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Is This How We Treat Our War Veterans?

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  • Is This How We Treat Our War Veterans?

    The dog, Target, survived a suicide bombing, but after she escaped from her adoptive family, a shelter mistakenly administered a lethal injection.


    November 18, 2010
    Afghan Hero Dog Is Euthanized by Mistake in U.S.
    By MARC LACEY
    FLORENCE, Ariz. — When a suicide bomber entered an American military barracks in Afghanistan in February, it was not American soldiers but Afghan stray dogs that confronted him. Target and two other dogs snarled, barked and snapped at the man, who detonated his bomb at the entrance to the facility but did not kill anyone.

    The dogs were from the Dand Aw Patan district, in the eastern Paktia Province near the Pakistani border. One died of wounds suffered in the blast, and months later, Target and the other dog were flown to the United States by a charity and adopted by families. Target — who received a hero’s welcome, including an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” — went to live with the family of Sgt. Terry Young, an Army medic, who witnessed the animals’ bravery that night and helped treat the dogs and several American soldiers who were wounded.

    The glory, though, was short-lived. Target, after learning to get along with the Young family’s other dog in Arizona, becoming accustomed to dog food and to using a doggie door to relieve herself, escaped from her yard. She was captured last week and euthanized by mistake.

    “My 4-year-old keeps saying: ‘Daddy, bring Target home. Daddy, get the poison out,’ ” Sergeant Young, a father of three, said in a telephone interview, his voice choking with emotion. “Obviously, at first there was extreme anger and horror. Now that a couple of days have passed, the anger has been replaced by sorrow.”

    To say that Target was a celebrated mutt would be an understatement. Beyond caresses from Oprah, the shepherd mix had appeared on all the major television news channels upon her return to the United States and had won a dog of the year award.

    Target, not used to being confined, escaped Friday afternoon from Sergeant Young’s home in the San Tan Valley area in central Arizona. After being spotted on the loose, she was reported to Pinal County’s animal control. Target was brought to the county animal shelter in Florence, where she was held just like any other run-of-the-mill stray. Because she had no tag, microchip or license with the county, her photo went up on the shelter’s Web site on Friday in hopes that her owner might respond.

    Sergeant Young spotted Target’s photo online on Friday and paid the fee by computer to recover her. He mistakenly thought the shelter was closed for the weekend.

    By the time he arrived at the pound on Monday, the shelter employee in charge of euthanizing animals that day had apparently picked the wrong dog out of the pen and administered a lethal injection, performing what the shelter referred to as “P.T.S.,” or put to sleep.

    “I am heartsick over this,” Ruth Stalter, the county’s animal care and control director, said in a statement. “I had to personally deliver the news to the dog’s owner, and he and his family are understandably distraught. This could only have been made more tragic if the animal was just a few days away from retirement.”

    Barraged with criticism, the county ordered an investigation and placed the unidentified woman who euthanized Target on administrative leave. “This is unacceptable,” Ms. Stalter said, “and no family should be deprived of their companion because procedures were not followed.”

    The county offered the Young family the services of a grief counselor who specializes in pet issues and agreed to refund the recovery fee and waive any fines, said Heather Murphy, a county spokeswoman. “We are not shying away from this,” she said. “We screwed up, and we’re acknowledging that.”

    But Target’s fate has mushroomed into more than a family tragedy. Because of the dog’s fame and her heroics in battle, there has been an outpouring of grief in this state known for honoring veterans.

    A candlelight vigil is planned for Dec. 3 to honor Target. Sergeant Young said he might spread the dog’s ashes, which were provided by the animal shelter, at a memorial service, perhaps at the park where Target used to frolic off leash.

    A lawyer specializing in animal issues has also contacted Sergeant Young, who said a lawsuit was possible.

    Recalling those difficult days in Afghanistan, Sergeant Young said that perhaps because he and the other soldiers were living like dogs themselves, they bonded with the strays that found their way onto the base. “Our rooms could be mistaken for kennels with the cement floors, smell of urine and feces, razor wire and chain-linked fence all around the compound,” he wrote for his hometown paper in Oklahoma, The McCook Daily Gazette, just days after Target joined him in August.

