Family left devastated after pet dog accidentally euthanised
A family has been left devastated and searching for answers after their dog was mistakenly put down by staff at an animal shelter.
Tony Wang and his wife Jennifer were visited by a city maintenance worker who showed up unannounced in the backyard of their home in the US state of Illinois, Fox News reports.
Their dog Moses, whom the family say is normally meek, got protective and bit the worker on the leg.
They took the worker to a doctor and called animal control to inform them of what happened.
Mrs Wang said she was told Moses would need to go to a shelter for 10 days to make sure he didn’t have rabies.
She said the family were “very upset” the dog would be away for more than a week but a few days later they were told Moses was dead.
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The animal shelter’s director told the family he “accidentally euthanised Moses”.
“I thought it was a cruel prank,” Mrs Wang said. “I couldn’t believe this was happening.”
The shelter’s director still doesn’t know how the mistake happened, but said he was told to put down a “gold-coloured” pooch and assumed that dog was Moses.
Mr Wang told WMBD-News he asked the worker if he could have verified he was putting down the right dog, but he “didn’t want to” and “went ahead and did it”.
He added his six-year-old son, Keloan, cried himself to sleep when he heard about the dog’s death.
Heartbroken, Mrs Wang took Moses’s body from the shelter and has had it cremated. The family is now considering legal action.
She said the legal action was not about money but holding people accountable.
The shelter confirmed in a statement to WMBD-News someone “mistakenly” euthanised a dog and “truly regrets” what happened.
The Wangs have started a GoFundMe page to pay for legal costs.
