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Monday, July 21, 2014

Found Dog A281263 - Killed at MADACC

I presented the following information on Tuesday, July 15 at the MADACC Operations Committee meeting. 

My name is Kathy Pobloskie and I am the Director of Lost Dogs of Wisconsin. We are an all-volunteer organization committed to reuniting lost dogs with their owners.  We receive lost and found reports from around the state and from January through June 30, 2014, we have helped reunite 1004 Wisconsin dogs with their owners.   Our 70 plus volunteers personally contact every person that files a lost or found dog report to give them advice and support based on what we have learned from the successful reunions of several thousand dogs since we started in 2010. At Lost Dogs of Wisconsin, we strive to maintain good working relationships with shelters and believe that through teamwork we can help more lost dogs get home. 

Recently,  we have received several troubling stories from Milwaukee county, and today I want to tell you about this one – an unnamed dog  (No A281263) that was found by a Good Samaritan. I also want to mention that I did email Ms. Sparapani  with our concerns about this dog, but did not receive a reply.

On June 4, a Glendale resident was walking his two dogs in Lincoln Park.  This black and white dog approached his dogs in a very friendly manner and began to follow them.  When I spoke with the finder,  he described the dog as very friendly, obviously well cared for – of good weight, and wearing a black nylon collar but no tags.  He proceeded home with the dog following behind. When he got home this dog was initiating play with his two dogs, and was even friendly with his cats.  He filed a report with us on the evening of June 4 which we posted.  



He also sent a picture to MADACC ‘s Facebook page in the hopes that an owner would be found quickly which was shared  on the Stray Animals of Milwaukee County’s Facebook page on June 5th. 


Since the finder already has two dogs and two cats and couldn't keep this dog himself, he wanted to find the owner quickly or help facilitate a new home for the dog.  He felt bad keeping the dog in his garage, and since he knew that MADACC was the official stray holding facility (information that we provide) he brought the dog to MADACC after work on June 5th.  I sent in an Open Records Request for the information on this dog and it shows that the dog was impounded at 5:32 p.m. on June 5th.   The finder mentioned that he had a friend that might be interested in adopting the dog if nobody reclaimed him and he was told to check back after the 7 day stray hold was up. 

On  June 5th the dog received an intake exam and was found to be normal.  It was estimated he was 2 years old and his weight was 68.5 pounds.  It was noted that he had a black nylon collar on.




Twice during the week the finder called to check on the status of the dog and to inform MADACC that a friend would like to see the dog and possibly adopt.  He was told to call back after the seven day stray hold was up.

On June 10th the dog apparently showed signs of kennel cough and was put on a 10 day treatment of antibiotics.

On June 11th, Lorraine Sweeney evaluated the dog and said he failed dog to dog.  That is all it says – there is no written behavior evaluation or any other details. 



On June 11th the dog’s paperwork was also stamped as being MADACC’s property.


On June 12th the dog was put down at 9:41 a.m.  The reason listed is  BO “behavior observed”. (see above)

On June 12th the finder called to check on the status of the dog because he knew that the 7 day stray hold should expire at 5:30 that afternoon and he wanted to make arrangements for his friend to come in and see the dog.

But it was too late. He was told the dog was already dead.

In closing I want to read the following quotes from Ms. Sparapani from the Listening sessions:
 "Decisions to end the life of an animal are not taken lightly here, and we are working very hard to reduce the number of animals that are euthanized."

"Our behavior assessments are some of the most liberal around because of the fact that we know the dogs are likely showing their worst behavior because of fear and stress while at MADACC."

In closing, I would like to point out that there are some very troubling aspects to this story.

1.      The dog was killed before the state-mandated seven day stray hold expired.
2.      The dog was killed for dog aggression which he clearly did not have. If he showed any signs of aggression it was probably due to kennel stress, 
3.      The dog was killed when there was a potential home available for him. An obvious breakdown in communication must have occurred between the front desk fielding the calls and whoever should have made a notation in the file that there was an interested party.

