Euthanized pet leads to cyber-bullying claim

A Kansas woman says she is “angry and very very sad” after the Animal Health Center of Marion County euthanized her lost dog just one week after he was picked up by police near the highway.

“Animal Health Center of Marion County murdered my dog,” Stacey Collyar Ferrell, of Peabody, wrote on Facebook. “Murder you say? Yes they deemed him unworthy for adoption. No they didn’t get to know him they didn’t have time.”

Just two days after her Nov. 25 post, the health center posted about the “unfortunate problem.”

“A stray dog was found by Florence police along the highway last week, and it had been there a few days,” the center wrote. “They brought it in to us. The dog did not have a microchip. It was biting at the high schoolers who tried to walk it. It was not safe to be adopted and acted like it had been abused.”

An unnamed employee with Animal Health Center told the Marion County Record that their first action after an animal has been turned in is to try to locate the owners.

“I had tried to reach out to find someone who maybe could try to work with it, but no success,” the center posted.

Ferrell did not contact the Animal Health Center until after the dog was euthanized, the Marion County Record reported.

“We don’t put many dogs to sleep, but after a week of having it and posting it onto our page, for the safety of our staff we put it to sleep,” the center posted.

Ferrell wrote that she is bothered that Animal Health Center did not give her more time to find her dog. It is not immediately known what type breed the dog was.

“A week after their posting him on Facebook and he’s gone,” she wrote. “He wasn’t even given 30 days or second thought. Yes I’m angry and very very sad.”

Since the euthanization, the Animal Health Center said they have been cyber-bullied through malicious comments that had been posted on their web page. The posts appear to have been deleted.

“Pray that my staff, who deal with addressing pain and suffering at work on a daily basis, don’t be brought down by this unfortunate issue,” the center posted. “And pray for the people who felt the need to maliciously post instead of facing the reality.”

The cyber-bullying attack has caused Animal Health Center of Marion County’s owner and veterinarian to stress the importance of tags and microchips, the Marion County Record reported.

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Euthanized pet leads to cyber-bullying claim."