We Lost Our Buddy
Animal Stories from All-Creatures.org

FROM Carla
September 2008

 

Hi my name is Carla and I was Buddy's owner.

We tragically lost him due to the negligence and irresponsibility of Animal Control. The Animal Shelter is located at 450 TV Drive Fredericksburg, VA 22408 (540) 507-7459.

Buddys' life was taken by an animal control officer  on Monday September 8, 2008. We will never know if he could have lived another ten years.

Buddy came up missing on September 1, 2008 after jumping a fence in our backyard while in the care of a family member. As soon as we got home we began our search. We put fliers on signs, even put individual fliers on mailboxes everywhere in the area in hopes someone would spot him.

On September 2, 2008 I called the animal shelter and filed a lost dog report with them, than took them a flier with his picture on it. I walked through the shelter where there were animals there lying in their own feces and vomit. They all looked sad, some had eye infections and others looked ready to go. The staff at the shelter said they would hold on to the flier, which I found out they put under the calendar laying on the desk where it sat until I asked them to hang on their bulletin board. They also stated they would call me if anything came in.

I did not trust this, so I went every day to check to see if Buddy was there. The conditions never got any better. On Sunday September 7th I contacted the group that pick up deceased animals...road kill.

To my surprise again, I found out that once they pick up dead animals they only hold them for three hours if they are brought to the office and cannot notify the owner via a tag or collar. Then they take them to the county landfill where the carcasses are dumped. They also keep no record of the animals. If an animal control officer picks up an animal, dead or alive, they are required to fill out a card with all of the information on it.

Buddy never got a card. That is why we didn't know he was there.

From what the shelter is saying, someone at the shelter must have gotten busy and forgotten.

On Monday September 8, 2008 Buddy was found in a ditch alive. The lady who found him gave him food and water and he ate and drank. My question is how did she get that close but didn't see his tag?

Animal Control came out at 1:13 in the afternoon and took his collar off, told the lady that he would contact the owners. He took Buddy, put him in the truck and than euthanized him.

Why?

He could have been saved if he had been taken to vet. We don't know if he was even hurt. He could have been dehydrated or tired.

After the animal control employee put Buddy down, he/she preceded to five other calls, then took Buddy to the shelter where he put him in the freezer in a trashcan with a cat he must have killed after killing Buddy.

On Thursday September 11, we received a phone call after putting big posters up from the lady who found him stating animal control picked him up Monday. We called the shelter and they said there had been no reports at all on something like that. So we went to the shelter and made them look and they found a printout with her address and name but no information on the call except that there had been an "euthanasia."

We demanded answers but got none. All because there was no record at all. So we went to the freezer and identified Buddy.

Now I am looking for all the support I can get, because I need justice not only for Buddy but also anyone else who this may have happened to. This CANNOT happen again. To anyone. Animals need to be treated like our equals. They eat breathe, think and learn just like us. There is no excuse in this, and it needs to come to a screeching halt now. Not to mention we have still not gotten his collar back which they conveniently lost. It was a Redskins collar with his name and a phone number on the tag.

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