Dog #259497 was impounded as a stray by the Memphis pound on September 25, 2013. A note appears on his cage card: VERY FRIENDLY!
MAS records for the dog, obtained via FOIA request, indicate a member of the public expressed an interest in adopting this dog on September 28 and gave his name and phone number. Records state that a few months prior, the potential adopter had passed the background check and fence inspection required by MAS. I assume he was not allowed to take the dog home that day because the holding period had not expired.
On October 1st, both a member of an approved rescue group and a second member of the public placed their names on this dog. MAS conducted the background check on October 2 for this second potential adopter but the yard check had still not been completed by October 8 when the applicant informed MAS he had found another pet. There are no notes indicating why the dog was not released to the first applicant or the rescuer, both pre-approved, after the holding period expired on October 1st. For whatever reason, the dog was forced to continue living in a cage at the pet killing facility. And people continued to fall in love with him.
On October 12, a third member of the public applied to adopt this dog. MAS completed the background check for that potential adopter on October 15 – the same day a fourth person submitted her information in hopes of taking this dog home. The background check was completed for the fourth applicant on October 16. MAS never conducted the fence inspections for either of these applicants according to the records even though both passed the background check. There are no notes indicating why the dog was not released to the first applicant or the rescuer, both pre-approved, after the holding period expired on October 1st. For whatever reason, the dog was forced to continue living in a cage at the pet killing facility. And people continued to meet him and fall in love.
On October 19, a fifth person submitted information in hopes of adopting this dog. MAS completed this applicant’s background check on October 22. MAS never conducted the fence inspection for this applicant according to the records even though he passed the background check. There are no notes indicating why the dog was not released to the first applicant or the rescuer, both pre-approved, after the holding period expired on October 1st. For whatever reason, the dog was forced to continue living in a cage at the pet killing facility while MAS staff did nothing to get him out alive. Meanwhile, this note appears in the dog’s records on October 21:
To the best of my knowledge, Dr. Coleman is not a behaviorist. There are no notes indicating a behaviorist ever saw this dog. There are no notes indicating this dog was ever walked and no behavioral notes beyond the one above. The dog who was “VERY FRIENDLY!” may have started going kennel crazy inside the pet killing facility, I don’t know. With two pre-approved safe places to go and several other applicants just waiting for MAS to complete the fence inspection, this dog could have been released long before this date. Meanwhile,the dog continued to be housed in an area visible to the public and people continued to meet and fall in love with him.
On October 24th, a sixth person applied to adopt this pet. There are no notes indicating MAS conducted either the background check or the fence inspection for this applicant. On October 25th, the records contain this note:
Despite having 6 members of the public plus an approved rescuer who each offered to save this “VERY FRIENDLY!” dog, MAS killed him on October 26, 2013.
Adoption applicant #1 was pre-approved. The rescuer was also pre-approved. Why didn’t MAS send this dog home with either one of these people as soon as the hold period expired?
Applicant #2 waited for MAS to do a fence check for more than a week and finally adopted another pet. Another missed opportunity to save this dog’s life.
Applicants #3, 4 and 5 each passed a background check but MAS could not be bothered to perform the fence checks for any of them. Three more opportunities wasted.
Applicant #6 did not have either check performed by staff and MAS killed the dog two days after the applicant’s information was submitted.
The Memphis pound requires Pitbull adopters to jump through special hoops in order to save pets from their kill room. But MAS can’t be bothered to perform the inspections they themselves require. Even when a pre-approved applicant and a pre-approved rescuer were willing to save this dog, MAS couldn’t be bothered to release him. Why?
This pet had seven chances to get out of MAS alive and MAS dropped the ball seven times. And instead of finally doing right by the dog, they sent him to the kill room where he was probably tortured in the squeeze device on the wall before ultimately being dropped in a garbage bag. Seven people fell in love with this dog while one vet with a notorious track record made one negative behavioral note and that trumps everything? Nobody WANTS to kill animals? Seriously MAS, you people are creeping me the math out.
MAS kills because it’s easy, because they LIKE easy. They are also incompetent and apathetic. Their vet has no business practicing any kind of medicine on any living thing.
Fire. Them. All.
This travesty is absolutely unforgivable! Whether due to laziness, incompetence, or ignorance it is unacceptable! Taxpayers wake up and get the current administration and staff fired!!! ASAP. Outraged here in Md!
They keep proving time and again that they deserve the name of hell-hole and worse. How incredibly tragic for this boy and so many others.
I am sitting at my desk at work just sobbing. Sobbing.
This is unforgiveable! We need to close that place down! Can they all read or are they a bunch of sociopaths?
I am so upset that this still goes on. I called and complained about the hell hole! Maybe if they get enough calls, they’ll do something! The number is 901-636-6030! If bombarded with complaints they might do the right thing!
I just kept reading, hoping that I would never see the “killed by MAS” part. This def needs to get to the news. Not a single person there should have a job.
What is the “sqeeze device on the wall” you refer to in the killing of this poor dog?
You can read about it here:
http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2013/06/08/another-former-mas-employee-convicted-of-animal-cruelty/
Basically it sounds like they took the idea of a squeeze cage (which might be used in some cases with wild animals) and mounted the device on the wall in the kill room.
Reblogged this on Sherlockian's Blog.
Just like in the federal government, there is no regulation of the IDIOTS in control !!! It’s amazing how these morons are allowed to make decisions on whether or not a good animal is allowed to live or die !! I believe that all people in charge when it comes to animal control need to be fired !!!
