On April 13, 2012, a mama dog with 6 newborn puppies allegedly bit a 4 year old child in Memphis. The police were called to the home and the owner signed all 7 dogs over to MAS. The mama dog had to be held for bite quarantine. The “review date” listed on the records of one of the pups (ID #239502) was April 22. On that date, even though the mama dog was still alive, the MAS veterinarian noted in this puppy’s records that she was too young and small to be self-sufficient. To my mind, that sounds as if the vet saw the puppy ID number come up for review and automatically made up an excuse for killing, entirely independent of actual circumstances. But apparently because no one removed the hold in the computer for the bite quarantine, the family continued to be held at the pound.
On April 27, MAS interim director James Rogers gave the owners one day to come up with $1170 in order to reclaim the dogs. Or they could just buy the mama for $263 provided she tested negative for heartworm. If she tested positive, MAS would sell her for $513. The owners did not reclaim the dogs. MAS never offered them for adoption or rescue to my knowledge.
Still, no one apparently removed the hold in the computer and so the dogs stayed in their cage, with the mama presumably not getting walked and being subjected to the infamous scientific feeding regimen at MAS. Finally on May 6 the vet removed the hold. On May 8, puppy #239502 (and I assume the rest of the family) was killed. The only life she ever knew was inside a cage at the Memphis pound. She never saw the sun, walked on the grass, or sniffed the morning air. She would have been about 6 weeks old – the age where puppies love to run and fall and get back up and do it again. The only hands which ever held her were those of people who killed her.
Heart officially broken.
Lord have mercy, I hope somebody can get something done about this horrid place!
This needs to become illegal.
I have no words . . .
same here
This is what happens when you have a culture of killing. No one there is invested in the lives that pass through their hands.
How many more, Memphis? How long before your landfill is choking with the bodies of the dead? Because what you’re doing ISN’T WORKING. It doesn’t make Memphis safer, or healthier, or happier. How many more decades of this before you realize that what you’re doing is NOT WORKING?
How can people do such things?
It’s unconscionable that the Director would make this sort of call to the famlly. EVEN if you look at the whole thing clinically as an Animal Control Director and a County Employee there is NO reason for this crap. The state law in Tennessee give Animal Control Directors the authority to allow Rabies Quarantine – 10 days – at the owner’s home, a licensed Veterinarian OR at Animal Control. when you take animals in for quarantine – you tell the owner what the fees for quarantine will be and what it will cost to get their animal back. AND – if the Mama AND all puppies were in the SAME kennel – it is LUDICRIS that James Rogers would charge them the daily kenneling fee for EACH dog as if they were in separate kennels. AND the puppies were nursing so they weren’t even being FED County Food! These adoptable puppies – at 6 weeks – would’ve been eaisly adopted or rescued.
Karen is right on the mark..what is it going to take…WHAT do we have to do to get this animal control office under some NEW leadership..you know..someone who actually HAS some kind of affinity toward animals and NOT this brutish,idiotic person who seems to go out of the way to make things as difficult as possible for someone to protect and or redeem their own animals.My FIRST question was HOW did this 4 yr old get to these puppies?Was she someone visiting these people?Did she just wander onto the property the way SO many of these children are doing who subsequently get bitten?Is the heat in Memphis making people too sluggish and stupid to get this place under control????
Oh man. This is so awful and heartbreaking.
I’m wondering if the little girl got too close to the puppies and the mama dog snapped or something like that. My Mom had a very docile dog when she was a young girl but once she had puppies, you could NOT go near them/her otherwise she’d snap. Even though that’s not the young girl’s fault, it’s hardly the dog’s fault either; it’s just what they naturally do. They should’ve been awarded time out of that hell-hole just like any other pet. My dog died in April, after 9 years, and even though I still cry over it sometimes, I remind myself of stories like this where a puppy was only in this world for 6 weeks and then taken out that I don’t feel so sorry for myself.
The momma dog and her puppies pay the ultimate price for probably momma doing what nature dictates that mother animals dog – protecting her young!!! Could just about bet on that one. Human mothers should take lessons in protection of the young from mother animals…. My heart broke reading this…how frigging horrible….cannot stop crying….cannot wrap my mind around this… when there are places that are begging for pets, especially puppies – and this shelter will not do what it takes to match up their puppies with other places…. cannot write anything else now…
Nice letter – really gets to the point without being nasty. I hope that you have sent it to her. Thanks for sharing with us.
SHAME SHAME on Memphis. I NEVER hear ANYTHING good about this facility!
For these actions, you shall be Judged & held accountable by Our Maker.
Momma dogs are very protective of their newborn puppies. People need to be aware of this and keep their children away from the momma dog and puppies. People that don’t have any common sense really make me sick!!!
I seriously am suspect that there ever WAS a little girl and the whole thing was made up just to get rid of the dogs. Would not surprise me in the least! These so called shelters make me so angry!!! They let another dog (Harris County) languish in a “cell” with a BROKEN LEG for over 10 days! If we did that…JAIL TIME!!!
Makes me sick and disgusted! These people are supposed to be the guardians of these animals. Lazy? Inconvenienced? or worse….
What the hell is wrong with Memphis? This is 1 of the saddest stories I have heard. In NYC, we have the NYCACC which is considered a “high kill” shelter but their kill rates have gone down considerably since their 1st year in operation as they try to work with other rescue groups who run “no kill” facilities to take as many animals as possible so that they don’t end up on EU =or PTS) lists. The director of the Memphis facility needs to be replaced immediately as he is obviously grossly incompetent to be running a shelter. I’m sure those puppies would have been adopted quickly because they had nothing to do with biting anyone. The city was quick enough to remove a dog from the house because of a dog bite situation but what about the HUMAN PARENT who allowed a child to enter into a nursing momma dog’s space? Was he our she
It is past time to say goodby to Mr.Rogers.
I would like to suggest that this story be simplified a little for quick salient points- a picture of the dog and puppies- and a full page ad be placed in the Memphis paper.