East Bay animal shelter promises to make changes after 2 dogs mistakenly euthanized

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What could be more tragic in animal shelters than two dogs who had promising futures were mistakenly euthanized because of “clerical errors”? Barbie euthanized On Friday, the Contra Costa County Animal Services announced they were responsible for the death of one of the dogs, but not both.

According to NBC, the June 18 erroneous death of a four-year-old pit bull named Barbi had been caused by a veterinary technician’s “failure to follow the standard policy and procedure,” stated shelter director Beth Ward. A rescue group had already found a home for Barbi and documents at the shelter stated “she was not to be euthanized through the end of the day, that there was an extension.” The vet tech never looked at the documentation and Barbie was killed.

As to the other dog named Tommy, Ward stated a rescue group had not officially procured a home for the dog, however a family had been in the building waiting to adopt him while Tommy was put to death. “Unfortunately our staff did not know that,” Ward responded.

The shelter has promised to retrain staff, and a new position will be created to directly deal with rescue groups – hopefully to avoid these tragic deaths in the future.

No information has been released as to what happened to the vet tech who mistakenly euthanized Barbie. Rest in peace Barbie and Tommy. We are sorry humans let you down.

(Photo via Contra Costa County Animal Services)


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3 COMMENTS

  1. Really? You think they need training? How sad when so many dogs are being “euthanized” (I prefer murdered) for overcrowding, that two that actually were getting out were mistakenly put down because of “clerical errors”! Sounds like a lack of communication all around! Inexcusable as far as I’m concerned.

  2. Knowing that death is the ultimate, there should be checks and double-checks before it is carried out… There’s no taking it back. There’s no fixing it.

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