73 Year Old Woman's Dog Taken from Her Home by City and Euthanized. No Due Process.

I worked with this woman for 2 years at a local nursing home when I was a teenager. Basically her springer spaniel went into the basement and could not get back up the steps due to severe arthritus. She stayed with the dog every day and fed it 2 cans of dogfood and water. She called her veterinarian and he came to the house to check the dog for injuries and broken bones but was unable to lift the 100 lb dog up the stairs after the examination. She then called a relative and asked the relative's son to come over to help move her dog upstairs. Her relative refused to help and instead called the police and reported that her dog was suffering. The police arrived and refused to help lift the dog up stairs but instead issued her 5 citations totaling $1,137 in fines. The humane society arrived, told her that she would never see her dog again and and took it away in a van. The humane society refused to tell her what happened to her dog and she filed a petition to get it back. She even got an attourney. Wisconsin law states that the humane society must be contacted within 7 days to get the dog back. She enlisted the help of a local animal abuse prevention non profit and the humane society ignored the requests. Today the humane society released a statement the the dog had been euthanized. This makes me sick that she was not given due process. Both the city and humane society have refused to comment prior to euthanizing the dog. I have known this woman for 15+ years and she is the last person that would harm an animal, not to mention that she was a CNA. I cannot beleive that the city can come in and just kill your dog based on a phone call from a relative.


Woman doesn't know if her dog is dead or alive after he was taken by Countryside Humane Society
journaltimes.com...

That's...... well, words fail me.

Does she have legal recourse? I'd be filing some type of lawsuit if it were me.

S&F because this needs attention

i gave this a s+f because hopefully it helps get her some help in the situation.

if anyone tried to remove my pets from me they would have to remove me first. for some people they are all they have

reply to post by joyride0187


This is sad. Humans disconnected from each other to such an extent. Our dog suffered a weird vertebral bone spur fracture in the basement, but we enlisted the help of others to help carry him in a blanket sling to the car. Maybe if she had acted sooner, even paid strangers or highschoolers to help carry him to a car? I get the impression that the woman is not in the best of health herself, or maybe is just not too bright?

This is so sad. I am angry with the relative that refused to help.

My mom, after my dad died, bonded with a little bird, a cockatiel. That little bird and her were inseparable. One day, she went out to check her mail with the bird on her shoulder. The bird flew away, and she never recovered. She collapsed in the driveway and neighbors called me at work. She had a nervous breakdown, and shortly afterward was hospitalized and 6 weeks later, she died.

People need to understand how important animal relationships truly are. I'm so sorry for this woman.

Edit to say, what these people did is disgusting. They may have had the dog's interest in mind, but they gave this woman no closure, and treated her criminally.

This is such a horror and tragedy to do to this old woman, I get choked up just thinking about it. I can't help but imagine my own Mom as the lady here if I wasn't able to help for some reason. First, HER kid needs a serious attitude adjustment for not only telling his own mother No, but then bringing the law down on her and really starting the process that changed her world for the worse, overnight.

What happened to some compassion?? Just a LITTLE empathy?? This poor lady obviously loved her dog deeply...or she wouldn't have been making the trips up and down her stairs to lovingly care for her companion. What did she do to deserve her final years being tainted with such a deep emotional injury? A thing like this is what can just tear the heart out of a person when they have so little left anyway.

She obviously didn't have Children worth talking about for family in this world...they just called the cops on her. So..one of the few objects of this lady's love in life is torn from her, she's given the run around, and they coldly kill it without even bothering to let her know it happened.

Cold Blooded and out of line doesn't even BEGIN to do it justice. At the least, jobs should be cut for this, and this is the second story in about a month like this and Humane Society shelters killing people's pets for expediency, with all the compassion of a coroner cutting up the latest arrival.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
That's...... well, words fail me.

Does she have legal recourse? I'd be filing some type of lawsuit if it were me.

S&F because this needs attention

She filed a lawsuit so that this doesnt happen again to someone else. The city is not going to renew their contract with this humane society but the damage is done.

This is so sad.

So killing the dog is the best thing for it? I really fail to understand this kind of thinking. I would assume that being alive with minimal necessities to sustain life is WAY better than being dead, but that's just me.