    Target had her own Facebook page for those who wanted to follow her new life in the United States. Since word of her death has spread, fans have written of their shock and outrage.

    “Nooooooooooo!!! So so sad :-( Thank you for all you did Target! Amazing that you survived a war, but not an American shelter ... something is wrong here, baby,” read one posting. "TLDR," read another.

    The page has been used to organize a write-in campaign to Pinal Country officials to express outrage at what happened. The No Kill Advocacy Center has used Target’s death to raise the profile of its campaign to end the euthanizing of millions of cats and dogs at shelters every year.

    And the Puppy Rescue Mission, the charity that raised the several thousand dollars to bring Target to the United States, has expanded its mission to encourage pet owners to install microchips in their animals so they can be easily traced.

    At the shelter where Target died, there is significant despair as well, county officials said. “On Monday, I spoke with the director and if she was not openly crying, she was fighting back tears,” Ms. Murphy said. “You don’t do this work if you don’t care about animals.”

    “They love when someone adopts an animal or an animal is returned to its owner. That’s the best part of the job,” Ms. Murphy said. “But there is road kill to pick up, and we recently had to pick up 154 cats from a trailer with no running water. These jobs are thankless even on a good day.”

    The official investigation into what happened will go beyond one employee’s error and look into the policies of the shelter, officials said. Already, one former employee has come forward to say that he almost euthanized the wrong animal on several occasions.

    “They said, ‘Ah, don’t worry about it, mistakes happen,’ and we went on,” the former employee, Jason Melroy, told local television station KTAR. “I sedated a dog that wasn’t supposed to be put to sleep. Thank God another officer found it.”
    Mr. Obama, bring our boys home!
    “As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
    "Capitalism ho!"

  • #2
    What? That dog put its life on the line and this is the treatment it get?!? That dog did more in one year than most actuaries accomplish in their entire lives!

    Comment


    • #3
      Not content with friendly fire incidents, the Americans have now resorted to 'friendly injections'...
      Is it me, or is MOBIUS a horrible person?

      Comment


      • #4
        just further proof that neitehr humans or animals should willingly go to war, nothing good can come out of it.
        Socrates: "Good is That at which all things aim, If one knows what the good is, one will always do what is good." Brian: "Romanes eunt domus"
        GW 2013: "and juistin bieber is gay with me and we have 10 kids we live in u.s.a in the white house with obama"

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        • #5
          The shelter worker is obviously a terrorist and Taliban sympathizer.
          "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
          "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

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          • #6
            The war is unwinnable unless they start using cats as weaponz!
            Blah

            Comment


            • #7
              A sad mistake, the fact the dog is a war vet makes no difference.

              It's not somehow more special because it was specially bred and trained, through no choice of its own to be a guard dog. Jesus. The news today is horrendous.
              Jon Miller: MikeH speaks the truth
              Jon Miller: MikeH is a shockingly revolting dolt and a masturbatory urine-reeking sideshow freak whose word is as valuable as an aging cow paddy.
              We've got both kinds

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              • #8
                It wasn't specially bred and trained; the article says it was a local stray
                1011 1100
                Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

                Comment


                • #9
                  Oh yeah. Even worse then. Aggressive stray acts like aggressive stray and is claimed as a hero.
                  Jon Miller: MikeH speaks the truth
                  Jon Miller: MikeH is a shockingly revolting dolt and a masturbatory urine-reeking sideshow freak whose word is as valuable as an aging cow paddy.
                  We've got both kinds

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Well, if Sgt. Young had registered the dog, none of it would have happened. There were plenty of mistakes made here by everyone.

                    ACK!
                    Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      It's Josie King all over again.
                      “As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
                      "Capitalism ho!"

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        We need to set up an independent commission to ensure nothing like happens to our dog vets again. Set up a cabinet level department of canine veterans affairs.
                        If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                        ){ :|:& };:

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                        • #13
                          Or simply register ALL our veterans, so they'll be spared when Obama's Death Panels finally get moving.
                          1011 1100
                          Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

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