Rescue group in crisis mode after cat euthanized

In a Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011 photo, Daniel Dockery is pictured at his job in Phoenix, Ariz. Dockery's 9-month-old cat Scruffy, was euthanized recently by the Arizona Humane Society not because of her wounds but because Dockery couldn't immediately pay for her treatment. He had been searching for Scruffy for three weeks ago and learned of her fate Tuesday, Dec. 27. / Charlie Leight,AP Photo/The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX - Animal lovers threatened to pull donations to an animal rescue group and the public flooded the agency with scathing comments and calls after a man's cat was euthanized when he couldn't afford its medical care, prompting the Arizona Humane Society to go into damage-control mode Wednesday.

The group has hired a publicist, removed dozens of comments on its Facebook page and directed a team of five volunteers to respond to the overwhelming calls and emails it has received since The Arizona Republic published a weekend story about Daniel Dockery and his 9-month-old cat, Scruffy.

Dockery, a 49-year-old recovering heroin addict, told the Phoenix newspaper that he took Scruffy to a Humane Society center on Dec. 8 because she had a cut from a barbed-wire fence, an injury that he described as non-life-threatening. The agency said it would cost $400 to treat Scruffy, money he didn't have.

The Humane Society cited policy when it declined to accept a credit card over the phone from Dockery's mother in Michigan or to wait for her to wire the money. The staff said if he signed papers surrendering the cat, Scruffy would be treated and put in foster care, he said.

Instead, Scruffy was euthanized several hours later.

Dockery told the Republic that he was devastated.

"Now I've got to think about how I failed that beautiful animal," Dockery said. "I failed her. ... That's so wrong. There was no reason for her not to be treated."

He described the cat as helping him stay off drugs for more than a year, the longest he had ever been clean. He hand-fed the feline before she opened her eyes at 4 days old, giving her fresh tuna and letting her sleep on his pillow.

Stacy Pearson, who was hired by the agency specifically to deal with media questions about the cat, said Dockery's case has led to two changes. The Arizona Humane Society has set up an account, funded through donations, that would cover the costs of emergency treatment of animals whose owners need a day or two to come up with money for payments. And the group is now accepting credit card payments by phone, Pearson said.

Dozens of scathing comments have since inundated the group's Facebook page, with animal lovers demanding to know why the cat was put down. Pearson said angry comments were removed because of their content: One called for the staff to be euthanized, while another said what happened to Scruffy was murder.

Pearson said Scruffy was put down over a number of reasons, including Dockery's lack of immediate funds, a lack of veterinarians to treat her and what Pearson described as a very serious cut on Scruffy from her abdomen to her knee that went to the muscle.

She said the Arizona Humane Society at the time didn't accept credit card payments over the phone because of possible fraud and can't treat pets with only a promise from owners that they can pay the next day. She said staff had every intention of getting Scruffy the help she needed but the number of animals requiring help at the group's second-chance clinic was too much for the resources available.

If Dockery had been able to pay, Scruffy would have been treated at the facility where he brought her, Pearson said.

"There was no malicious intent to take Scruffy away from her father," Pearson said. "Pulling funding is only going to make a problem like this worse."

On Facebook, where only the agency's executive director is allowed to post comments now, Guy Collison wrote that "Scruffy's story is heartbreaking, and underscores the worst-case-scenario of need eclipsing resources available." He said that his agency has always done what's best for animals.

In less than an hour after his statement was posted, more than 100 people responded, with most slamming the agency and some defending it as doing the best it can with available resources.

Pearson said the group told Dockery on Tuesday that when he's ready for another pet, he could come in and pick one out, but he declined, telling them: "No thanks."