KILLING should never be the answer.

reply to post by joyride0187


Lets hope they show some class, unlike the first go around with this lady, and settle the case for just about what she's asking for. Whatever that may be..give it to her. They've already torn out a good part of her life, for those years she has left her. I just hope they don't fight with the resources I'm sure they could muster so this is drawn out beyond her natural passing. It won't surprise me these days if they do just that....but a little humanity would be refreshing to see.

Humane Society..they very name becomes a sick parody in cases such as this thread highlights. Humane by WHOSE definition? Ugh.

If someone had offered help earlier I doubt the dog would have been as heavy as 100lbs.

We should not let storys like this desensitise us, we should always be outraged!!!

There's something really wrong with this story, and I'll tell you why.

The dog was just seen by a veterinarian.

I've cared for a lot of animals over a lifetime, including several elder dogs (sometimes when somebody else couldn't), and anytime an animal reaches a painful, hopeless stage, veterinarians will tell you when it's time.

Apparently that didn't happen here, so I'm supposing considerable exaggeration on the part of the police and animal shelter technician.

Government has become bloated with self-serving red tape. They, at the drop pf a hat, come into our homes, take whatever they want, whenever they want. Our pets, our children, our guns, whatever they think they have a right to confiscate, with our legal rights being trampled in this ever growing trend.

This is wrong in too many ways to even list. My heart breaks for this poor woman. All she was guilty of was loving her old dog, and having a mean vindictive relative. I hope she finds a legal way to make the loss of her furbabe, not a total loss.

reply to post by joyride0187

And her vet recommended that this noncancerous mass not be removed, she said, because of Henry’s advanced age and health risks associated with giving anesthesia to the elderly dog. Read more: journaltimes.com...

As someone who spent many hours volunteering for Humane Societies and moreso someone who is in the Veterinary field, this frustrates me that they would take such an action going beyond the Vet's plan with euthanasia in such a manner. Seems like local Human Society/county was more concerned about licensing fees not paid than the dog's life.

Thanks for sharing and concern as it's well appreciated! Looking for more info on this from your article/site provided and updates, as I'd like to contact the Humane Society as soon as more is found/provided.

Contact Info Countryside Humane Society
Humane Society contact info

This story kinda hit home for me. Ive reciently had to put down my dog of 14 years. She had lumps on her, "lovely lady lumps" as I used to call them. They weren't cancerous and the vet said that she was too old to have them removed. When people saw her they looked at me like I was some kind of freak for letting her stay alive. But they didnt know that she was in absolutely no pain and she lived better than most of the humans on earth (sadly). Its been a little over a year now since shes been gone and I miss her every day.

What these people did to this woman is a shame. It seems that theres always someone who thinks they know more about an animal than the person who has cared for and loved them for over a decade.

RIP Ishtar

MOTF!

What's their phone number? I'd like to call and thank them for getting a vicious dog off the streets and for putting an owner in check that was clearly public nuisance. What?
I was being sarcastic. Fork over the # and I'll be sarcastic to them. # For local city hall.

That is just the saddest story. Poor lady and poor dog.

It sounds like the dog was on it's way out but you'd think someone would have sat the lady down with an arm around her shoulder and a hankie at the ready, with an invitation to hold her dog's paw as he was put to sleep. "because it's the best thing for him"..
However, if the dog was still fit then they've committed murder. I don't know what's worse, really.

I don't expect the lady herself will have long to go now, not with that broke heart.

I don't really see a problem here.
If the dog had athritis and couldn't move anymore on it's own, was kept in a basement (i guess cold, dark, wet) it's really better to put it out of it's misery than keeping it alive.

Besides, we don't know the full story. Every story has two sides and news media just love to jump on the side of that 'little old lady and her poor animal'. This topic just proves once more, that people are quick to jump to conclussions and most go ape# once a dog is involved as to some, those are the most precious creatures on the planet

reply to post by ShadowAngel85


The OP knows the lady. The police didn't help lift the dog but instead gave her 5 citations. She doesn't know what they did with her dog. That's kind of bad.

reply to post by joyride0187


I blame the relative for all this.She asked for help from a relative
and he called the law instead of helping her.

Very sad story to say the least. Being a pit bull owner I have ZERO respect for the "Humane" society, but this is just out there. I hope the relative feels like the POS that he/she is, who are they to determine that the dog was suffering? I'm with the poster above that said the officers were more upset about the unpaid license fee's.