Lexington dog owner heartbroken after his dog killed at shelter just days after he went missing

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A Lexington, Kentucky man is trying to deal with his grief after being informed his one-year-old Chihuahua was euthanized at the Lexington-Fayette County Animal Care and Control just days after he went missing from his home. On July 2, the tiny Chi named Echo wandered away from his home.

According to WkytNews, Michael Geers went to the shelter the next day and filed a lost dog report. For the next week he tried to find his little dog with no luck, however on July 9, Geers received a call informing him that Echo had been found and was dropped off at the shelter the same day Geers filed the report of his lost dog. Excited, Geers hurried to the shelter to pick Echo up and bring him home, but that was not to be. The shelter euthanized the pup that morning stating he wasn’t put up for adoption because he “did not pass their evaluation.”

As per the state and local ordinance, dogs are held for five days and cats are held for three days before they are euthanized. Echo had been at the shelter for six days; he ran out of time. And although Geers immediately contacted the shelter about his lost dog, it is the dog owner’s responsibility to continually check back to see if their dog had been turned in to the shelter.

The Lexington-Fayette County Animal Care and Control state they have an 80% save rate. Had Echo been micro chipped, he would have been held at the shelter for ten days. While it is a terrible tragedy that Echo was killed, please microchip your pets; they can’t talk and tell us where they live and who their favorite human is, but that tiny rice sized chip can alert shelters, veterinarians and rescue organizations bring some amazing reunions.

Rest in peace Echo. We will miss you.

(Photo via screenshot from WkytNews)

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24 COMMENTS

  1. You just can’t fix stupid…….

    Echo was dropped off at the shelter the same day his owner filed “lost dog” paperwork???

    Why didn’t anyone check incoming animals against this “lost dog” paperwork before labeling the dog as a “stray” & wasting time on a “stray hold & adoption evaluation”???

    Yet the shelter was able to notify the owner that they were holding his dog???

    But they euthanized the dog anyway???

    Something is very wrong……. VERY stupid people at this shelter……. Soneone should be terminated over this disgusting incident!!!

    Agreed that all pets should be microchipped. But not all microchips are “readable” by all shelters and vet offices (& there have been cases where animals were id’d by their microchips & euthanized anyway due to complete idiots working in the shelter)………

    Rather than blaming the owner, that shelter needs to answer some tough ?’s:

    1) why aren’t incoming animals checked against “lost pet” paperwork on file???

    2) why wasn’t the owner contacted immediately???

    3) if the shelter knew they had the missing animal, why was he euthanized???

    RIP Echo, you were failed by humans in every way possible……….

    • It’s comes down to being rabid to kill as many dogs they can,like I said they are not shelters they are killing factories! Shelters shelter from harm,not kill just because they can! Of course they wouldn’t take a extra second to check to see if this dog had an owner who is searching for it because that’s to logical to the mind of killers! This poor owner probably assumed he would be called if they found his dog,most unaware people would! I’m sure he NEVER thought he needed to check everyday! Is there no damn procedure in place for incoming dogs? What this hell hole did should be illegal and the city should be investigating why this poor pet was killed without checking to see if there is an owner looking for it,what the hell is the point of taking the lost pet report if it isn’t going to be checked,it’s not that freaking hard to do in this day and age of electronics,it is as simple as a click of the mouse on a computer! This hell hole killing factory needs to be held accountable, but wait they are too busy killing dogs to answer to athorities! I will always feel that the jerks who run these killing factories HATE DOGS!!!!!! RIP ECHO AND PRAYERS TO ECHO’S OWNER

      • I so totally agree with you, we have kill shelters that their staff do not give a damn about saving their life. All they are there for is to collect a check . RIP sweetie.

      • Cynthia, there was no evidence that the dog had rabies, so why make such a crap comment. The shelter failed in it’s duty of care for the dog. They were criminally negligent because they failed to match the owners report on their dog with him when he came in. The one thing that everyone should take away from this, is that all pets, not just dogs should be microchipped so that if they turn up at a shelter, vets, or anywhere else, they can be quickly identified, and hopefully returned to their owners.

