I will never get over how animals are treated as Property, not Living creatures.

I do not agree them being put down if the only thing wrong with them was an owner who is broke. If nothing is wrong with the animal, then there should be a law prohibiting the Vet from killing them, instead make it mandatory they turn the animal over to LEE County Animal Control Services after X amount of days, and at that time they can start a civil suit to try to get payment, and at the same time Animal Services can work on getting the animals adopted out.

Also, is there really a law stating that a Vet is allowed to kill an animal for non-payment? Or is it that there is not a law prohibiting it, so the Vet is allowed? I would have thought that protocol would call for the vet to contact the local Animal Control, not take matters into his/her own hands by killing the animals in question.

I feel for those dogs :-(

I agree Snookerman... horrible story and I will NEVER recommend that Vet to anyone! They obviously don't give a darn about the animals if they feel they can just off them for literally no reason.... Did the non payment hurt them that much? Do the animals mean that little to them, that their lives have NO value to anyone? Where does it say in their paperwork they will put a dog down for non payment? grrrrrrr

It sounds to me like it was a revenge killing because they could not get their money from the owners. I know Lee County Animal Services would not refuse those dogs.

Someone needs to report them to the appropriate authorities for prosecution. Just my opinion.

Posted By Darnell on 21 Aug 2010 05:30 PM
It sounds to me like it was a revenge killing because they could not get their money from the owners. I know Lee County Animal Services would not refuse those dogs.

Someone needs to report them to the appropriate authorities for prosecution. Just my opinion.

That is my opinion too.  There is no other explanation for it.  It does not matter what is said from this vets office now.  As far as I am concerned he has crossed the line and needs to have his license to practice at the very least suspended for a time.

On the NP forums in the Rants and Raves section there is someone saying they have contacted PETA and PETA is very much interested.  Also there is another user who states they were down at Lee County Animal Services and this story has indeed reached them and they are really upset about it.  It was not mentioned though if Animal Services plans to do anything about this. 

I am also curious, what happened to the dogs bodies after they were killed?  Anyone get wind of that yet?

I will go on to state that Animal Services is also not such a great thing all the time.

Back on March 23, 2010 A neighbor of mine (Who has lived in the neighborhood for 4 years and has never met any of their neighbors) Decided to take it upon themselves to call Animal Services on My wife and I over our German Shepard we kept in our backyard to keep people from stealing things. These people called Animal Services stating we are neglecting the dog, never feed it or water it and always kept it on a Chain and have not seen us at the house in Weeks. (All of that is in their report that I have obtained a copy of using the freedom of information act) (And the chain really pissed me off, I hate seeing animals tied to chains and would never ever do that to my dogs, especially since they have a fenced in back yard to run and play in, Never had a chain around any of my dogs necks or even had them tied to a tree with anything (The neighbor stated the dog moved good when it wasn't chained to the pine tree in my back yard)  Anyone knows, when a dog is chained to a tree for any length of time, a "Path" will form around the tree where the dog walks etc....  This tree is surrounded by grass without the first hint of a trial from a chained dog around it, and the Animal Services has the pictures to prove it.

These people never met my family nor any of the other families in the neighborhood. They decided all by themselves that we are animal abusers and need to be taken care of. This is the part that is pissing me off the most.

On March 23, 2010 Animal Services did indeed come to my house, when no-one but my minor age son was home. What they found was a 100% contradiction to what the neighbor stated on her sworn statement, and the Animal Services Officer even took pictures that show otherwise from what the neighbor had told the officer. The officer then decided the dog need to be taken from the house for a welfare checkup, without ever contacting the owners as they should have, like it states in the Florida Statutes. They simply took the dog and took it to the North Fort Myers Animal ER. I called them while the officer was in transit (After my son called me and told me what just happened at our house) and told them the dog does not need a welfare checkup, she needs to be put to sleep. If the officer would have followed her protocol and contacted us while at our house, we could have informed her the dog is a 14 year old German Shepard that was rescued from Animal Control Back in 1997 and lived a good life with us, and her life was nearing the end and my wife and I decided to get a vet to come to our house to put her to sleep.

Basically, they simply took a dog from a fenced in back yard that was closed off to the public, took it to NFM, had it put to sleep, and have refused to return her body, stating that they sent her to the State Vet for a necropsy and the state does NOT return pets to be buried by it's owners because they do mass cremations with hundreds of animals at one time and there is no way to send my dogs remains back to me.

I even went to a Lawyer to try to sue to get her back, but Lawyers will not touch it because of a clause in the County Code, he showed it to me and it stated that Animal control officers, their employer and any vet acting on Animal services behalf are immune to lawsuits. WTF. That basically tells me that Animal Control Officers are above and beyond the law and they are using it to their advantage.

This happened back on March 23, 2010. Here it is, August 22, 2010. Exactly 5 months since this happened. And I have not heard anything from Animal Services, or anyone for that matter. I have multiple animals and they have not even came to verify my other animals are in good shape. Or even that they are Licensed and up to date on their shots, which they are, and then some(I get my animals vaccinated for more then required by law) It is really upsetting knowing Animal Services has the power to go and take pets and have them put down, without ever trying to make contact with the owner. The one time I insisted that Animal Services talk to my wife and I (On March 26) they kept trying to get us to say which one of us is ultimately responsible for the dog (I guess so they can target an individual). My wife would jump in right then and say to them that it was a family dog, the entire family was responsible for it, which is true. They kept telling us that 1 person HAS to be responsible for the animal. My wife stood her ground, which is the right thing to do since the dog was cared for by the entire family.

