Can/Does This Really Happen?

Over on Kijiji Edmonton for the past many days I have seen a post from a person BEGGING for help in finding their purebred Miniature American Eskimo named (oddly enough) Gizmo.

In the ad, the person claims that their dog jumped their fence September 13th and wound up at the EHS, then was adopted out the very next day, well before the required hold time had expired.

I don't know anything about EHS's rules for when they find stray pets, but because their dog has the same name as mine and is similar to mine I just feel bad for them. I can only imagine how I'd feel if I knew someone else had my little baby boy, especially if it happened under the described circumstances.

Now, a coworker of mine used to be a publicist for EHS, and she tells me that when a dog comes in either via stray or surrender, if they don't appear on the website for adoption within a week's time then they've been put down. I've no idea of the truth (or lack of it) of that statement. But if it's indeed true, it would indicate to me that they wait a week which would mean the person in the ad's dog wouldn't have been adopted out the very next day after he came in, right?

At any rate, I'm just wondering if this is really something they do at EHS, perhaps due to overcrowding. I imagine if it's against their publicized policy they wouldn't want to publicly say yes, they do it, but the person's ad seems to have all the facts and it concerns me that the very institution I may someday rely on to safely find and return my dog to me may in fact be doing something so awful. Does anybody know the truth (not the publicity but the REAL truth) about this practice at EHS?

Here is the text from the latest ad as well as the URL:

"Our miniture american eskimo named gizmo,jumped my fence the afternoon of sept.13/09. Went down to city pound and looked around gizmo wasnt there,so i left.got told that he was givin away sept.14/09 around suppertime. I freaked on them,they told me that he belongs to the city now and they cant tell me where my dog is. Since the 13th till now(and will go on)ive called the mayors office tried goin to police..nobody can help us,doing up a story and telling it to global news.Gizmo is pure white,weighs bout 15pds,his eye color is brown,he has an oval birth mark on tip of nose and also a scar on his nose. He bites his feet when scared or nervous,just his bk feet. He barks to al sirens,police,firetrucks and ambulances. Please if anyone knows something or hears something please contact Char @780-757-6025 or cell @780-405-9437. another contact is mailto:kirk@780-902-9362,please HELP US GET GIZMO BK HOME TO US WHERE HE BELONGS. THANK-YOU FOR READY OUR ADD."

KIJIJI AD

I think they are referring to Animal Control and not the Humane Society. I know that when a dog comes in to Animal Control without identification (tags, chip, tattoo), they only keep them for 3 days and then these dogs go to shelters or the EHS.

EHS and the Humane Animal Rescue Team has a "No Kill" policy...unless it is recommended by a vet (too sick or too aggressive for a behaviorist to help).

This is definitely a good example of why you should license your pets AND have them chipped. Very unfortunate.

The best way to get an answer for that question is contacting EHS directly. EHS has a representative on here that would be glad to answer your question through Private Messaging.

I work in an animal control office, and I know for a fact that even if a dog is aggressive, it is still kept for a week, no matter what. If it has ID then the people are contacted immediately, if not, then once that week is over they will put them up for adoption, OR if they are really aggressive and "not adoptable" they'll be put down. A lot of places will say a dog has been adopted out when in fact they were euthanized. I'm glad where I work there is never a lot of dogs, so we can keep them until they are claimed or adopted. It's illegal, I'm sure, if they adopt out a dog that they've only had for a day. And I know the humane societies DON'T euthanize, so it may be the animal control they'll want to contact.


This is precicely why I have my dog microchiped, an ID tag, a town tag, and the microchip # tag all on him. More animals don't have id than the ones that do however, it's just a lucky call that most owners are desperatly searching for their pets anyways and call the humane society and animal control.

multilmc wrote:Now, a coworker of mine used to be a publicist for EHS, and she tells me that when a dog comes in either via stray or surrender, if they don't appear on the website for adoption within a week's time then they've been put down. I've no idea of the truth (or lack of it) of that statement. But if it's indeed true, it would indicate to me that they wait a week which would mean the person in the ad's dog wouldn't have been adopted out the very next day after he came in, right?

Hi there,

There is a mandatory hold period for the Edmonton bylaw. However I do not think it is a week, I think it is shorter. Even dogs who have attacked have a wait period.

When I went to Germany in 2007, I left my dogs with a friend and my previous husky, who was a reincarnation of houdini, escaped from the yard and took my 5 month old dobie puppy with him, the day before I got back.

Now.. my dobie is tattoo'd in his left ear AND microchipped. The Bylaw people NEVER once checked him NOR scanned him (and really you can NOT miss his tattoo as his ears flip over all the time!). Because he is all natural they did not recognize him as a dobermann. They also told my friend (whom was frantically trying to get my dogs back) that the sibe was a FEMALE and therefore was NOT the dog she was looking for. When the worker was asked to please go look again, she said she wouldn't know how to tell if it was male or female and that they would have to wait for a vet tech to check (without a word of a lie as I was on the phone with her when it happened).

My friend had phone initially and asked about the dogs. She was told they didn't have either dog. Being absolutely frantic at that point, she made up posters and went down in person. Both dogs were indeed there.

As for tags... my sibe did have a collar on when he esacaped with tags on, he did not have a collar on when I got him back.

So I would be inclined to believe that when they talked to the pound, their dog could have in fact been there. It is always best to go in person and LOOK for yourself. Making personal contact also helps the staff to know who you are and what you are looking for. An anonymous caller doesn't get that recognition.

I am a firm believer in tattoo's as they are easily identified. There are many different types of chip and NO universal scanner. If the facility the dog is taken to does not have the right reader, the chip will not be read.

Tamara McIntosh

The original posting about all this by "multilmc" is quite unfortunate. I am the current Communications Specialist for the Edmonton Humane Society, and I can assure you that the facts in the posting are indeed false.

First of all, there is a suggestion that the Kijiji ad was referring to a dog that ended up at the EHS. The ad clearly states that the dog was at the the City Pound. (The EHS does not take in stray animals found within the City of Edmonton. That is the responsibility of the City of Edmonton. The City Pound is part of the City of Edmonton's Animal Control Services Department.)

The EHS is an independent, non-profit organization that is not affiliated with the City of Edmonton or any other Humane Society or SPCA in Canada (We are not even afiliated with the Alberta SPCA). So, there is indeed confustion here by the person who posted this after reading that Kijiji ad.

Secondly, "Rainyfool" has it right about euthanasia at the EHS, and I ad that healthy, adoptable animals stay up for adoption until they find a home. There is no "ticking clock" on adoptable animals.

I encourage the author to please call me directly for further clarification of the facts, and anybody else that may have ANY questions about EHS policies.

Thank you,
Shawna Randolph
Edmonton Humane Society
780-491-3514