On December 16, Vickie Carter was driving her car and saw two dogs attacking a third dog. She stopped to help. After breaking up the fight, the dog who was being attacked ran into her car through an open door. Although he appeared to have minor injuries from the fight, he seemed to be in otherwise good shape. Ms. Carter called the police for assistance and decided to take the dog to Memphis Animal Services, which was right across the street from where she found him. She thought he must live in the neighborhood and his owners would be able to find him at MAS, where he could receive vet care for his wounds in the meantime. Ms. Carter photographed the dog in her car in order to network him on social media before taking him to the pound.
At MAS, Ms. Carter says she was very clear in her communication with staff: she asked them to make sure the dog was not killed because she planned to get him out one way or another if no owner reclaimed him. She and a friend began networking the dog online and both women placed phone calls to MAS to reiterate the “do not kill” request. Between the two of them, Vickie says they spoke with multiple staff members, a veterinarian and MAS director James Rogers. Ms. Carter says that in a phone conversation with a staffer on December 18, she offered to personally adopt the dog if no one claimed him and was told she had to wait until December 20 because the dog was on mandatory hold until then.
But when Ms. Carter went to MAS to adopt the dog on Saturday the 20th, she couldn’t find him. She asked a staffer about the dog and was finally told he had been killed. Ms. Carter was understandably upset and says she asked many questions, including why the dog was killed. But no one at MAS provided any answers of any kind beyond “I don’t know.”
Now Ms. Carter is heartbroken. She says she plans to attend the next public meeting of the shelter advisory board and is working to get this dog’s story out to the public. She wants to know why MAS killed this dog, despite her offer to adopt. And she wants people to know that when she was at MAS, the place was half empty but they killed the dog she wanted to save anyway.
I wish I could say this is the first time we’ve ever seen a story like this out of MAS but tragically, it’s the So Many I’ve Lost Track time we’ve seen this same scenario. MAS has always been primarily a pet killing facility. And until someone is able to buck the status quo, fire the animal killers and send the enablers scurrying back under their rocks, it always will be.
How many more, Memphis?
Bastards
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What else is new, They do this all the time. You know why ? Because they CAN.
I read daily of the tragedies from this hell hole, But never any good comes from
all the posting, and letter writing.
I’m only one person, but if I lived close enough to the so called shelter
I would do a lot of things.
I’d like to know what those things are. I’m local and many that read this blog are. Please educate us on what more we can do to fix this – other than what has already been attempted.
If they know the animal is waiting to be Adopted, Why in the hell are they allowed to kill
the animal ??? We call the local Police department, and they will check the situation out.
I would start with asking people who work on the council, Does ur tax dollars help this shelter ?
What about politicians who might need your vote.???
Can you start a picket, Maybe hire a new crew who might love animals.
This is so not right, And very very sad.
Wish I could do something to help.
Unfortunately, the mayor is the head of this band of thugs. They have been investigated, sometimes ACOs are given a slap on the wrist or “retrained” but killing is who they are and what they are about. Really makes me wonder what kind of pleasure they get, cause it sure is easy for them to do.
It is becomming more and more apparent that in certain situations it’s best to keep police and government out of the loop, some people called the cops on their suicidal son, yes now they killed him.
Here this sweet woman tried to do the right thing and they spitefully killed the dog. Folks we are not in Mayberry any more!
What used to be kindness understanding and compassion has become replaced with beauracracy retaliation and plain old inhumanity.
Rest in peace sweet dog, you came so close to having a life and owner you deserved!
Soairse
Because killing is what they do. It’s completely normal for them. And…the reality is that they consider it their function in Memphis. People bring them animals, they kill them. This is their job as far as they are concerned.
I am so sorry for this woman who clearly worked hard to try to change this dog’s outcome. But there is no amount of communication that can change what happens at MAS. Not for the average citizen, anyway.
Should have known they are KILL Shelters not here to help strays.
I wish there was a neon, glow-in-the dark permanent paint someone could use to paint on the building, where all could see, that said Abandon hope, all ye who enter – animals are killed constantly here.
I’d help pay for that….
There is such a paint! I saw it on Pinterest. It’s used for painting rocks or anything you want. It soaks up the sun during the day and is glowing in the dark. Paint away.
Unexceptable treatment of animals!! This facility should be mandated to reform their practices of killing dogs without medical authority….Employees should be held accountable and replaced with people that have training and maintain professional respect for people and animals as well…The killing shelters should be shutdown and replaced with shelters that are providing a refuge and safe place for animals that are abandoned, lost and abused by
Persons acting irresponsibly in the treatment of helpless animals…. Reform needed!!
Come on, city, state and country politicians show leadership demand accountability!!