JUST GET THE NEW OWNERS TO SIGN WAIVER WHATEVER
Or, alternatively, don’t place unnecessary and intrusive restrictions only on certain breeds, or if you do, at the very least carry out your own inspections in a timely manner. And don’t hold dogs with adopters until they go cage crazy in the first place.
This is do disturbing and the only way it will change is if the POS director is fired and the public demands the city, elected officials get the hell in board with saving animals rather than killing them. I doubt they do anything to help pitbulls or cats too! These jerks I hope they see those faces every night in there sleep
I just knew when I read the first part that this dog ended up dead – as most animals there do. What the hell is it going to take for someone, or someones to shut this place down and get rid of the whole bunch of them? There must be good people in Memphis who care and who know what’s going on. It’s beyond frustrating! That dog should have been adopted out to the first person who was approved and wanted him.
Another good dog/cat pays the ultimate price for the meanness and incompetence of the “people” who “work” there. The only work they do is killing – and I think mikken is right. It’s easy, and I have to believe they have totally lost their humanity because they seem to enjoy doing it.
So many bad things here . . . RIP sweet boy. The only good thing that comes out of this is that you will never again have to suffer at the hands of evil.
Has the sort of ‘friendly-to-animals’ reporter at one of the new stations been told to stop doing stories about the shithole that is MAS? If she hasn’t, this is the story she needs to tell – right now, at Christmas, making sure that people know that this dog (and many more like him) COULD have had homes for Christmas, but were killed by the MFing lazy bastards at MAS.
This dog looks similar to mine who was stolen in Ct 7/18/13 he was only 6 months old then so age is off :(
when you think they can’t stoop any lower…..
Sadly, the atrocities at MAS continue because most citizens of Memphis don’t see the need for change. So long as most citizens of Memphis tolerate MAS, MAS will keep on killing. When the citizens want MAS to change, it will change. The citizens won’t demand change until one of their own decides that nothing else is more important. Some average person will have to get mad as hell and decide they can’t take it any more. They will have to sacrifice family, friends, pets, work, school, health, everything and create a movement of Memphis citizens to change MAS. Then MAS will change. We have a word for people who sacrifice everything for a just cause, “heroes”. The pets of Memphis need a hero.
Yes, the pets of Memphis need a hero from Memphis. We, who are far away, have done about all we can do with little effect. Who will step up and be that hero?
What we can do is support Shirley. She keeps shining the spotlight on MAS. Sooner or later some Memphis citizen will be kicked in the guts one time too many and will step up to be the hero the pets of Memphis so desperately need.
My friends were number four on the list to adopt “Brutus” as he had named him. I know this dog well and had taken MANY pictures of him in his kennel as he was STUNNING! Not only was this a friendly dog, the volunteers at MAS used “Brutus” to test the temperament of many other dogs that entered the shelter. MY FRIENDS NEVER GOT A CALL FOR HIS FENCE CHECK! THEY NEVER GOT A FOLLOW UP PHONE CALL! Three times they called and was told that “Brutus” was adopted by someone else. Finally, on the fourth call at being told the dog was adopted, they were transferred to a supervisor who advised him that “Brutus” was euthanized. We were all devastated, including everyone in the rescue groups, etc. This animal was lovely and so friendly. For weeks, they force the animals to sit in dirty kennels, never taking them out to run in the large yard area, and expecting them to remain docile and compliant 24/7. If the staff had done their job, completed the fence checks on time, and released the dog in a timely manner, then we wouldn’t be reading about yet another needless euthanization at Memphis Animal Shelter. Mayor Wharton Janet Hooks, and Dr. Steve Tower were alerted to this atrocity, yet nothing has changed. A black lab with names of interested adopters was euthanized just yesterday morning. Obviously, top officials could care less if the dogs live or die, find a home or never experience the love of a home. Personally, I wish every news station in Memphis and all surrounding states would highlight the cruelty that the poor helpless animals at this “shelter” suffer at the hands of people put in charge of caring for them. I hope and pray that God’s judgment on these people is swift and severe.
Apparently they are running a concentration camp, not a shelter and they are obviously not interested in getting the animals adopted. May God’s wrath rain upon them. How can the people in Memphis get the media interested enough to make this go viral? I can’t get this dog’s face out of my mind. This is nothing less than wholesale killing. They are a bunch of psychopaths.
why don’t the mayor of that town get involved , are they all sicko’s that live in that town.
Who can we write? Give names and addresses thy will be inundated with calls and e-mails.
This is the list I have on file for Memphis city officials, starting with the mayor on down to city council. I assume most, if not all of these addresses remain current: ac.wharton@memphistn.gov, janet.hooks@memphistn.gov, lasonya.hall@memphistn.gov, james.rogers@memphistn.gov, MASBoard@memphistn.gov, Berlin.Boyd@memphistn.gov, Bill.Boyd@memphistn.gov, bill.morrison@memphistn.gov, Myron.Lowery@memphistn.gov, janis.fullilove@memphistn.gov, harold.collins@memphistn.gov, wanda.halbert@memphistn.gov, Joe.Brown@memphistn.gov, shea.flinn@memphistn.gov, Kemp.Conrad@memphistn.gov, edmund.fordjr@memphistn.gov, reid.hedgepeth@memphistn.gov, Jim.Strickland@memphistn.gov, doctower@aol.com