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Arizona Worker Fired For Killing War Hero Dog



Nov 19, 2010 30 Comments ›› Pat Dollard

FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) – A county employee in Arizona has been fired after mistakenly euthanizing a dog that saved soldiers in Afghanistan and lived through explosions in the war-torn country, officials announced Friday.

The unidentified Pinal County animal control employee euthanized the female shepherd mix on Monday and was immediately placed on administrative leave.

The dog named Target had been brought to the Phoenix area in August by Sgt. Terry Young after his tour of duty.

Target frightened a suicide bomber inside a military base and potentially saved dozens of soldiers’ lives, Young said. He said the dog was treated like royalty from then on at the base at Dand Patan, near the Pakistan border.

The dog escaped from the family’s back yard last Friday. Target didn’t have a tag or microchip and eventually wound up at the county pound.

Last Friday night, Young found Target’s picture on a Web site used by county dog catchers to help owners track lost pets. Young figured the shelter in Casa Grande was closed for the night and weekend.

He showed up at the facility to claim his dog on Monday, only to find out she was dead.

County officials say the employee mistakenly took the dog out of its pen Monday morning and euthanized it.

“I just can’t believe that something like this would happen to such a good dog,” Young told The Arizona Republic, which said the soldier and his family will get Target’s cremated remains.

County officials are declining to name the employee because of threats made to that person and angry telephone calls to the facility.

“We are continuing to look into management practices and procedures to ensure that something like this cannot happen again,” said Lisa Garcia, assistant county manager for Health and Human Services.


  • wuzentme

    just how the hell could the county worker have known that.

    “We are continuing to look into management practices and procedures to ensure that something like this cannot happen again,” said Lisa Garcia, assistant county manager for Health and Human Services.” Its a pound. putting dogs down is what they do. WTF

  • Axel

    I have avoided reading this story at all the blogs because I love dogs. Now after reading it, my question is why the dog didn’t have a collar w/an ID tag? Why would he just assume the facility was closed? I would have at least called the place to check. It’s the owners fault, even if I don’t agree w/the shelter.
    It sucks, and is very sad.

  • http://q.com bossou

    @ least they have a web site ,I would think someone could leave a note via e-mail.sorry this happened.

  • reagan54

    Maybe you do not know Pinal County. Sickening, isn’t it?

  • David

    Dogs are truly man’s best friend. I have had dogs all of my life. They always had collars with a name tag, just as our military have them. They are called “dog tags”. Heartbreaking story.

  • windigo

    dogs have more shitting rights than humans….

  • ATTILA

    There is supposed to be a longer waiting period for the owners to claim a lost pet~~~~~asshole

  • ATTILA

    Bullshit numbnuts,a human can wait on death row for 20 years, and a family pet is zapped over the weekend?? Fuck you.

  • Big D

    The aspect I think you are missing is that the worker put down the dog when it wasn’t suppose to. If the dog had tags or even a chip – due to the negligence of the worker the out come could had been the same.

    The Animal control office was not suppose to put down a dog which had only been in its custody for a couple of days.

    This should make people question as to the practices that they take on with animals and if there is not more to the story as to how the animal control conducts themselves.

    To put down the owner and call it his fault for the dead dog, whether or not his dog was micro chipped or had tags, isn’t right.

  • Tyler520

    Arizona animal control facilities are notoriously hasty in euthanizing animals in order to pinch pennies. In all honesty, the director of the facility is probably to blame, and probably passed off blame to a peon.

  • Tyler520

    I find dogs to be more pleasant than most people

  • EBoss

    :cry:

  • wuzentme

    getting back to what I said, It was an accidant and how the feck was he or she supposed to know that it was war hero asshole

  • reagan54

    :arrow: :arrow: Big D Have you been to Pinal County? I am generalizing and I have seen that there are many residents who do not care about themselves or their pets to the same extent that you and I do. What I was alluding to was that it is not unusual for a pet in this county to wander around without tags. Someone very dear to me will probably have to represent Pinal County in this sad case. Of course the county will be sued. Even sadder, she/he loves animals and takes in strays.

    Thank you for pointing out my poor communication so I could respond. I also did not understand the amount of time the dog was allowed in the pound. Also the owner did come for the dog within two days so this owner may not have fallen into my blanket generalization.

  • reagan54

    Dogs and pets have unconditional love, something humans often lack.

  • reagan54

    Do you think Arizona’s facilities are hasty? I’m curious. I know 10 years ago, before the current depression, Maricopa County had a very high placement rate–close to 95%

  • wuzentme

    ATTILA, I do not wish to bring eminity between us.Reason being, I may not know you, but I think it would be safe to say you and I don’t not agree about everthing. But the fact that you and I are here are Pat’s place, is a sign to me that we are somewhat like minded. All I meant was,accidents happen. To issue death threat, as was said in the article, Is a bit extreme. I am quite sure that unless the employee was an anti war numbnut he or she would have acted differently if they had known how special this dog was. If the dog was not a hero, this would a non issue. Peac :cool: e brother

  • fas1776

    So true reagan54,I just lost my Dog Penelope,we had her since she was a puppy,even at the end she used every ounce of her being to greet us at the door,Uncondional Love as you said, I am thankful that she passed on her own. Penelope March 7,1994-November 11,2010,Her passing is killing us.