We all agree and have done what we can, from where we are. Mikken is spot on – they do nothing but kill. Animals in alive, out dead! It’s a cesspool of neglect, abuse and killing. There is a group, Pets Alive Memphis, trying very hard to at least get the animals into the public eye and adopted or rescued. Rogers and his minions have made it very difficult for them, too. It will take those locally to continue to let the people of Memphis know what is happening and to make something different happen. At the very least, the word should be out that all they do is kill, so find somewhere else to take your animal.
I’m sorry for this puppy and for those who tried so very hard to give him a wonderful life. I hope they do more than just go to the meetings (lots of gone, no one is listening) and file a lawsuit.
Yes, this is a terrible facility – Memphis Animal Slaughterhouse.
Right, db. And the fact that Rogers considers Memphis Pets Alive (people working hard to SAVE animals in HIS shelter) to be nothing more than troublemakers gives you an idea of the mentality at work, there.
Really, if you live in Memphis, you have to vote out the Mayor. There’s nothing else for it. He shielded abusive workers, talking about how “compassionate and professional” they were, what good people they were (right up until three of them were arrested for horrific animal abuse and cruelty) – he’s put his cronies in positions of power and he’s perfectly okay with the killing that goes on at MAS. In fact, he LIKES it. He wants them to kill lots of animals because Memphis needs “animal control” and he thinks that’s the way to do it.
Start by getting rid of the Mayor. Find someone who gives a rat’s ass about the people and animals of Memphis.
This is so heartbreaking ….criminal evil act :(
It is up to you the tax payers the of this county to mount protests and send letters and emails in order to make The Killers of this dog accountable for their actions it is up to the public to expose the atrocities in your town we are dealing with much of the same here in Manatee County Florida and we take every opportunity to make every stupid mistake they make very public published in the papers and being front with signs at every meeting. Good luck to all of you but ultimately it is up to you the text there to make them understand your wants and needs and how your time should be run and by whom.
It is my understanding that the present mayor will be up for re-election soon and there are other candidates interested in running. Someone needs to ask the candidates what they will do to stop the killing at MAS!
AMEN girl.
Thanks so much for sharing my story. I’m sad and Angry. I will do everything I can to help bring change.
Vickie, I’m so sorry that they killed your dog. I’m glad you’re willing to fight to try and protect the next dog from the same fate. We will absolutely support you in that fight!
You better believe God don’t like abuse of any kind god made this world up for humans and animals you better believe punishment will follow for this cruel act.
This story is finally being reported in the news with the usual blah, blah statement from Rogers..
http://wreg.com/2014/12/24/mas-euthanizes-dog-despite-guaranteed-adoption/
“…unfortunately, MAS mistakenly humanely euthanized Pet ID# 273747 on Saturday, December 20, 2014.” – James Rogers
How is it humane to kill a dog who was wanted? If you can’t own it, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it.
I am so sorry Vicki, that is awful. Sadly, MAS can’t be trusted to handle anything appropriately.
MAS holds stray dogs ONLY THREE DAYS. Three days! That is not long enough for anyone to find their dog especially at MAS. The staff doesn’t know half the time what’s what and the other half of the time they are just plain too lazy to do their job properly.
It galls me to read that the comments made were directed at what Joyce should have done! She did nothing wrong. She took the dog to the shelter as she should have done. To turn things around to suddenly place blame on her because she didn’t take the dog to the vet and treat him herself is foolishness!
Rodgers and his minions need to get the hell out of there. He can’t run a two car parade. How many times has he apologized for the killing of a dog who had an adopter? How many more times does this need to happen before it stops? As long as this facility is run by people who can’t manage to run it properly it will continue to happen. The dogs will suffer because they are being denied the opportunity of a home and killed instead. The people who want to adopt will have their hearts broken because some stupid clerk couldn’t do the job they were hired to do.
PLEASE MEMPHIS………get angry and get to work and clean up this mess known as MAS.
Vickie….what Vickie should have done.
… and cats. The cats and kittens don’t fare any better than the dogs. They are equal opportunity killers – if they can kill, they do!
What can be done- has anyone tried a bill board or two??
Get on all the FB pages for the tourist attractions and post about this dog and what happened- which he is just a statastic.
And please please never never take an animal to AC- try and find the owner yourself. Board the dog if you have too.
Billboards were tried at one time. Unfortunately, the mayor and his flunkies like to kill and refuse to make any changes FOR the animals. They spend most of the time killing or figuring out ways to hide what they are doing from the public.
These are people with NO No love for animals. Well I have no feelings for them . We have to stick together and do something. We all hear horror stories about this not counting the one we never hear about. Pleas let’s put our power together and do what we can. There are people working in this place for the dollar heart not in it. Let’s form a group and see what we can do to not let this happen again. Count me in for this.
Let get busy
Haley