I repost this not to cause more problems but to stress to the public that there are 2 separate entities at the Amarillo Pound. This is by no means the first time this has happened. Communication needs to be improved in some kind of new system. I personally, feel the euthanasia list should be posted 24 hours in advance for public/rescue access &/or animals/cages marked. Extensions need to be done in the same department as the euthanasia list is prepared from. There are still issues at the shelter & we need public support to correct them. We are Amarillos animals voice. Join us at the Animal Control meeting downtown tonight at 6 pm 3rd floor to have your voice heard. Penny was a beautiful, healthy and happy young Shepard mix. Nobody knows her back story for sure, but on the morning of July 23, 2014 she wandered into the downtown branch of Happy State bank. The people there are real animal lovers so they called the branch manager (my wife) to see what she could do. Her picture was posted all over Facebook, to the local lost pet sites and personal pages. My wife kept her in her office, gave her water and food, played with her and talked to her. This was the last time anyone would give this animal kind words or the care she deserved. Nobody claimed her, so at the end of the day my wife called Animal Control to see if they would check her for a microchip. She did not have a chip. They took custody of her at this time. We could not simply wash our hands of this little dog, she had so much hope in her eyes and it was obvious she wanted someone to love. She was completely adoptable and there was no reason to think someone would not welcome her into a loving home. My wife called a local rescue group and made arrangements to have her pulled from the shelter to give her that chance. To make sure there was no mistakes made she also went down personally on Saturday July 26th to pay for an extension for Penny. For 15 dollars you can buy additional time for these animals to get a chance to either be reunited or get adopted. It felt good to know we did the right thing by her, my wife called her Penny because she was found at the bank. She would be happier at the rescue shelter and we would get to see her and play with her. We may even see if our dog would accept her and adopt her ourselves. Three times we called after Saturday to check on her welfare- Cage F-10 Case number 14-011506 we would say, “The dog we put an extension on, the one that is soon to be pulled by a rescue group”. This alone should have caused them to recheck things. The 3rd time we called was the evening before she was to be pulled by the rescue group the date was 7/30/2014. We called at 6:45 PM. There was a long pause and it seemed to be a long wait while they checked on her. “The Shepard mix, right?” Yes---“Yes, she is fine”. We thought this was odd but had no idea until the next day why. The rescue group arrived in the afternoon with her information to pull her. Animal Control informed them she was on the EU list and there was never an extension filed on her. She was killed the day before. My wife was devastated, I picked her up and we both left work right away to go see what happened. The Humane Society at first tried to say they have the paperwork so they had no idea what happened. They finally admitted it was there fault. The stamped data never made it to the AC side. They put our 15 dollars on the table as if we had just sent back an undercooked steak and wanted a refund. They said they were sorry but nobody would own the error or tell us how this was possible. They all claimed they were not there and had no idea. We left and this may have been the end of Penny’s story. She was just a clerical error on an animal that nobody owned or claimed just another body in the landfill west of town. I was furious and this led me to fire off angry Facebook posts to all the media, rescue sites and other groups here in town. It got attention and quickly got back to the Humane Society. I even said something on one of their posts. I admit I was speaking from my emotions and was taking an angry negative stand. It may have not been constructive but it did get attention. I was asked to take down my posts; it was thought the negative attention would deter others from adopting at the shelter. That would be the last thing I wanted so I agreed under the premise that someone would be held accountable. That change would be made to the policy that seemed broken. I spoke with the head of our Humane Society on 8/1/14 and was assured there would be harsh actions for those responsible. The word “fired” was used by her; I never said the word myself. But they had to wait on the Amarillo IT group since nobody would admit the error. They would need video evidence to prove that my wife ever even paid the 15 dollars. The next day I received a call from a young lady who was already crying. She said she was the one who made the mistake and that she did not remember my wife or an extension. It was obvious that she had been confronted with clear video evidence because she also said my wife looked familiar. This tells me they showed her the video. It would have meant much more to me if she had admitted this earlier and had made her apology before getting caught. It will always make me wonder if those tears were not for Penny but instead for herself now that she was caught in an error that led to a death. So what can we learn from this? That is where I am and what I want the AC and HS to tell me. What can be changed to prevent this? I suggest right away all extensions be handled by AC and not have the Humane Society as a middle man. This would help immediately! There are many other things that may have helped and the problems at the shelter go beyond this one occurrence. I am only speaking now to what I personally experienced. Penny and that sweet face full of hope should never be forgotten. She deserved better and was let down by a broken system.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 19:47:54 +0000
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