Pet dogs, wild animals and self professed experts

This is one of those stories that make you think the world of animal control has gone mad hopelessly stupid.

Copper is an 11 year old AKC registered Shibu Inu. She escaped from the fenced backyard of her owner, Lori Goodlett, on July 3rd. On that day a local police officer, Major Fred Heaton, picked her up as a stray and took her to the humane society in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Thousands of years of domesticity were evident as Copper made no effort to attack the officer or run away as he brought her in.

About an hour or so later, “personnel from the Humane Society called and told us that the officer would have to return and get the animal, because it was a coyote,” he reported. Coyotes, they told him, were nuisance animals and should either be killed or released into the wild.

The officer reluctantly picked her up and again she went along quietly as he released her behind an abandoned Home Depot. It wasn’t until he saw the missing dog flyers for Copper that the officer realized his mistake.

Volunteers and the police have been helping to search for Copper, but an animal that has been a pet dog for eleven years does not have much chance surviving for long in the wilderness.

Her owner said, "I know in my head Copper is gone for good, but in my heart I would like to think some nice family found her and took her in.”

No one from the humane society will answer media calls to explain how an animal expert could think that a tame purebred dog was a coyote.

On a lighter note, there was a happy ending for Scrappy, a dog in Des Moines, Iowa, who was seized in April, 2009 by the city’s chief humane officer, Scott Raudebaugh.

Nine year old Scrappy was held for six months because Raudebaugh decided that she “looked like a wolf,” even though he had no evidence that in nine years she had been anything more than a loving pet.

After six months of being separated from her family, a judge ruled that she had been improperly seized from her owners and allowed to go home.

Municipalities today are passing laws banning certain breeds as dangerous. Unfortunately in some cases the way they identify a dangerous dog is for animal control "experts" to declare the dog dangerous based on looks.

Dogs and people deserve better than this.

Comments

[threecollie]

That is stupid, you are exactly right. Even coy dogs, which occur less often around here than they used to, as regular coyotes fill the niche, are clearly wild animals. There is no possibility of mistaking one for a dog or the other way around. Poor little doggy.

[jackie]

no cure for lazy and stupid

[Khyra]

Why do they let some species breed?

[BunGirl]

I'm sorry... If you can't tell the difference between a Shiba and a coyote you should not be working with animals. Or people. Or allowed in public without a responsible adult.

I sincerely hope the "expert" was fired. He/she likely cost that dog her life.

[the 4Bs]

this is ridiculous. it makes me very very angry.

those stupid "experts" should be released back into the wild.

[Jenna]

This is beyond stupid. Please tell me this person no longer works at the shelter. And what kind of idiot defends the stupidity - I'm talking about you Mr. Forbes, the representative of the Humane Society. You should apologize for a horrible mistake, not defend it.

[cube]

I'm sure there was a 'consensus' at the shelter that poor Copper was a coyote, i.e., one twit insisted and the other sheeple went along because they are marginally less aggressive twits. Where is common sense in the world?

[Dennis the Vizsla]

Idiots.

[Lynn Sinclair]

This doesn't surprise me -- society has always made judgements based on appearances.

[Karen Friesecke]

How on earth could a person a reasonable intelligence confuse a DOG with a COYOTE? Oh wait, I think I answered my own question.

[MJ]

This is so sad. I'm hoping for an update with good news will be posted! Idiot people - count me in the camp that thinks that several idiots need to lose their jobs over this.

[Pat Adams]

Didn't the police officer and the animal control know that all the coyotes are in Washington DC? Please do an update. We are all concerned about Copper.

[Pai]

It's stories like this (and the many times it's been shown that AC doesn't know what a Pit Bull looks like) that makes me doubt the whole '25% of shelter dogs are purebred' claim. It's probably even less, since obviously a lot of shelter staff/AC are completely untrained in breed identification and are just guessing most of the time.

[Veterinary Pet Insurance]

"Why do they let some species breed?"

I agree to this. Don't let bad breed animals populated in your area

[vava]

I know in my head Copper is gone for good

[Lindsay]

Good Lord. That dog looks nothing like a coyote. Certain mixed breeds might look like a coyote, but not that dog! Yikes!

[Animal lover]

Your article is really great.