I am hoping that  dog A281263 did not die in vain. Please ensure that changes will be made to MADACC procedures to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.


Thank you,
Kathy Pobloskie

11 comments:

  1. Why would a dog/dog interaction be conducted with a dog that has kennel cough. Either the evaluation didn't happen or they have poor disease control protocols. If the evaluation was conducted prior to the 10th when he was diagnosed it should be in his kennel record which is shown above.

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  2. This is very distressing. This dog seemingly had everything in place to get out if there and it appears there was such a breakdown in protocol and communication, it cost this dog his life. Many years ago, I had the similar thing happen to a little pit puppy I found . This is why will never take a stray to MADACC. EVER.

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  3. A sick dog should not be evaluated and a contagious dogs should not be around healthy dogs...what is happening I Wisconsin? ??

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  4. This is very very sad and very unnecessary, I thought changes were coming to MADACC. A very simple policy change would prevent this. What is MADACC's response? What will they do to make sure this doesnt happen again. What is the Board of Directors response to this?

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  5. This breaks my heart. I was called to a shelter where I volunteer my time to socialize animals. I had just gotten home from Florida an it was the Saturday before Easter. I walked into the shelter and into the kennels where I found a fur ball of snashing, growling and fighting fur. It took time to hoop a leash around the neck of the dog and pull it to its feet and walk it out of the kennel. I walked and walked and walked this dog on a leash and slowly the growling stopped and I dropped the leash and just kept walking and this fur ball kept following me. When I sat down, she leaped into my arms, and my heart. I held in my arms a purebred beautiful Pomeranian. She is only a year old. I knew I could not put her back in a kennel where all the big dogs barking scared her. I signed foster paper, and this sweetie sign adoption papers. I brought her home with me. Yes she adopted me and end up rescuing my heart and soul. I rescued this one year old Pomp April 2014. I turned her into a sweet loving personality and very spoiled little girl. she is now being trained for Pet therapy and we go to the local nursing homes. The first week end I had her, she went on a 200 mile corvette cruise with me and has been traveling ever since. In the right hands of a loving person any animal can survive and the very best of that dog or cat can be brought out to show a very sweet and loving animal. I have rescued dogs and cats since a child. I can tell you this, any animal will change personality in a shelter. It comes from fear of the unknown and the lost of its family. Any human would change personality under the same conditions. Shelter are to quick to kill an animal and sadly they can lie about it on paper. Because after all, animals have no voice, they can not speak for themselves. Therefore we the people have to stand up, step up and get mad as hell and raise our voices to protect the rights of animals from shelter owner who are so quick to kill.

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  6. Milwaukee news stations need to be made aware of this--maybe they will pickup the story and get some answers!!??

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  7. What can an individual member of the public get Madacc personnel/board to understand that individual lives of animals matter?

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  8. What can Milwaukeeans do to get across to Madacc personnel/director/board that INDIVIDUAL non human animal lives matter? This kind of "miscommunication" makes me livid. It's unacceptable as an excuse when lives are impacted! Again, Kathy, what can we do?

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  9. This is horrible and unacceptable.

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  10. The experience my daughter had with madacc wasnt the greatest. Her gate was left open and they picked up her dog as a stray. She was an older dog and wasn't licensed.she couldn't afford the fees and had some medical issues. She decided to have the dog euthanized. The way they went about it was very uncompasionate. Instead of looking for a vein they went injected through the chest to the heart. The first attempt did not work and had to do it twice. I would think they would at least tranquilize the dog especially with the owner present. Euthanasia done like this can be very tramatic for the owner and the dog. I know this through working for a veterinarian for yrs. After this ordeal my daughter was very distraught. Our family has always had animals as my children got older they were always there till the end when it came down to their time on earth they always were with them until the end. Not sure exactly if madacc does this often but it's something that needs to be improved on.

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    Replies
    1. I am so sorry for your daughter's loss. This is tragic and unacceptable. Did this happen recently?

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