Patty Dillon Giarrusso This is an affidavit about SEBBY, also killed by Beach Vet while owners looked for him. It was presented to Carol Whitmore and other county officials in December of 2013. Several other concerns were also presented in the meeting, no action was taken. Following is Sebbys story: STATEMENT OF CHERYL AND EDDY SCHMITT I am writing this to tell the terrible story of what happened to our old dog Sebastian or Sebby as we called him. He was 14 years old. Sebby originally came from a puppy mill, we believe. Our oldest daughter bought him from a pet store in Sarasota when he was a tiny guy. After a while she gave him to us because her small children made him nervous. He fit right in with our group of dogs and cats, mostly made of strays and throwaways. Sebby was a West Highland Terrier. He was a handsome little guy until he was about 8 when he developed skin allergies. We put him on Trifex and it resolved his itchy skin problem. He was taken care of by our veterinarian and given medication until he went missing Wednesday December 4, 2013. We live in the country in a wooded area. I dont know why he wandered off because he NEVER, EVER did before. He was an inside dog mostly since his hearing and sight werent very good. Sebby was on antibiotics for an ear infection when he went missing. He was comfortable and slept most of the day. We began looking for him that Wednesday evening. We put up posters, called all the local animal shelters and left his description with them. The kennel manager at Bishop e-mailed us asking if we had found Sebby yet and she was keeping an eye out for him. We looked for Sebby everyday in the tree farm where he was spotted by workers. Day and night we looked. We took our other dogs with thinking maybe they could find him. We ended up going to neighbors all around our area. Then, almost a mile from our home we learned the animal services truck had been spotted at someones house the day before. We went to the house and yes it was our dog that had wondered there and was picked up by animal services on Wednesday night around 6:30. We still dont understand why he wondered off. Being older, maybe he was confused. We only let him out to go potty and lay in the sun with our other animals. We called animal services first thing Thursday morning. We were advised to look online on their website, as we had been doing every few hours previously. My husband did leave our info with a woman named Tana at animal services who said she would get back to us, but never did. I did some detective work and found the name of the vet who treats the dogs at animal services, Dr. Luke Berglund. I called his office and the receptionist, Leslie, said I dont know if we have a dog here matching your dogs description, Ill look at my paperwork and call you back. We waited for an hour and fifteen minutes before calling the vets office back. I was put on hold and when the young woman came back on the phone, she advised me that my dog had been euthanized, he was suffering, he had scabies (which was not true, he was diagnosed by our vet with allergies common in Westies) and a heart murmur. I couldnt believe it! I asked her why animal services wasnt notified that he was there at their office in case someone was looking for him. I was crying. The woman told me she would have someone call me back. A male assistant called me back. He said it wasnt their office protocol to advise animal services of animals that are brought in. Upset by this, I asked many questions including just what is their protocol?! After a long, very upsetting conversation for which I received no answers, I hung up the phone. I then called animal services and again spoke with Tana who originally took our information from my husband. We were then told that there was no record of us calling earlier looking for Sebby. A lie! I was then transferred to a vet tech named Sarah who also had no answers for me. I dont know what, if any, contact was made between animal services and Dr. Berglund but the way the situation was handled was not right. Our little, old, ugly Sebby went through a lot in the week he was missing. Yes, his allergies were probably flaring up because he was not on his regular medication but no one even took a moment to consider that maybe someone was looking for him, that someone cared about him and loved him. I believe he was euthanized because he was an older dog, but he was a tough little guy. Sebby wasnt given a fair chance to be reunited with the family that was missing him. We are responsible pet owners who love and care for our animals. We believe an injustice has been done to Sebby and us. There is no reason he should not have been returned to us. Instead someone took it upon themselves to put our poor little guy to sleep with no one who loved him by his side. Dr. Burglund did call and apologize. He said he made a judgement call. I told him what he did was unacceptable. I have so many questions that will never be answered. Why was there no communication between the veterinarian and animal services? Why was there no record of my original call to animal services? Has this happened to other families and their innocent pets? Something has to be done to save future families from the heartbreak that mine has gone through. Cheryl and Eddy Schmitt
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 00:46:23 +0000
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