[gillbell]

Being a recovering addict ( I'll always be an addict so I'll never fully recover, my brain is wired that way but I'm not using right now) and I am an animal lover. My pets have gotten me through 1 crisis after another. They have unconditional love for me and if you rescue an animal from certain death and take care of that animal there is such a close bond it's almost indescribable. I feel so bad for this man. I can't even imagine the pain he is going through. I have been through that pain and depression before. Let's face it the Humane Society can't control or even oversee all of it's locations. I live in Hawaii, and we went to the local Humane Society, we were looking for our cat ( she came home later) so we went through the back rooms where they keep the dogs and cats. It was so disgusting and shameful. Dogs in cages with feces all around them, they have people that volunteer but there are too many animals for them to handle. It was so depressing and sad. Then we went to the cat section and they just had hundreds of cats in these tiny cages stacked up one on top of the other, it was horrible. Then we saw this plastic carrier with very little ventilation over by the door directly in the sun with a cat huddled in the back, terrified, stacked on top by other carriers that were empty. And my husband mentioned it to the girl and she seemed rather mean and dimwitted. She just looked at the label on top and said oh yeah this is one of our intakes, we forgot to put it into a cage. It stunk, it was disgusting but then you go out to the front and they have all these nice buildings with cats lazing about up for adoption and dogs looking clean and well groomed being walked by volunteers up for adoption. People out there had no idea what it was like really. Were those others just waiting to be euthanized and the place was so disorganized I can see how this happened to this man. We avoid taking any animal to our local humane society. There is another not for profit that is taking care of abandoned animals and sick animals like the Humane Society should be doing. Of course, Hawaii is well known to not take proper care of it's animals, from pitbull fighting, cockfighting to the chinese sometimes stealing a loose dog and eating it for dinner. I am not joking, this is completely true. The Humane Society isn't as humane as it should be in some places. I wonder what they do when people complain about the conditions of a local humane Society. Do they personally go there and try to rectify the problem? I highly doubt it.

[imredeemed-2009]

We once found a cat lying in the street, apparently it had been hit by a car or ran into a car. We did the humane thing and picked it up. It was very alert, but judging from its actions while in the street was definitely injured. We knocked on numerous doors in the area to see if we could find the owner, but had no success. Because the area we were in did not have a shelter nearby, we chose to take it to the closest vet, which offered 24 hour emergency care. When we went in we told them the situation, and they proceeded to tell us they would not treat the cat unless we signed a paper that we would pay the bill. We could not afford a large vet bill at the time, especially since the cat was not ours. We told the vet that we would be willing to pay $100.00. They agreed. We left that night only to receive a bill in the mail for over $700.00 to treat the cat. We refused to pay the bill and reminded them of the agreement. A few months passed, with many bills and phone calls requesting payment. Finally, to settle the matter, we said if we're paying the bill we want the cat. They said we couldn't have it, it was spoken for. We insisted that if we could not have the cat, we would not pay the bill. Oh, by the way the cat's only injury was a dislocated shoulder. They finally agreed and we went to pick up the cat and pay the bill. We were met by a receptionist who begged us not to take "her" cat away. See someone in the office wanted the cat, but they didn't want to pay the bill. The Dr. felt it was "OK" to give her the cat and us the bill. Finally, after she begged us through tears not to take her cat, the Dr. told us to just leave and not come back. We never got another bill. So the receptionist got to keep "her" cat, which she would not have had if we had not done the right thing and picked it out of the street, but the Dr. was not compassionate enough to only accept our $100.00 for the setting of a shoulder. I think vets are much like human Dr's. There are some in it because they care about their patients, and there are some in it for the money. Sorry to say it's pretty easy to tell the difference.

[Calls4Justice]

A brain-dead CBS News continues to call routine animal "EXTERMINATION" -- "Euthanasia." Animal "Extermination" is NOT "Euthanasia" and this sick story serves to illustrate exactly why the distinction is.

Euthanasia only applies where the killing of the animal is done solely for the benefit of the animal being killed - virtually always because the animal is experiencing immense and pointless pain and suffering, in a situation where the animal is in a "terminal" condition for which there is no hope or possibility of reversing that terminal condition. It is called "euthanasia" because 'putting the animal down' is considered a "humane act" for an animal who has no chance for a recovery, no chance to escape that pain and suffering, thereby making the "prolonging" of his horrific pain and suffering both 'pointless' and inhumane.

