BeingStray.com, a blog documenting what life is like on the streets for many stay animals, brings us a sad story of a dog named Stu. Stu was locked in an animal shelter in L.A. for nearly four years after biting a human. An excerpt from the blog:
In a nutshell, a dog, Stu, gets rescued from the streets in 2000 and lives happily and comfortable with his owner, Jeff de la Rosa, and two other dogs. Life is good!
Fast forward to 2005. Dela Rosa is called out of town for a family emergency and his assistant — familiar with the dogs — steps in to care for them. There is a scuffle between two of the dogs and Stu’s ear gets torn in the scuffle. The assistant attempts to put Stu’s harness on him so he can be taken to vet, but wounded Stu snaps at the assistant, puncturing her arm twice. …
De la Rosa offers to pay the assistant’s medical bills. She goes to the hospital for treatment and tells the emergency room staff she does not know the dog that bit her. She doesn’t call the police of L.A. Animal Services.
Three weeks later, de la Rosa is served with a lawsuit seeking $6 million in damages for the assistant. Ten days later, de la Rosa comes home to find Stu missing from a locked outside kennel.
He receives a call from Animal Services that Stu has been “found and brought in by an unidentified private citizen.” When de la Rosa arrives at the kennel to retrieve his dog, he is told they just received a bite report on Stu and refuse to release him. …
Stu has been held by the City or in City-designated facilities since his mysterious exit from a locked kennel (the gate on his fence had been pried open from the outside), and de la Rosa has been fighting to save his dog’s life since. Two respected dog behaviorists have evaluated Stu and stated he is NOT aggressive towards humans.
You can read the rest of the post here.
What do you think about Stu? Should he be released to his owner? Could this happen in Houston?
One Comment on "Dog Locked In L.A. Shelter For Four Years; Could It Happen In Houston?"
YES! This could happen in Houston just as it happens in many more places than you know. For example, it is happening to Brindi in Nova Scotia and Bruce in Northern Ireland right now, just to name a couple.
Ohio has enacted a “vicious breed” ban that apparently allows officers to confiscate dogs that look like pit bulls and euthanize them.
And in most cases, the owners are given few options to save their beloved companions other than expensive legal filings procedures which lag on into infinity. A pet’s life is finite.
You owe it to yourself to take the time and read the animal control laws/by-laws of your community carefully and imagine how they read if it’s your pet that has been impounded. Then you need to marshall to change those that unfairly seize, impound and/or euthanize your pet.
As an update on Stu, if action is not taken quickly, Stu could die on July 23, 2009 for simply defending himself.