An animal shelter in North Carolina has apologized after mistakenly euthanizing a woman’s Pit Bull, Newsweek report. Pitt County Animal Services brought Kaos, two years old, into custody at the shelter, where he was put into a 10-day bite quarantine.
However, instead of reuniting Kaos with his dog mom, Destiny Daniels, the shelter euthanized him. “I’m not bringing home an alive dog,” she told NBC affiliate WITN-TV. “I’m bringing home a cold body of a dead dog.”
Almost a Million Pets Euthanized Each Year
Per the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, around 6.3 million pets enter US shelters annually, with about 3.1 million of these being dogs.
“Each year, approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized (390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats),” they continued. “The number of dogs and cats euthanized in U.S. shelters annually has declined from approximately 2.6 million in 2011.”
Meanwhile, Pitt County Animal Services wrote on Facebook on Monday (Feb. 6) that somebody made an error when putting details into the computer system. “Animal Services deeply regrets this incident and offers our sincere apologies,” they continued.
The shelter said that it would put procedures in place to prevent similar incidents from occurring again. Going forward, it’ll contact pet parents to verify their intent for recovering their pet, regardless of what the quarantine paperwork says.
Social Media Split
However, many Facebook users were left unimpressed by the shelter’s response. “This is absurd and completely unacceptable,” said one. “There must be steep repercussions for all involved in this grave and tragic incident.”
Another said: “If this happened to my pet I would go ballistic. Not that money would bring back my beloved animal, but you better pay me for my pain and suffering big time. Cut her a check.”
However, one commenter could see another side to the story. “Nobody who euthanizes animals enjoys their job, it’s only because of dire circumstances,” they said. “You all need to calm down and understand it was an error.”
