FAST FACTS:
(Memphis 12/29/2009) There's another heartbreaking story out of the troubled Memphis Animal Shelter.
A woman showed up to pick up the dog she'd just adopted, only to find out he'd been put to sleep.
Rita Leone picked out a 10-month old Golden Retriever mix at the shelter December 26.
"He was very sweet, very friendly easy-going, calm dog," said Leone.
But when she showed up, cash in hand to take him home this morning, he was gone.
"I went to the cage," said Leone. "The door was open, no dog, the bed was flipped over, I said 'Oh my God!'"
Her dog had mistakenly been euthanized.
"I said what you did was wrong unacceptable, you have enough dogs in here that are homeless nobody wants. I'm willing to adopt this dog and you euthanize it?" said Leone.
"One word comes to my mind: Sloppy," said Mayor A C Wharton's spokesperson, Bobby White.
The mayor's office openly apologizes to Leone on behalf of the employee who made a mistake.
"It's just sloppy," he repeated. "Because the policy was there, down to being color-coded. We have an employee who did not follow the rules."
The employee will be disciplined. Meanwhile, the mayor's office says it's doing everything it can to get the shelter running smoothly.
"When failings are that deep, have gone on for that long, it does take some time to turn around things," said White.
Since the sheriff's raid in October, they installed new webcams and fired director Ernie Alexander. A new director is expected to be named in the next seven business days.
But Leone says what happened to her dog is proof they've got a lot more work to do.
"Mayor Wharton needs to clean house, needs to get all of Herenton's people out of there," she said.
The shelter ended up giving Leone a different dog free of charge.
- Woman went to adopt dog, discovered it had been euthanized
- Shelter apologized
- Mayor's office says new director will be named in a couple weeks
(Memphis 12/29/2009) There's another heartbreaking story out of the troubled Memphis Animal Shelter.
A woman showed up to pick up the dog she'd just adopted, only to find out he'd been put to sleep.
Rita Leone picked out a 10-month old Golden Retriever mix at the shelter December 26.
"He was very sweet, very friendly easy-going, calm dog," said Leone.
But when she showed up, cash in hand to take him home this morning, he was gone.
"I went to the cage," said Leone. "The door was open, no dog, the bed was flipped over, I said 'Oh my God!'"
Her dog had mistakenly been euthanized.
"I said what you did was wrong unacceptable, you have enough dogs in here that are homeless nobody wants. I'm willing to adopt this dog and you euthanize it?" said Leone.
"One word comes to my mind: Sloppy," said Mayor A C Wharton's spokesperson, Bobby White.
The mayor's office openly apologizes to Leone on behalf of the employee who made a mistake.
"It's just sloppy," he repeated. "Because the policy was there, down to being color-coded. We have an employee who did not follow the rules."
The employee will be disciplined. Meanwhile, the mayor's office says it's doing everything it can to get the shelter running smoothly.
"When failings are that deep, have gone on for that long, it does take some time to turn around things," said White.
Since the sheriff's raid in October, they installed new webcams and fired director Ernie Alexander. A new director is expected to be named in the next seven business days.
But Leone says what happened to her dog is proof they've got a lot more work to do.
"Mayor Wharton needs to clean house, needs to get all of Herenton's people out of there," she said.
The shelter ended up giving Leone a different dog free of charge.