I was honestly expecting to at least get a bill for the vet to euthanize her, but nothing at all has showed up.

I have no idea what to do now, except wait another month and then go back to my lawyer and talk to him again about the return of my dogs remains.

What a mess.

I did right a letter and mailed it to the neighbor letting them know how I feel.  (I had my lawyer read it first, and a LCSO Deputy also read it and said it was ok to send, no threats etc.. in it.

2 days after they received my letter, the man of the house decided he was going to talk to me for the first time since they moved in and I told him right off the bat it is too late to talk, you should have came and talked to me B4 your wife called the officers in.  You and your wife  would have learned the history and age of this dog and the truth of it NOT being on a chain, there is always someone home, and we always are outside with ALL our dogs.  The neighbor even stated that the dog was barking non-stop for 3 days, yet right in the officers report, she noted that when she approached the dog she wasn't sure if it was even alive still.  Laying still not making a sound, then she looked up at her when she got close, but no barking, which is correct.  My German Shepard lost her Bark about 2 months prior to this woman saying she was non-stop barking for days.  Her bark was a very faint one that was barely audible.

It really sucks because now I have a hole in my backyard I dug back in March to bury my German Shepard, and then this happened.

And it all boils down to a neighbor filing a false report, and then Animal Services acting on the false report, without even verifying anything with the property, or animal owner, until they have already removed the animal from the property.

NONE of you know what actually took place, only what was reported by WINK and what was posted by obviously angry people who also don't have the real story. Speculation of this type is what perpetuates rumours and half truths and that is all I have seen here and other places on the internet.
From the statement issued by the Vet it was obvious that the two dogs were NOT in perfect health AND the owners were not taking care of them properly to begin with. I suppose the vet could have turned them over to Animal Services but if they were not in perfect health mental and phsycally, Animal Services could have and probably would have put them down too.
Snookerman, women and children in today's world STILL get treated as if they are property.

If the vet's statement is true, then shame on him for keeping 2 sick dogs in his practice for so long. After spending 67 days at the vet though, I find it hard to believe these dogs were still unhealthy, unless he wasn't doing anything to them to make them healthy.

Any way you look at it, he made multiple wrong decisions, and no matter how it is worded, he killed 2 animals over a bill not being paid.

And I predict PETA will be getting involved soon.

I was at this protest and do know a bit of the backround. The owners of these dogs offered to make payments as their 4 year old daughter had to have an organ transplant and they couldn't afford the bill. The vet told them if they dont' have the money by 5:30 they dogs were being put down. Taylors Tears a rescue group asked the vet for 24hrs so they could raise the money and the vet said no. I do know the owner of Taylors Tears. After this story broke many people called to offer to make donations and they first said no I did call many times so I know and then they said the would take donations but NEVER said they had already put the dogs down. They are suppose to be refunding the money back to those that donated trying to help this family. I hope this vet has no choice but to be closed down due to their actions. This was heartless and it could have been worked out.

Are they still protesting the killings of these pets in front of the hospital? I would like to join them on my days off.

I don't believe the group is doing anymore protest but I am sure if a group wants to meet up and do it we can. I do know we have to stay on the side walk as the police did give the owner of Taylor Tears a ticket for protesting/harrassment. This whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach. I hope this vet loses alot of clients for what they did.

I agree that this vet made a bad choice. Feelings ran very high regarding this incident. I would like to know what can be done so that this does not happen again! Is there a policy and procedure that all vets must follow regarding putting animals to sleep? I think I will ask my vet.

There are procedures and policies vets must follow and they did follow what needed to be done but the owners never received the registered letters since they were out of town dealing with their daughters organ transplant. I spoke to my vet about this story and they said what they did was morally wrong and if anything they should be called Animal Control to get the dogs. My vet said they give the owners the dogs back and just set up payments and if you don't pay they take you to court but they would never kill an innocent animal who didn't deserve this. The dogs were at the vet due to an ear infection they were not mistreated, unloved or uncared for. The vet was just an ass and diddn't give them or us 24 hrs to make the payment. WE had the money.

OH MY!!! (Shock) Reading this made me throw up a little in my mouth. I am sooooo horrified. I am planning on writing an editorial/opinion piece on this tomorrow.

I would love the link to your writing on this story. To this day I feel so bad for the family and all they had to go through......still hoping the vet goes out of business.

Sure....I am PMing you the link now.

Having spoken to someone directly involved, the staff attempted for several weeks to make contact, the family promised payment several times without following though, the family did not leave a forwarding address and employees physically went to the address and found an empty house. One dog was sick and the other wanted to rip everyone's face off. Not only were people's lives and that of their families threatened over all this, more people could be without a job if the vet ceases to do business. 
This vet should close business if it is the animals that are going to be the losers.
I would also consider WINKTV's role in the way they reported the situation.

The dog that was sick was an ear infection no real big deal and the other dog was not aggressive the vet said it was as one of the many reasons to put it to sleep. Either way right or wrong the animals were the ones to suffer over money. I guess if my child was having a liver transplant the last thing I would think about is my forwarding address. A rescue group offered to pay the money just needed 24 hours simple as that but the vet chose to kill the dogs. Now the dogs are dead and they are STILL out the money. It would make more sense to hold them one more day and have their money. They were promised the money just needed 24 hours. What is 24 hours after 2 months of boarding them? The vet told us that he should have killed them long ago instead of waiting. I am glad my vet doens't treat their customes this way.