PHOENIX, (Reuters Life!) - A dog hailed as a hero for alerting U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan to a suicide bomber was mistakenly euthanized by a county animal shelter worker in Arizona, authorities said.
Target, a shepherd mix who was featured on “The “Oprah Winfrey Show” and local media for her heroics in Afghanistan, got loose from her owners recently and was put down after spending the weekend in a county shelter.
The employee who euthanized Target has been placed on administrative leave, Pinal County Animal Care and Control Director Ruth Stalter said.
“I'm heartsick over this,” Stalter said in a written statement. “I had to personally deliver the news to the dog's owner and he and his family are understandably distraught.” Stalter said that the shelter works hard to reunite lost pets with their owners and that an investigation had been launched to determine how the mistake was made.
“When it comes to euthanizing an animal, there are some clear-cut procedures to follow,” she said. “Based on my preliminary investigation, our employee did not follow those procedures.” According to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” website, Target and two other stray dogs, Sasha and Rufus, were adopted by U.S. troops in Afghanistan after wandering into a military compound there.
The three dogs were hailed as heroes after attacking a suicide bomber who entered the compound, apparently headed toward barracks with some 50 soldiers inside. Sasha was badly injured when the bomber detonated an explosive device and had to be euthanized, but Target and Rufus survived and were brought home with soldiers returning from their tour of duty in Afghanistan. “He had personally been profoundly affected by this dog's heroism and had worked very hard to bring the dog back over here,” Pinal County spokeswoman Heather Murphy said. |
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