When two of Memphis pet owner James Brown’s dogs escaped his yard recently, they apparently got into a fight with another dog. A police officer told Mr. Brown MAS had to impound them for a ten day rabies hold. Instead, MAS held the dogs for three days and then killed them, without ever contacting the owner. Oops.
“And when I called, they said ‘Your dogs are dead’,” [Mr. Brown] told us.
His dogs had been euthanized. That’s because after 72 hours, unclaimed dogs are considered property of the City, and the City can do with them what it wants.
And what the city of Memphis wants to do with dogs at the pound is kill them. That has been made abundantly clear over the years in a facility whose primary function is the killing of dogs and cats.
And in this case, the city has not only torn apart a family but also failed in its public safety directive since the rabies quarantine hold was never completed. So much for using public safety as an excuse to justify the killing of shelter animals. Oops.
Mr. Brown inquired about his pets’ remains and MAS bluntly told him a truck carried them away. The owner is heartbroken and outraged:
“So, you can pay a truck to go and destroy the remains but you can’t call me?”
[…]
“People just don’t kill dogs for no reason and that’s what they’ve done,” he said.
Tragically, they do. Again and again and again. And until someone in Memphis is willing to step on toes, make waves and wage a political war against the city, the killing will continue.
I am so sorry for the suffering of Mr. Brown and his family. I am even sorrier that I will be extending my condolences to another Memphis family, probably sooner rather than later, when they find out MAS killed their pets too.
How many more, Memphis?
(Thank you Clarice for the link.)