  • Axel

    fas1776, condolences and sympathies to you. 16 years is a long time, and I know your pain. My Shepherd, (14) passed a year ago Oct and I still pine for her. I still feel her, see her, hear her. There is no companion like a good dog, a dog will love you when no one else will. I have had lots of human deaths to cope and deal with, those I can handle, but the loss of my dog there are no words.
    :beer: To Penelope.

  • Axel

    I realize we live in a society where common sense is rare, but there is a real good chance if the dog had an ID tag w/a phone number the dog would have never gone to the pound in the first place. Most likely whoever found the dog would have called the owner first, general rule of thumb of how that works. Basic responsibility of dog ownership, rock bottom care….tags, spay/neuter, exercise, food, water, shelter. After that indulge the hell out of them and spoil them rotten. Dogs RULE.

    I don’t believe if the dog had ID the outcome would have been the same, if that is the case then the shelter should be closed FOREVER. I don’t see it as faulting the owner, I see it as stating facts. The tragedy is the dog is a war hero and connected to a Solder. It’s heart breaking, I remember reading the story of the dog saving lives way back when on the FOB. I am sure the Soldier is devastated and wracked w/guilt. A shame he didn’t have tags on the dog, it’s a hard way to learn a lesson. It is a very sad story and it is sickening.

    The shelter issues is a whole different matter. They should be investigated. The worker just plain f-up’d for whatever the reason. Back flips will happen because the national media attention. If I had my way no shelter would be allowed to euthanize unless there were unusual circumstance, always exceptions. I know nothing of Pinal County, but I do know dogs and how to take care of them.

  • RockyMtn1776

    What a damn shame ! If only this dog had some sort of ID on him. As a dog lover myself I can imagine how this must hurt. Murdered due to carelessness.

  • reagan54

    I am so sad for you fas. I could not even think of Chazz without crying for a long time. He died on May 23, 2009 in my arms. Well, I guess I still can’t think about him.

  • reagan54

    Axel, I am sorry about Penelope. Chazz knew something was wrong with him when I did not. The year before he died he became so worried about me that he would not let anyone between us. I am just so sad about this dog, what he did and what I see in Arizona, in some areas, with dogs roaming without collars.

    To all the dogs who love us. :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

  • Tommy_G

    A humans life is worth more than a pets life. If my house is on fire I’m not going back for cats, but I will gladly die in an attempt to save my family.

  • Fish4Life

    Government employees, someone else’s life-what could go wrong? They’ve had years to practice on animals and unborn children.

  • TerryTate

    I don’t know about this AP story guys, but this was on the local news here in Phoenix, and the AP story isn’t matching up with the one that was reported on TV here.

    The TV report said that the owner called the animal control shelter and asked them to hold the dog so that he could pick it up, but when he arrived a worker had euthanized the dog even though the dog had not been held by the pound long enough to do that.

    Essentially it said the animal control worker broke procedure and euthanized the dog despite animal control regulations, which specified the length of time the dog was supposed to be held.

    The thing that made my red flag go up was that the dog’s owner said he had contacted someone at animal control and explained the situation, yet the animal was then killed ahead of schedule.

    Maybe it was an accident, but it certainly is odd to say the least.

    Given how divided this country has become it would not surprise me if it wasn’t an accident.

    As the worker was fired, it’s obvious someone in control thought he/she did something wrong, or they are covering something else up.

    Either way it sucks.

  • reagan54

    I agree with you. I have been reading various news reports–specifically from the Tucson Citizen. The newspaper said that the dog got out of the fenced yard on NOVEMBER 12–WITHOUT A COLLAR OR CHIP, because the gate was ajar. “Young called local media and sent out his own online announcements in a bid to find his missing dog. Target was eventually located at Pinal County pound’s Casa Grande location, where she was taken after a man found her and called animal control.

    “She’s in the pound. At least she’s safe,” Young told the newspaper.

    I do not know from the report what date the dog was located in the pound.

    My questions are:

    1. Did the owner go immediately to the pound to pick up Target?
    2. How long was Target at the pound before he was murdered.

    Something awful happened here. Looking at pictures of Target, and all dogs are beautiful, he is particularly a good candidate for adoption even not knowing his history.

    The employee is “on leave.” Unfortunately, I will know all the details, and if the employee was more than stupid, I will inform everyone what I know.

  • fas76

    Correction-Penelope was born March 7,1995.

  • Tyler520

    Many facilities in Southern Arizona, at least, got in serious trouble a few years ago for putting animals down at absurdly high rates…I think they would only keep them up to 2 weeks.

  • Tyler520

    As the saying goes, “dogs are the only animal that love their owners more than they love themselves”