She offered $7,000 to get her pet back, but the shelter refused.
A woman who put her dog down after being told he had a terminal illness, was shocked to find him put up for adoption a year later.
Kristie Pereira, from Montgomery County, Maryland, described to Fox5 News how she made the gut-wrenching decision last year to take her desperately ill puppy to a Maryland shelter to be euthanized.
A number of veterinarians struggled to diagnose Beau, who displayed an inability to control his bowels and lift his hind legs.
Eventually, they concluded that the issue was neurological, and that the kindest thing to do would be to put him out of his misery.
The 32-year-old, who was desperate to pay for a $12,000 surgery that could save her beloved dog, was told “there’s a very slim chance of finding what is wrong, and even if we do, there’s an even smaller chance of it being something that we can fix.”
Throughout the ordeal, Kristie was consulting staff at Lost Dog & Cat Rescue, the rescue home she originally obtained Beau from in December of 2022.
“Honestly, I mean, after I talked to them is really when I felt, you know, that I was going to be doing the right thing by putting him down,” she said. “They really gave me that support and that encouragement that, although it’s hard, sometimes that’s the best thing to do.”
Devastatingly, she eventually took Beau to Montgomery County Animal Services in late March 2023 and paid $15 for him to be euthanized. She was told that the shelter’s policy does not allow people to stay with their pets as they are put down.
Pereira, a digital marketer who now lives in California, recently returned to Maryland to visit her mother, when curiosity spurred her to go to the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue, to have a look at what dogs were currently available for adoption.
To her bewilderment, she spotted a picture of Beau.
The puppy was bigger but had the same markings and bore the name the rescue had given him before she adopted him: Amos Hart, based on a character in the musical Chicago.
She immediately made a call to the shelter, and was told that her puppy was returned to the facility after vets decided that he did not need to be euthanized.
A statement issued from the shelter explained that “after tests diagnosing a liver problem and a $7,000 surgery — paid for through a GoFundMe campaign — the dog was declared healthy.”
None of this information was shared with Kristie and the adoption organization told FOX 5 that while they understand how difficult this situation is for her, it’s their policy not to return surrendered dogs to their former owners, and they have indicated they’re sticking with that policy in this situation.
Kirstie has since said that she is more than willing to pay the $7,000 cost to get Beau back, but claims she was told by a member of staff over the phone that Beau “will never go back to you.”
As of Friday, Beau remains available for adoption Friday on the rescue’s website.
Caroline Hairfield, executive director of Montgomery County Animal Services where Beau was sent to be euthanized, told Fox5 News that it is bound by contract to return surrendered animals back to the rescue and that its hands are tied.
She added that the situation is a “civil issue” between Pereira and Lost Dog & Cat Rescue.
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