AR-News: (FL - US)Miami-Dade Shelter kills family pet within 2 hours

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Animal Services Kills Family's Pet
Within Hours Of Arriving At Facility, Dog Is Put Down

POSTED: 6:00 PM EST January 20, 2004

MIAMI -- Miami-Dade Police Animal Services workers admit they made a mistake, and now a family is mourning the loss of their beloved pet.

When Maxi got out of their yard five days ago, she was taken by a neighbor to Animal Services.

Within two hours, family members went through the whole facility looking for Max, but he was nowhere to be found, and they could get no information about him. 

Luis Hernandez said, "The following day, [my wife] came with my brother-in-law and went through the whole facility, including the animals that had been put down. There was no record of the dog being put down."

Five days after Max disappeared and tired of looking for their dog, the family contacted Channel 10 for help.

Tuesday they got the answer they didn't want to hear.

"The dog was accidentally euthanized," Sgt. Edmund Winters, of Animal Services, said. "The investigation is continuing."

This facility claims to be a "no-kill shelter," which means they keep the animals indefinitely as long they are healthy. Animal care workers said Maxi had an eye infection and that's why she was killed.

Her regular veterinarian said Maxi was in good shape.

The Hernandez family wants answers. They said two and a half hours was not enough time for Animal Services to make a life-and-death decision.

Capt. Carlos Vazquez, of Animal Services, said, "Yeah, we made a mistake and I apologize for our mistake. It's something that we've gotta look into."


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