When the animal is killed for reasons having absolutely nothing to do with the welfare of that animal -- the killing is for human "convenience" reasons (to clear the streets and neighborhoods of riff-raff) and THAT killing most certainly is NOT "Euthanasia." As this article makes unmistakably clear, this cat was NOT in a terminal condition AND he was NOT 'pointlessly' suffering when they killed him because his illness was curable. These shelter animals are routinely killed as a matter of human convenience.

CBS News has absolutely NO learning curve whatsoever. For the 100 trillionth time: "Extermination is not euthanasia." CBS News must STOP LYING ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON AT THESE KILL CENTERS (STOP calling these "Killing Fields" SHELTERS). CBS News --- Demonstrate to the public that you people actually have a learning curve and an IQ above 40 by never again referring to animal "Extermination" as 'Euthanasia.'

[dman6015]

Remember last year when Arizona tried to implement a similar health care policy for humans (Proposition 106)?

[TheRoyalFez]

How can a 9 month old cat help him stay off drugs for more than a year? Editor care to comment???

[dman6015]

Yes, they could have worded it better. I'm guessing the intent of his statement was probably that he was clean for about 3 months when he got the cat. That then helped him stay sober for an additional 9 months.

[lparsley64]

Not only are pets often our best friends, it has been proven that they are therapeutic for those who are ill, disabled, alone in the world or simply down and out. Cats and dogs often give people a reason for just wanting to live - offering companionship and unconditional love.

[nehicks]

A bunch of you are calling for vets to offer their services for free. Vets are just like human doctors, they pay malpractice insurance, buy medicines, operate businesses. It's expensive and most insurance policies don't allow offering of free services just in case the "patient" or owner decides to sue.

You all claim the Humane Society was the one that is in the wrong. What you are conveniently forgetting or ignoring is that there weren't enough vets to go around that night. Could the second chance clinic have called other vets to see if they might want to volunteer? Sure, but it sounds like they were swamped. Would there have been another vet? Who knows. How long would you be willing to allow Scruffy to lay in a cage, in pain, while you tried to find another vet?

For all of you that are so incensed, have you sent money to donate to the emergency fund that the Humane Society has set up? What about volunteering to man phones, to find other vets or set up a volunteer group among the vets, so that the Humane Society won't be caught in this predicament again? What's that you say, you're too busy, you're withholding your money because the Humane Society should be shut down? All you are doing by calling for donations to seize is to put the other animals this Humane Society has, and is trying to help, in worse shape than they are now. If you want to close the Humane Society, you should all go down and adopt one or more of their animals so they don't have any more. You should also force the city and state to enforce mandatory spay/neuter laws so that people don't allow their animals to breed so that other people can just throw them away. Force the city/state to shut down any "hobby" breeders, aka puppy mills, so there is no overpopulation of animals to fill the Humane Society.

Instead of screaming about the injustice, step up and do something about the overpopulation of animals and shut the humane societies down that way.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

Very true, but humane societies routinely beg for donations JUST FOR THIS REASON. Unless the cat was in extreme pain (doesn't sound like it) they could have held the cat for a day or two.

[nehicks]

deoppressoliber1964: so what is your solution to the human problem? You can't force a doctor to give free service. Are you willing to sit in an emergency room for 24 hours, 36 hours, whatever, waiting for a doctor to see you?

aChangeOfIdeas: If your leg is cut open from your knee to your ankle, down to the muscle, how much pain do you think you would be in? Are you willing to wait a day or two for a doctor to show up in the emergency room in order for it to be sewn up? What about the infections that might set in during that time? The atrophying of the muscle and death of tissues? That would just increase the amount of money needed by Mr. Dockery to treat the cat. I'm not saying the cat isn't worth it, any animal is, but, realistically, would you saddle a homeless man with a $4,000 vet bill and expect him to pay it back?

[Jaylah54]

And they think hiring some PR flak is going to get them out of this.

