Shelter Puts Down Wrong Dog
Timber, a 13-year-old boxer-shepherd mix, was at Durham County Animal Shelter after biting someone. The dog was there for a 10-day quarantine, then his owner could retrieve him.
Unfortunately, that was not what happened. When Jeff Kessler walked into the shelter he was told his dog was accidentally put down. A horrible mistake, which both Kessler and the Durham County Animal Shelter agree didn’t have to happen.
Timber bit a woman’s leg in front of Kessler’s Ventura Drive home after he was accidentally let out of a gate March 6. As is standard procedure in biting cases, Timber was taken to the shelter to be quarantined for 10 days, and Kessler had to pay a $500 fine.
“There was no possible misunderstanding that we were giving the dog up,” he said. “I made it very evident that I was coming to get the dog.”
Kessler, 51, went to the shelter to pick up Timber on March 16. The dog was supposed to be in cage 77. Another animal was there instead. Kessler searched the entire shelter, but Timber was not to be found. He had been euthanized March 12.
The shelter has a policy that is supposed to be followed before any dog is euthanized. Every animal has an impound sheet, a card is attached to the animal’s cage, which matches the information on the sheet. The technician who euthanizes is supposed to verify both documents before putting an animal to sleep. In Timber’s case the technician didn’t follow procedure, causing the wrong dog to be put down.
It’s hard enough putting animals to sleep, Price said, but to do so accidentally is a burden shared by the entire shelter.
The technician responsible has been suspended indefinitely from euthanizing, and from the shelter for a week. That punishment hardly seems sufficient, seeing as Timber got life.
* Pic of Timber courtesy newsobserver.com
I agree, that punishment is not sufficient. This is HORRIBLE. This poor family just lost their dog because of someone’s BIG mistake. This is so sad.
My Heart goes out to Timber and the Kessler’s. I think this technician should be removed from employment at the shelter period. A one week suspension is an insult to the life of a wonderful animal. Godspeed sweet Timber…..
This is heartbreaking. I can only imagine how Timber’s pawrents are feeling right now. My sympathy goes out to them. I would want prosecution and agree with Debbie; the technician should be fired.
I can’t imagine something like this happening. My sympathies to the bereaved.
I would be FURIOUS if someone “accidentally put down my dog”. That is unbelievably irresponsible of that technician. Not only should they be fired – but they really owe that poor family.
I was horrified to even read the title of this article. My heart just dropped. This is the worst nightmare you could ever imagine. My heartfelt sympathies to the family.
Rest in Peace Timber, I’m teary eyed after reading this. I don’t know how the family will find comfort for a long while.
i am outraged. For a person who is to be working for a shelter and not to follow procedures. I had a so call friend of mine claim a dog bit her, while in a pen with 5 to 6 foot fence, I took my dog and ran to my vet, and they arranged for a near by clinic to quartine her. A few years back in Nashville, there was a similar incident, a black lab, There was a major freeze, and pipes busted at the shelter and the water froze the dog to death. I think some of the laws regarding dogs is somewhat off. If the owner can show proof of shots, why can’t the dog be hosed at home. And especially if it is the owner who actually got bit. I had that to happen to me. My two males had a conflict, and as I tried to break it up, I pushed my hand into the mouth of the one who had a grip to break his grip and my finger got caught on a tusk. my neighbors called police when they saw the blood and all hell broke out. My boys had to be housed for 10 days, I did visit them.
That is unforgivable! My sympathies to Mr. Kessler and his family. This employee should be fired immediately! A slap on the hand is totally out of place in this instance. This person is not qualified to work in ANY compacity at the animal shelter. Given their IQ and/or attention to regulations, there are bound to be other more mistakes on their part! Maybe even more horrifying, but that is hard to imagine. If the shelter does not fire this individual, then Mr. Kessler should sue them. That may change they attitude.
If that had been my dog whom I have had from a puppy who “saved” me from having a nervous breakdown when the company I worked for downsized, I am afraid I would be looking for that employee with a shotgun! How could anyone be that indifferent or careless in the assignment of taking a life?? This is a no-brainer… fire the person! Fire them now!
Fire them now! R.I.P sweet Timber. I would hate it if it happened to our dogs.
