On Tuesday, the woman who brought an abandoned dog to a California shelter finally admitted that she was the owner of the dog. Last week, she arrived at the facility with a tall tale, saying had found the Springer Spaniel tied to a pole in downtown Santa Cruz with a “homeless” sign around her neck. The dog had an infected wound and was wearing an E-collar, and she had a ruptured tumor. After four days, the dog was euthanized.
The woman was not a Good Samaritan, as some news reports labeled her, who noticed a sick, abandoned dog and brought her to safety. She was someone who abandoned her own suffering dog to “avoid veterinary, surrender, and euthanasia fees,” according to MercuryNews.com.
As a result, the dog spent four days in a cage, without her owner, suffering. As a result, she was put down separated from the person she spent her life with.
“This is tragic. It really is,” said Melanie Sobel, manager of the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter. “If she had just come to us, we would have waived the fee and could have put the dog down in her company, versus it being alone in a cage for four days.”
“There is never a reason to abandon an animal or lie about it,” she said.
Sobel said the shelter tried to make the dog comfortable, but the dog — Chelsea, we now know — did not respond to pain medication and was not eating, drinking, or defecating. She said the dog had an erupted tumor, which has no treatment.
What’s tragic about this is that the county operates two open admission shelters and will take in any stray, unwanted, mistreated, neglected, or abandoned animal, according to MercuryNews.com. The shelter provides emergency response to rescue sick, injured, and mistreated animals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The woman’s actions have also smeared the homeless in the area, some of whom own dogs and are responsible caretakers.
The woman will not face criminal charges, because she recently brought the dog to a vet, who recommended euthanasia for the 15-year-old because of advanced cancer. Instead of proceeding along humane lines, the woman instead got rid of her dog as cheaply as possible, making a “homeless” sign.
Via MercuryNews.com; Springer Spaniel photo by Shutterstock.com.