[ariz_1944]

YEP!!! WILL spend $50,000 for a PR guy, BUT NOT $400 to save this cat!! BAD CHOICE!!

[Renegade.Rivers]

As a cat lover, I am appalled that a shelter that claims to care for animals would find it so easy to euthanize an injured animal, just because the owner couldn't come up with the money on the spot, especially when the owner had promised to come up with the money, and they knew that the money would be made available within a short period of time.

These kind of people don't need to be in the business of caring for anything. They appear to have no compassion, understanding, or concern for the animal, or the owner of the animal. My wife and I are known in the area as people who are willing to do rescue work for animals. We have raised numerous litters of baby rabbits, baby squirrels, and birds up to maturity, and then released them back to the wild. All of this we do without any funding, unless those who bring the animals to us want to give us a small amount to help with the care, we do not expect any monies. We do it because we love animals, and nature.

I could be wrong, but I live under the pretense that people take care of animals because they love them. Even most veterinarians I know got into the field, not because the money was great, but because they love animals. Anyone that is a pet owner, knows that a pet can become almost like a child to the family. In fact, we often refer to our animals as our kids, because they do take the place of our children who have grown up and moved out of the house.

We have two cats, Sammi and Black Jack, and if something were to have under similar circumstances to them, I am not sure how I would react, but I know it would not be pretty.

Animals for many people are therapeutic, and it sounds like this was the case with Scruffy, to this man, who had found something to care for, and in doing so had kept himself from doing heroin in order to care for his animal.

This is a sad day for all pet owners, and calls into question just how compassionate are these organizations that claim to want the responsibility of caring for downtrodden and unlucky animals. Some of these organizations make large amounts of money through donations, however much of that money never goes to taking care of those animals in need but instead into the pockets of those running the operation, because in many cases those who actually do the work are volunteers who make nothing. We as animal lovers must be very careful about where we donate money to help these unfortunate animals, and insure that the organizations that are taking our donations are willing to do the work, and have the care and compassion for these poor sick, and injured animals, and are not just in it for the money.

Everyone should demand that those in charge of this operation step down, and let someone who really cares about animals take over the responsibility.

[spottedsunshine]

Until people begin realizing that the "free" pet they just got, isn't really going to be free always, this problem will exist. Vets and shelters get many, many, many requests for this kind of thing, and sometimes you just can't do it all. After all, if you ran a day-care, would you just accept drop=ins, with no chance of payment, or if you ran a restaurant, do you just feed the hungry for free because they ask, over and over again? Personal responsibility is key here, and you all are blaming the shelter.

[longtree-2009]

wonder why a vet wouldn't provide the cat humane medical care for free? in fact, volunteer vets should list themselves specifically for cases like this one with the humane society and along with the amount of free medical care they will provide if needed. for example: john doe DVM $500. the humane society in this case was anything but humane. $400 is not that much to spend on a 9 month old pet. humane society should change its name and people should stop donating to them without them specifically stating how the money will be spent. bunch of jerks, at that humane society.

[spottedsunshine]

Not that much to spend? When they are asked to spend that much many times weekly? Perhaps the owner should have realized that he couldn't afford his pet? Perhaps you should donate more money to that shelter so that they could afford to help more animals?

[ariz_1944]

spottedsunshine , The AHS took in OVER 13 MILLION Last YEAR, and the director make OVER $100,000 A year, BUT THERE ISN'T $400.OO anywhere TO HELP THIS cat?? btw now THEY ARE SPENDING IN THE AREA OF $50,000 + FOR THIS "PR" Person TO FIX THEIR MISTEAK!!!!

[Happyinmn]

Why is anyone shocked by this? Heck Fire Fighters are standing round while a house burns down over a $75 fee that has to be paid in advance. Next they will try and not treat you at the Hospital.... Oh wait they do do this, they drop homeless people off on the street because they can't pay. Or let you die in the ER after waiting and waiting and waiting.. Sad Very very Sad... Greed, Apathy and Conceit.. Are eating away at our country..