A rescue group had committed to saving a pregnant dog called Rosie at the Sumter Co pound in Florida this week. But pound staff killed her because of a clerical error. She was supposed to be on the save list but got put on the kill list instead. Oops:
A mistake was made by a very good employee,” Sumter County Public Works director Richard Baier said.
Gee, I hope they don’t have any really super good employees there.
It’s wrong to kill healthy/treatable dogs. That right there should have been the staff’s first clue that a mistake was being made when Rosie was walked into the kill room. It’s also wrong to kill pregnant dogs, causing their unborn pups to suffocate inside the mother’s belly. That would have been a second clue for the staff that Rosie should not be killed. But apparently staff at Sumter Co are accustomed to killing healthy pets, including pregnant dogs, and no one even hesitated when killing Rosie.
This is the problem. It’s why we need systemic shelter reform in this country.
Rosie’s would-be rescuer shared her heartbreak on Facebook. The county says it will institute a system of cross-checking in order to minimize oops-killings in future. I guess this is where we’re supposed to be all yay.
(Thanks to everyone who sent me this story.)
FIVE DOGS AND 80 KENNELS!!! They had 75 empty kennels and they killed this girl anyway.
Although 75 empty kennels SOUNDS like a lot, remember: nobody WANTS to kill animals…
Also read this – “Update: we are hearing Rosie was not the first or last dog with a rescue hold euthanized. This week, 3 dogs (Ginger, Rosie, and Mikey) all had rescues and were killed anyways.” Yet another kill factory disguising itself as a shelter.
Another slaughterhouse for pets. And, according to the comments, the County Administrator who oversees the shelter couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the killing of healthy pets who have rescue waiting. Disgusting.
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rules are not taken seriously enough! Stiffer penalties and dismissals need to be implemented… These are viable lives here…. Living creatures of God!….. Respect life…..
Reports are that now the shelter is refusing entrance to the public and refusing to give info on other dogs over the phone.
Not necessarily true that nobody WANTS to kill animals. They have an employee there who enjoys it and asks to be assigned to do euth. He isn’t the one who killed Rosie or the border collie who was euthanized the same day (also was supposed to have an extension) but he may have had something to do with the others.
Thank you for sharing this story though. This shelter took down their crossposting facebook page claiming it didn’t save any animals (which is an outright lie as we can’t count the animals it saved on two, three, or even 4 hands). They don’t allow people to take photos or videos inside the shelter, even the news media. The county administrator told someone in an email this week that Sumter county’s shelter will “continue to provide euthanasia services to its residents and to cull the overpopulation of cats and dogs.”
On multiple occasions, commissioners have said, “We care about people, not animals.”
They kill hundreds that are never seen in the public. The same rescue who was going to save Rosie has pulled dogs and puppies out of the euth kennels right before they were killed. Some were puppies that were only in there because they had exceeded their 7 day holds or had MINOR skin issues and were apparently considered “unadoptable.” Never photographed, never networked to rescues. Nothing.
Sumter needs change big time so that animals aren’t dying in silence and without any help at all. Right now, the shelter workers and especially the higher ups (commissioners, director, county administrator) are ACTIVELY making things difficult or animals to be saved from the shelter. My biggest question is… why? If people don’t WANT to kill animals then why are they doing that?
Based on your post I wasn’t positive that you know that Shirley was being sarcastic when she said that “no one wants to kill”. That’s always the line that gets trotted out by killing apologists whenever anyone criticizes a shelter or shelter employees. Like, “the employees are doing the best they can, no one WANTS to kill (even though we do nothing to prevent it)” or “if only the irresponsible public would spay/neuter their animals we wouldn’t have to kill sheltered animals because, of course, no one WANTS to kill, it’s just a necessary evil (that we aren’t going to try to change)”. So Shirley was mocking those people.
Sorry if I misread your post, though.
Yes thank you Jamie. SARCASM FONT ON.
Of topic but did you see the pictures of the vet in Texas who caught a cat (most likely her neighbor’s cat) in a leg hold trap and then shot him in the head with an arrow and then boasted about it on Facebook?
Vet as in veterinarian.
She has been fired! Hope she also looses her license.
Petition to fire this pound employee: http://www.yousignanimals.org/signatures.php?petition_id=2315&sign=ok