Owner angry after shelter puts dog down 30 minutes after arrival

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Dog put down shortly after arrival at Vegas shelter
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A Las Vegas dog owner is angry that an animal shelter put her dog down just 30 minutes after the dog’s arrival. According to Wednesday’s KTNV News, Michelle Smith’s dog, “Trouble,” was taken to the Animal Foundation after he escaped from her yard and was struck by a car.

Just 30 minutes after an animal control officer brought Trouble to the facility, shelter staff decided that the dog was in pain and suffering and that he needed to be put down. Smith questions their decision because she was told that her dog’s leg was broken but she saw a photo of him and he did not appear to be suffering from a broken leg. Smith told KTNV News, “They kept using the word suffering, suffering, suffering and I’m looking at this photo like my dog is standing on all four legs like my dog is fine!”

The Animal Foundation, which operates the Lied Animal Shelter, told the news agency that euthanizing Trouble was “not an easy decision.” Smith is angry that her dog lost his life because of a broken leg, she stated, “Is my dog going to die from a broken leg? Are you freaking kidding me?”

Trouble did not have a microchip or any identifying tags.

Feel free to weigh in on this tragic situation below. Remember, it is important for your pets to not only have a microchip with current contact information, but a collar with identification tags which can be critical in cases of emergencies like this.

(Photo screenshot via KTNV News)

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48 COMMENTS

  1. I think 30 minutes is RIDICULOUS. Why not give pain medication and wait at least a day, maybe two, depending on the amount of “suffering” (which, from the way it sounds, is a term used very loosely). RIP Trouble. My deepest sympathy to Michelle Smith.

    • It’s straight up breed discrimination. I ran into something similar when my pit bull was attacked by another dog, and my regular vet was out of town, and I had to use a new vet. The FIRST THING out of the vet’s mouth was “do you want to spend any money on a dog that is going to be put down?” and I looked at him like he was crazy and told him she wasn’t there to be put down, she was there to get some stitches. He kept calling her dog aggressive and I kept pointing out that SHE WAS THE VICTIM. She did not hurt the other dog. He mentioned euthanasia repeatedly even though she only had a few flesh punctures – it was ridiculous.

    • This woman needs to SUE the shelter for the wrongful killing of her Dog.
      She should sue them for everything she can get. She needs to set a precedent so other
      killing obsessed shelters do not use this model. The extent of Animal murder in this and
      other shelters is beyond imagination and for bizarre and pointless AND unlawful reasons.

  2. First of all, if Trouble was standing on his leg, was the leg really broken? Probably not. Is killing a dog for a BROKEN LEG warranted? NO WAY!!! Broken legs DO NOT KILL dogs!!! When the shelter claims this was a hard decision, it is LYING through it’s filthy teeth! The reason Trouble is dead is because he was a pit bull, and because they kill for space.

    If I were here, I would take my dog’s body and have a necropsy done. I would also see if I could have some legal remedies taken against these fiends so this never happens again.

  3. It’s irrelevant that the dog had no identification. He’s supposed to be held a minimum amount of time. He should have been taken to the vet for an evaluation before anything was done.

  4. Please please, please sue these bastards. To many animals are killed unnecessarily everyday. Please in your dogs memory sue their ass. Maybe changes can be made if something is done about this tragedy

  5. We had our dog put away right after I saw her and had to run home to get money. They said she was very sick?? Then she was shown on “pets on parade” 2 days later bouncing and happy. The dog pound ended up being sued by us and they paid a ton of money.

  6. I take what everyone says with a grain of salt and don’t believe anyone at face value. That said owning 3 rescues myself and my wife sits on the board at a rescue agency. Who made the decision, within 30 minutes mind you, to euthanize this animal. Was a vet consulted, if not, why not. If that image is accurate, how do they define suffering? Is this the given time frame for euthanize from injuries for all dogs? And a broken leg is not a reason to euthanize, they can be set, or amputated if necessary, and the dog can still lead a normal life. Was any attempt made to see to whom the dog belonged? All of these unanswered questions are troubling for this shelter and needs to answered.

