What is a suitable time period for a missing dog to be considered a stray? I realize that is a difficult question and one that true animal lovers would answer as “never,” in the best of all worlds. That is because the population of stray animals is already unwieldy and growing. The grim reality is that rescue facilities have finite space and that after a “reasonable” period (usually measured in weeks), they are left with no choice but to end an innocent life.
Certainly, even the most hard-hearted individuals would agree that the time limit for declaring an animal a stray—and then taking the additional irreversible step of euthanizing it—is more than a few hours. Yet, three hours was all the time that elapsed between the hour when a lost Border Collie/Corgi named Basie escaped from the backyard of her Fairfax, Virginia, home and hour in which a lethal injection was administered by a local vet.
It is true that Basie was 17—old for a dog. It is true that she was almost completely deaf. But it is also true that her owners, Allen and Alison Holmes, had had her from the time she was a puppy and were deeply devoted to her. They were yet not ready to say goodbye—and certainly not in this way, not with their beloved pooch miles away from them, spending her last minutes of life alone and among strangers.
The story that the Holmses have been told is that Basie was found in the woods near their home and that the woman who found her took the dog to her own veterinarian. The vet reportedly checked out the dog and found no collar but plenty of ailments of old age. So he euthanized her, which was his prerogative according to Virginia Code 3.2-6507, which gives a vet license to euthanize a sick or injured dog without the owner’s permission if the owner can’t immediately be located.
The Holmses, who had immediately posted signs and scoured the area when they first realized Basie was missing, would never see their dog alive again. Instead, they would be presented with her cremated remains the next morning at a local animal shelter.
The vet has since claimed that Basie was in acute respiratory distress when she was brought in. She was struggling to breathe, he further maintains, and unable to walk. The hospital with which he is affiliated has made a statement:
While Crosspointe Animal Hospital is extremely saddened by the entire situation, they feel as though they cannot apologize for trying to humanely end an animal’s suffering. A patient’s well being is always the first and foremost consideration when deciding on a treatment plan….
Those words come as cold comfort to Basie’s grieving caretakers.
“She was just a delightful dog,” Allen Holmes is quoted as telling The Patch.com. He added:
She was actually doing pretty well that morning. She’d eaten. She’d gone to the bathroom. She was drinking out of the washbasin. I thought that was cute. She did have trouble moving, but she was able to walk.
We really took care of her.
But he and his wife are justifiably bitter and approaching this tragedy in a pragmatic fashion. He is quoted by dogster as saying:
The shift supervisors gave us the exam record and they said that she arrived at 12:20 p.m. The picture that I took was at 12:06 p.m. It’s about a 10-minute drive to the shelter.
Alison Holmes adds:
We had no chance of finding her in that time. When we did find her, it was only because of our tireless searching. No one called us.
To give us no opportunity to be there is horrifyingly wrong.
The Holmeses are now contemplating legal action against the animal hospital and the Fairfax County Animal Shelter. In the meantime, a petition has been organized to force the county to adopt a new policy regarding strays and euthanasia. Signing the petition won’t bring Basie back. But it might prevent the tragedy that befell him from playing out a second time.
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