A family’s dog is dead after he was forgotten inside of an animal control vehicle in Henderson, Nevada. According to Tuesday’s News 3 LV, the nine-year-old Shih-Tzu, “Mr. Chops,” escaped from his owner’s yard on July 28 and was subsequently picked up by a good Samaritan – the person who found the roaming dog took him to an animal hospital, who in turn, contacted the Henderson Animal Control.
Tragedy struck when the animal control officer remembered to call Mr. Chops’ family, but forgot to remove the little dog from the kennel in the animal control vehicle. On the morning of July 29, the body of the small dog was found inside of the car…dead from the excessive heat inside of the vehicle.
On August 1, a family member went to social media and made a post about the devastating incident – the comment reads in part:
This morning, my Dad was visited by the Assistant Chief, Shift Commander and Grievance Counselor of the Henderson County Police Department, because Mr. Chops was left in the back of the city’s Animal Control van over the weekend and as he tried to claw his way out of the vehicle, HE WAS COOKED TO DEATH.
He added:
I’m always shocked when I hear of people leaving pets or children in cars, especially when it’s in the sun, but for this to be a licensed professional, employed by the city – it is completely inexcusable.
Following the tragedy, Deputy Police Chief Jeff Stilson has made policy changes to ensure that the fatal oversight never happens again. He stated:
This has never happened in the city of Henderson. We’ve been around since 1953. We average about 4,000 animal intakes per year and over 2300 of them are dogs. If you add that up throughout the years, we’ve never had one like this. This is our first. It’s horrible and we hope this never happens again,”
Are you people just f****** done actually f****** stupid mother f****** out could you forget a dog and one of your vehicle’s you dumb f****** drug addict mother f****** you guys don’t know what the f*** you’re doing he or she and I will put you in jail I would have the family price of massive charges against you you are a bunch of f****** scumbags
It never should have happened in the first place weather it was the first or tenth, you take responsibility when you pick up that dog, NOW BE RESPONSIBLE, you sit in the back of that truck for the weekend see how you feel, that dog should have come OUT of the truck first then the owner notified. Henderson Arizona what a place not to be a dog, and hire people with at least 2 BRAIN CELLS THAT ARE IN WORKING CONDITION
I want to know what discipline was given to the Animal control officer who murdered this dog
I don’t care if it’s their first! There is no excuse for a person that is supposed to be caring for animals to do this! Rest in peace Mr Chops and condolences for your family, I don’t know how one gets over something like this.
Another tragedy where I live. This sickens me. Aren’t there any safeguards in place for the ACO to check? Shouldn’t each section of the vehicle be checked for any animals????? Common sense would tell you that.
Just because this has never happened before, there is NO EXCUSE that it even happened once! How could this happen at all? Poor Mr. Chops tried to claw his way out and not cook to death, but dogs cannot unlock car doors. This ACO responsible should be fired immediately. That ‘mistake’ cost an innocent dog his life: mistakes are when you put on two different colored socks, or take the wrong road, but NOT when you do something that costs an innocent dog his life. This person was paid to take care of Mr. Chops, and instead cooked him. Anger and disgust don’t even cover this.
unexcusable
the guy was stuiped and should have check things out before leaveing the vechile.make the person pay bigtime for it.
Although the Supervisor went in person and apologized to the family … This most certainly didn’t help Mr. Chop’s who went thru a horrific amount of pain, suffering and emotional stress dying while trying to escape the “oven” he was left to die in for a whole weekend!!!!! This will haunt his family till the end!!! Hell it haunts ME!!! They need to held accountable for this rotten deed mistake or not!!!!
You are so right. And … this is in my backyard!!! I am sick over this. Just sick.
The responsible “officer” (ha!) should be fired, no question. Anyone who cannot adequately perform their job does not deserve that job.
What state?
Oh I see now, Nevada. If this family is not satisfied with the punitive measures taken by Animal Control, I can help them file a lawsuit against them to demand that he be fired and/or arrested. Please call me at 845 856 7366