      • Daniel the word I’m using the word rabid in the context of being overly eager,biting at the bit,can’t wait to to do the deed,NOT as in rabies u DUMMY!!! So take ur CRAP COMMENT to me and shove it! IM ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ON THE SIDE OF THE DOG! Sorry u are not well verse in the using of words in different contexts! IM SO FREAKING OUTRAGED AT WHAT THEY DID AND THEY SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! I didn’t say this dog had rabies! SMH

  2. STOP STOP CALLING THESE HELL HOLES SHELTERS……THEY ARE NOTHING MORE THAN KILLING FACTORIES! So freaking sick of the injustice shown to a living creature and these so called temperament test are a joke! I hate to sound cold BUT I know where my three dogs are every second of every day! Prayers to Echos owner and RIP ECHO……killed for NO reason!!!

  3. He filed a missing dog report and the dog was turned into the shelter the same day and it took them 6 days to notify him his dog was there? Then they kill the dog because it had been there 5 days, didn’t pass their evaluation so they couldn’t put it up for adoption? What is wrong with this shelter? Does anyone know what they are doing? Yes lets blame the owner for not going to the shelter everyday to check if his dog was there and the dog was not micro chipped. (sarcasm) Someone knew it was his dog and called him, so why was the dog killed? Lexington-Fayette County Animal Care and Control, blame the owner, I blame YOU, ultimately YOU didn’t do YOUR job!

  4. No one checked any incoming or outgoing pets coming into their facility or else they would have checked this man’s original missing dogs report the supposedly same day the dog was brought in. Who works in these places not to have any brain cells working to even check something as simple as this. Lazy,people who don’t really care about the animals that are brought in, only killing them is their goal to get them out of their way. Horrible what this owner went through and I would contact a lawyer to see if any retribution can be done in memory of his loss. Microchip your pets, and hopefully the shelters will scan the animal too.

  5. Shut down this shelter immediately and charge and imprison all the workers and officials! There should be only no kill sanctuaries operated by animal rights supporters with experience in helping animals!

  6. If he filled the lost dog paperwork out the same day Echo was taken to the shelter, it’s absolutely INEXCUSABLE that he was killed! Why the devil didn’t they check incoming dogs against the paperwork filled out by people looking for their dogs?

    What’s the point of even bothering to fill out paperwork if these morons won’t check it?

    • Somebody must have, they called him and told him they had his dog and yet by the time he got there the dog had been euthanized? The whole story is beyond ridiculous. I like they way they are blaming him for not contacting them every day (if you fill out a lost dog form why should you have to?) how many black Chihuahuas had been turned in that day, and then not having the dog micro chipped? I have to wonder even if the dog had been micro chipped would they have called him, or just held the dog for the 10 days and euthanized him because the owner never “called every day” to see if his dog was there. This “shelter” (I shudder to call this place a shelter) IS run by MORONS!

  7. That is NO excuse. He came in and told you all that his dog was missing and gave a description. What they should have done was contact the Owner when the dog was brought in. This is HORRIBLE and should NOT have happened.

  8. This is absolutely HORRIBLE… PEOPLE….. GET YOUR BABIES CHIPPED….. IT IS CHEAP AND SAVES LIVES!!!!!
    There is no reason in the world anyone can give to NOT have their pets chipped!!!! This was a useless, horrible thing that happened.

    • Not so cheap if you are with Home Again. I paid $45 for the initial chip and $20 each year to keep them registered, a little costly when you have 4 dogs.

  9. If it was the shelter that called Mr. Geers(on the 6th day) that Echo was found why didn’t they call on the VERY DAY Echo arrived at the shelter?! I realize that it’s the owners responsibility to call the shelter, but, can’t the shelter staff go out of its way to help connect these dogs back with their owners. I know I would have.

  10. It is just sickening that this happened to Echo and the owner. I can’t even imagine the grief the owner is going through. One word of advice to all. Have your microchip checked for accuracy. Do not take for granted it is correct. I rescued a pup in the last year and had her chipped. Three times in the past year I have received a call from a shelter stating they had my dog. The chip for my pup was placed in another dog. I have no idea what chip my pup received. The dog they had three times at the shelter was not my pet, but someone else’s with my information. I can only hope this dog found it’s way back home one more time.

  11. UNCARINGLAZY “shelter” killing this dog because they can’t read their own paperwork. Who is running it? CURLY, LARRY or MO? So sorry to this poor man and his dog.

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