photo by Miami Shelter Big, Bullies Black

 

This sweet collie mix with a sparkle in his eyes, a wagging tail, and a relaxed tongue seemed darling. His heartless family had adopted him from the shelter as a puppy and abandoned him at the age of nine at the same shelter from which he had been adopted. Did they not want to care for him in his old age once he’d given them the best years of his life? Did they even look back at him and think of his fate — dying alone in a cold, concrete room by uncaring hands?

Volunteers were heartbroken when they arrived to assess Ori merely four days after his arrival, only to find that he had already been killed by the shelter. While owner surrenders can be killed immediately (because there is no “hold” time to look for an owner), this supposedly “no-kill” shelter certainly didn’t waste any time getting rid of an animal they thought unadoptable.

His video shows a long-coated dog suffering in the heat of Miami. The shelter wasted no time in labeling this senior as aggressive so they could kill him quickly. The person who took the video wrote:

Medical noes state he has some sensitivity in spine area, but no where did it say he was aggressive. With this sign slapped across his kennel card and an owner surrender, Ori’s chances of getting out alive are slim to none.”

But never fear — his death won’t show up as a “kill.” They will either say that he was aggressive or killed for medical reasons so that he won’t mess up their precious statistics. Mysteriously, this shelter kills very few adoptable dogs, but many aggressive dogs and dogs in medical need of “humane euthanasia.” They also lose a few dogs. That keeps their “save” rate looking great. And that’s what’s important — the save rate.

For this senior dog, the save rate didn’t help him. He was nine years old and might have lived for several years more. He had people interested in saving him. But the shelter only gave him four days to live. The volunteer also commented on the difference between his intake photo, where Ori seems alert, friendly, and happy, to the video just a few days later after he realized that his family had abandoned him. Ori is depressed and seems to have given up hope.

Then the shelter made sure he had no hope — only death at the end of a needle.

Ori was ID#A1004306. Please take a moment to remember him. He was abandoned to die by his family on May 21 and killed four days later. His owners will probably be able to adopt another puppy from this very shelter, keep that puppy for a few years and then abandon the dog to die when the dog becomes old, inconvenient or sick. Please share Ori’s life and his untimely death. His story was posted on a Miami dog rescue page on Facebook: Miami Shelter Big, Bullies Black & Been Around.