Posted on 11/20/2010 3:00:10 AM PST by Bad~Rodeo
FLORENCE, Ariz. -- A county employee in Arizona has been fired after mistakenly euthanizing a dog that saved soldiers in Afghanistan and lived through explosions in the war-torn country, officials announced Friday.
The unidentified Pinal County animal control employee euthanized the female shepherd mix on Monday and was immediately placed on administrative leave.
The dog named Target had been brought to the Phoenix area in August by Sgt. Terry Young after his tour of duty.
Target frightened a suicide bomber inside a military base and potentially saved dozens of soldiers' lives, Young said. He said the dog was treated like royalty from then on at the base at Dand Patan, near the Pakistan border.
The dog escaped from the family's back yard last Friday. Target didn't have a tag or microchip and eventually wound up at the county pound.
Last Friday night, Young found Target's picture on a Web site used by county dog catchers to help owners track lost pets. Young figured the shelter in Casa Grande was closed for the night and weekend.
He showed up at the facility to claim his dog on Monday, only to find out she was dead.
County officials say the employee mistakenly took the dog out of its pen Monday morning and euthanized it.
"I just can't believe that something like this would happen to such a good dog," Young told The Arizona Republic, which said the soldier and his family will get Target's cremated remains.
County officials are declining to name
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
How sad.We meet a woman who is involved in bringing these dogs to the U.S. and she had pictures of the dog and his
owner.
If an employee was fired and no one sees who it was, was anyone really fired?
Where are they holding Schroedinger’s cat?
OK, I have 100% sympathy for this dog but was it a simple mistake?
They put down pets all the time. This dog may have deserved special treatment, but does some one need to lose their job and ability to support their family for a simple mistake?
Very sad story. But what kind of dog owner sees his dog posted as being held at the pound and then just ‘figures it’s closed’ and doesn’t try to contact them for 2 1/2 days?
“County officials say the employee mistakenly took the dog out of its pen Monday morning and euthanized it.”
What exactly was the “mistake?”
Was the pen mislabeled, was it a case of careless disregard? Does this happen often and no one catches it and this case was the exception ?
How poorly run is this (and all) shelter(s) ?
The dog had no license. How can you not provide a beloved friend with a license? That would have saved the situation.
It’s a very, very sad story but I’m also sad that someone has to lose their job over this - unless, of course, some sort of conscious cruelty occurred.
My puppies were all microchipped on their first vet visit. It's 50 bucks, less if you shop around or go to the humane society, but it's well spent.
If Target had waited 3 days before reacting to the suicide bomber in Afghanistan because she figured she had no responsibility to act quickly and no loyalty to her family, people would think “What’s wrong with that dog?”
Maybe they should get a real job and get off the taxpayer dole.
This is why someone got fired?
Send this guy the bug letter.
Mgmt.
It’s a legit question, what was the mistake?
More. Sergeant Young spotted Target’s photo online on Friday and paid the fee by computer to recover her. He mistakenly thought the shelter was closed for the weekend.
By the time he arrived at the pound on Monday, the shelter employee in charge of euthanizing animals that day had apparently picked the wrong dog out of the pen and administered a lethal injection, performing what the shelter referred to as “P.T.S.,” or put to sleep. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/us/19dog.html?_r=2&ref=global-home
Sad but why fire the worker when the owner is at fault?
From the post above you, it appears that the owner took the proper steps and had already paid the fee to get the dog back. It may have been the owner's fault for letting the dog get out, but beyond that, he did what he needed to. The dog should not have been put down, since the fee was already paid.
From an earlier article:
“Sergeant Young spotted Target’s photo online on Friday and paid the fee by computer to recover her. He mistakenly thought the shelter was closed for the weekend.
By the time Sergeant Young arrived at the pound on Monday, the shelter employee in charge of euthanizing animals that day had apparently picked the wrong dog out of the pen and administered a lethal injection, performing what the shelter referred to as “P.T.S.,” or put to sleep.”
The FR thread is hear, with a link to that article:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2629458/posts
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