    • This is the history with the Animal Foundation. We do everything we can in this community to keep any animals from having to go there.

  7. A broken leg is not a reason put a dog down! That’s ridiculous! I’m a vet who deals with catastrophic injuries and trust me broken leg not even close! I would ask to see the person who made that decision and their medical degree! The only one who can make that choice is a vet! The shelter staff can’t make the decision! If they did this woman can sue them for killing Trouble!

  8. Thats just wrong on the shelters part. Even if the dog didnt have identification the owner would have been out looking for the dog and would have been contacting shelters around the area hoping the dog was brought in. The shelter should have waited a couple days or 3 to see if someone came looking for him/her. I’d be extremely upset if it was one of my dogs.

  9. On ne tue pas un animal pour une patte cassée, qu’il soit identifié ou pas que se soit un refuge ou pas, dans ce cas, que l’on euthanasie tou les blessés, les souffrants.
    De quel droit s’autoriser le droit de vie ou de mort. L’humain est la seule espèce qui n’aurait jamais dû exister. QUELLE HONTE.
    Soi en paix petit ange.

  10. We are the only Advocates that are pets have! When owners do not do due diligence it’s on them! Any dog can escape from a home a fenced yard a slip collar Etc. You have to at least take all precautions possible to mark your animal for their safety. Do I think all animal shelters are on the up-and-up definitely not.

  11. my question here is why was the dog not taken to a vet first,and whomever made the decision to euthanize a dog for broken leg need to be fired right away,then someone needs to beat the living crap out of he or she. file a lawsuit against them,loss of companionship should bring some compensation

  12. I have every sympathy for the loss of a fur baby. BUT, all you have to do is put tags on them AND/OR have them chipped….. CHIPPED it cost NEXT TO NOTHING and then if you have an escape artist as a pet…. they can be SAVED.

    • Yes, the dog should have be chipped or tag but that did not give them the right to kill this dog. A dog has 3 days for a owner to find there dog. And this place I don’t think they care if it was tag or chip . I think I heard bad thing about this shelter . And I do believe they kill it because it was pitbull.

    • Yes, chip them help , But this shelter kill this dog because it was a pitbull. If it was chip they still kill it. What I see is a dog on all 4 legs . I do hope she sued them for alot of money. Because this is not the first time it happen at this shelter .

  13. Why didn’t they give the dog something for the pain if the dog broke his leg. By looking at the picture he was standing on all fours. I have a gut feeling that they could not be bothered in doing this as the dog was a pit bull if this is the case they were way out of line in doing this to the dog

  14. I would be mad too, They should at least find out if the dog belongs to someone before they “euthanize” a dog they pick up. At lease wait and see if someone is looking for the dog! It;s not the shelter’s staff’s job to decide if a dog is hurt so much it needs to be put down, they should have taken the dog to the vet or at least tried pain meds. It would have helped in the dog had tags on or was micro chipped, but.I have to agree with some others on here, the shelter didn’t care they picked up a “Pit Bull” killing them is what they do!

  15. 30minutes?! Are you kidding me? If this dog wasn’t a Pitbull, he’d still be alive! His leg was broken. I highly doubt that would cause so much suffering that euthanization was the only option. I hope Trouble’s human sues this place!

  16. Wait a minute–the owner surrenders her own dog to a kill shelter instead of taking it to a vet after it got hit by a car!– and then gets mad at the shelter for not spending money to treat it? Why, so she could send a friend to adopt it after it was treated? I don’t agree that the shelter should have euthanized it, but this selfish, arrogant, hypocrite has no right to be angry or to sue. If she couldn’t afford a vet, she should have been honest with the shelter and asked for help. I’ve had to pay expensive vet bills when I wasn’t making much money but I did it because I loved my dog and his health came first, because he was a member of my family. The shelter may be wrong, but the woman is the one at fault.

