There's a mix of anger, outrage and sorrow as stories from throughout North America crop up about animal control agencies and humane societies euthanizing stray dogs before owners have a chance to claim them.
The
Huffington Post reports a case of an elderly dog put down hours after being found in Virginia. The story goes on to describe other similar incidents, including a war hero dog mistakenly put down in Arizona after a worker took the wrong dog to the procedure room.
In Newmarket, Ont., north of Toronto,
Rocky, a 17-year-old husky, was killed within hours of being picked up after a neighbour complained about the dog barking and being unattended. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) said Rocky was in poor health - a fact disputed vehemently by the dog's vet.
It gets worse. There was no attempt to contact the owners before killing Rocky. OSPCA, according to a column by Sun Media's
Peter Worthington, lied about Rocky not have a collar with identification. When Rocky was sent for cremation, he still had his collar with a vaccination tag showing the vet's phone number and a microchip ID was in his shoulder.
We know shelters get overwhelmed and tough decisions have to be made. But there's no excuse for not following up with owners and not keeping picked up animals for a minimum period.