The sad thing is I have head of this happening before. It happened in June 2008 at a Genesee County MI shelter with a dog bite case, a black Lab named “Junior” and in Irving TX where a lost dog, an APBT named “Star” was accidentally euthanized instead of another dog in the same run at the shelter. In Denton TX in 2008 a Lab mix “Amicus” was euthanized after his family had arranged to pick him up, the shelter worker said they didn’t see a note saying the owner was coming. Something similar happened in Barrow County GA where a “Tally” black lab whose owner was scheduled to pick up was mistakenly euthanized instead of another lab. Another lost dog “Tiny” a pit bull mix was euthanized in a Colombus shelter when a worker misread the card on the dog’s kennel.
I think this person should be fired!!! How can you be so carless when it comes to a life.
My heart goes out to the family, I just can’t imagine losing my family memeber like that, and my dogs are part of our family
This is terrible and ultimately unforgivable but I can see how it could easily happen. Our shelter only has a brief description of the dog on it’s card and sometimes the breeds they come up with are really far-fetched in my opinion. The only way they have to ID the dog is a paper collar on it’s neck with the ID number. If the collar comes off somewhere along the way, they’d have no way to positively ID the dog. Luckily, this hasn’t happened at our shelter and I hope it never does.
You should fired him or her ! What if it happen again then what ? I’ll tell you what if that happen to any of my dogs there would be he!! to pay and they would get sue for sure ! My heart felt sympathies go out to the Kessler family.
And GOD BLESS TIMBER !
Poor Timber, he should not have lost his life due to a lack of attention to detail. Unfortunately this is more common than not….the shelters are overwhelmed and very bad mistakes are made. Many times I have driven three hours to pick up a dog I have called about prior to setting out on my drive and explaining where I am driving from and approximate time of arrival to have found the dog has been euthanized minutes or an hour or two after my call and leaving contact numbers etc. Bless you Timber and a prayer is sent out to you
How sad…..poor timber…….and all because of one mistake.I pray he will rest in peace…
That poor family. I can’t imagine how I would cope if my Samson were “accidentally” put down. The tech should be fired and banned from working with animals.!!!
wow poor family
it’s bad enough their pet was afraid and that triggered him to bite… i’m sure he was confused about what happen
and then for someone to put him down! that’s just terrible
I definitely think the tech should be fired & to be honest I’d be thinking about charges of animal endangerment & neglect.
How hard is it for a shelter to take a polaroid pic of each dog, write their names on it & file it? I mean it’s not rocket science we’re talking about here.
That is just awful! That is why I do not support kill-shelters what so ever. Mistakes like that wouldn’t have to happen in the first place.
although it’s unfortunate that the dog was accidently put down, but it did BITE someone!
A dog who is human aggressive should be put down, there is no excuse owing a dog who bites!
That is awful. how devastating for the family
Sara,
You have no clue what the circumstances were leading up to the biting. Making assumptions, such as saying the dog is “human aggressive”, is what lands these dogs in situations like this to begin with. If every bite was handled as black and white as you think it should be, a lot of dogs would be put to death unfairly.
How sad. :/
I’m kind of surprised that the shelters don’t follow a similar procedure to some veterinary hospitals, where animals who are admitted are given a paper ID collar similar to the ones humans have to wear in the hospital. There’s such potential for paperwork to be mixed up– having a collar placed directly on the animal that identifies them and why they are there could prevent a lot of errors.
I’m sure that the tech feels horrible about her mistake– that’s the kind of thing that would really haunt someone who obviously loves animals or would not be working where she is working. Shelters and shelter workers are stretched much too thin. I don’t think it is right that so many people are calling for her to be fired– mistakes happen, and sadly sometimes they are big mistakes. She’s doing a necessary job that most other animal lovers would not have the heart to do, probably for a lot less money than she could make working in a private practice. It’s a tragedy that the animal died, but there’s a human involved in this too, who is probably very torn up over what happened.
Accident? Yeah, the tech “accidently” didn’t follow the proper procedure. That’s inexcuseable. How irrisponsible. If I that was my dog I would make sure of that tech being fired to prevent any future “accidents”.
Rest in peace, Timber.
Too many kill happy shelters, they say their there for the animals but their pay check is what matters most. This happens a lot in Maryland. NO EXCUSE. They’ll probably get a job in a people hospital next.
This story sickens me, right away some want to blame the dog without knowing the situation! Sure I do understand the owners need to take precautions if the pooch has ever shown any agression. But once I bit my Mom’s face as she tried to wake me to move over in bed so she could get in, I was just startled and in no way would I ever bite Mommy! It never ever has happened again, to Mom or any one else!
That Tech does need to be removed from the Shelter permanently, sorry for the loss of their job but fails in comparison to a dog that lost their life!