    • Please remove that comment, I read the article too quickly. That’s totally wrong for the shelter not to give the dog pain meds until it could be assessed and an owner had a chance to look for it.

  17. I deliver mail in a Rural area, one day i see a loose Pit Bull in a field close to a busy street, I opened my door and called and she ran full blast into my car wagging her tail. I took her to the shelter in case her owners were looking for her. The next day i went there to check up on her and she wasnt there. I asked around and they said she was put to sleep because the head person doesn’t like pit bulls. I hate the shelter

  18. Trouble should not have been put down. They definitely could have given him Tramadol for a pain killer until the owner could claim the dog. This shelter needs to be sued or charged for what they did. Also sounds like they need new management!!

  19. I am so sick and tired of pit bulls being treated like trash – Trouble deserved medical care and this piss poor example of a ‘shelter’ did nothing but kill him. To literally murder him after 30 minutes is horrific and Trouble deserved better. The “Lied” Animal Shelter was sure named appropriately as it sure seems they did a lot of that to cover their asses.

  20. 30 MINUTES IS A TRAVESTY!!! EVEN NYC DOESN’T DO THAT, AND OUR SHELTER SYSTEM IS A DISGRACE.

    No time for an owner to search their neighborhood, no time to even call and get through to the shelter to see if the animal was brought in. What ever happened to hold periods? Even with a supposedly broken leg – no time to allow medical rescue by a valid (as NYCACC calls them) “New Hope” rescue?

    My sympathies go out to the owner of the dog. Write your local politicos and DEMAND that holds be place and dogs appropriately treated for non-life threatening injuries and illnesses upon shelter intake.

  21. Animal control is supposed to get a hold of the animal’s owner by law and dog’s don’t die from many injuries after being hit by a car. They didn’t even try, the odg was a pit and that’s all they saw.. does anyone remember one Christmas when the TV station did an interview with Lied and they had taken in a pitbull mom and her 10 puppies that were 3, yes three days old??? This happened about 3 years ago?? They were supposed to advertise for a foster and someone found out that they instead euthanized the pit bull mom and all 10 of her three day old puppies.. WHY ?? because it was Christmas and they didn’t think, that’s right, they do not know how to think or care and so they euthanized them… I wonder if they had been poodles if they would have done the same thing.. Las Vegas needs to get someone in there that actually cares about the animals and not the just the breed. I have been in rescue over ten years in Illinois and have been bitten three times NOT by any pit bull or pit mix but by 3 small dogs.. It is how dogs are raised NOT the breed… shame on you Las Vegas.. get these people out that don’t care, your dog may be next.. then what??

    • Exactly. I thought that animal shelters had to have “stray holds” for at least a minimum of 3-5 days. I thought the whole idea of a “stray hold” was to give the family an opportunity to check at the shelter for their missing pet…….

      30 minutes is unreasonable……. in that time one can barely get the dog out of the kennel truck…… what about a vet evaluation???

      It seems to me that the staff didn’t want to do ANYTHING for this dog except murder it…….

      If it were me, I would sue…….

      Lesson: microchip your pets and have the chip # inscribed on their dog tag with the vet’s phone # & your phone #……..

  22. I agree. Thirty minutes isn’t enough time to give anyone a chance to even look for this dog. Also, much agreed, they didn’t want a PIT BULL taking up space at their stupid shelter. Pit bulls are so discriminated against. It’s horrible. I am sorry this dog is gone because of an “allegedly ” broken leg and so sorry for the owner’s tragic loss. Hopefully, she will find it in her heart to adopt a Pitt bull from another shelter, and give that dog the chance she could not give hers. prayers.

  23. This is unexaptable. And dont tell my he was aggressive.. stop lying to yourselves and o the puplic. If animal owners cant depend on ypu. Who can they trust.

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