A dog who had gotten loose from his yard was picked up by animal control and taken to the shelter. A notice was left on the owners door that the dog was picked up and they had 72 hours to go and get it back. Only when they went to get the dog after work the dog had already been killed.
Apparently it is shelter policy to end the suffering of any animal that comes into its facility that is sick or in pain if they don't know who the owner is. Wait but they did leave a notice on the owners door about the dog. So they were pretty sure that the dog had a home and they knew where that home was. I guess that policy includes when they do know who the owner is as well. The owner has records of recent vet visits and testing to determine what was wrong with the dog so it seems the dog was being treated for what was not heart failure but heart worms.
Either way I don't see how a shelter can kill a dog that was brought in that way without waiting the proper length of time. They could have given some sort of pain medication if they thought the dog was suffering especially because there was paperwork with the dog that they left notice etc for the owners. And people want to know why I wouldn't turn a dog over to a shelter that I found running the neighborhood if it seemed like it had a home. In the space of a few short hours they had killed a family pet.
Do you know how easily veterinarians who see a majority of large dogs listen to small dogs hearts and say they hear a heart murmur? Or what about a dog with hip dysplasia would they consider that dog in pain and PTS while the owner was at work and before they could go and pick up their pet. Or what about a small urban shelter that has a sight hound brought in when they never see them and they decide that the dog is starving to death and suffering just because it has a different body appearance then what they are used to seeing.
How do they make the determination within hours of being picked up for what is supposed to be safe keeping to kill an animal without waiting the proper amount of time. And how many shelters have this policy in place? Does it make you think twice about turning over a dog to the shelter now that you found running the street. If instead of safe keeping as a place the dogs owner will go looking they find their family pet dead? I think there is a major problem with that "policy".