and so the contract has been terminated. Therefore a police captain sent out a memo to her fellow officers explaining the new policies for handling stray dogs, which I’ve summarized above. As surreal as all this may seem, the article in The Patriot-News gets even wonkier. I won’t confuse you with the details but it culminates in this quote from a concerned member of the Governor’s Dog Law Advisory Board:
“If carcasses are brought in, I want them to count the bullet holes.”
This is the guy advocating for the community’s pets. Welcome to Bizarro World.