On Wednesday April 11, a potential adopter named Rob says he contacted the Memphis pound about a precious little mite he had seen online and wanted to save. He was told the pup had been exposed to parvo and to call back in 2 days. He called back on April 13 and found out MAS had already killed the dog. This is the story he told me via e-mail:
I saw his pic on FB, fell in love & wanted to adopt him, called the shelter & talked to a man named Leslie, who was nice and he told me about the pup being exposed to parvo, that the VET recommended euthanizing, and that the pup would be available in two days. Leslie reemphasized that the pup would need to be cleared by the vet in order to be adopted due to the parvo exposure, and I said that I understood. The pup at that point had no symptoms of having contracted parvo. He said to call back in 2 days. I called back 2 days later, talked to a female and asked if this pup was still available for adoption, she put me on hold for a minute or two, then she came back on the phone & told me the pup was no longer available because he was put down the previous afternoon. I told her that I previously talked to Leslie two days earlier about wanting to adopt the pup, she just said that the pup was exposed to parvo and was put down the previous day, which means they killed the pup the day after I called, before it was available for rescue or adoption. I was livid but kept my cool, asked her if she could confirm if the pup had contracted parvo, and she said she didn’t know.
I wanted to pull this pup’s records to see if any questions could be answered. Was there any notation made that an adopter was interested in this pup? Was the pup tested for parvo? Was any dog in the supposed exposure area tested for parvo? Was the pup symptomatic at the time he was killed? It would appear from the information contained in the records that the answer to all these questions is NO.
On April 7, there is a note from Dr. Coleman that some dogs in the intake room had “clinical signs consistent with parvo”. I interpret that note to mean no dogs were tested. Further, there are no notes that indicate at the time this puppy was killed on April 12, he was exhibiting any symptoms of illness. There are no notes indicating this pup was wanted by someone.
What a tragic waste of life.