SEATTLE — A five-year-old English Setter was euthanized by a local rescue group, even while its owner desperately tried to get the dog back.
Cody was living with Jon Broadwell‘s friend while Broadwell started a new job away from home. Last February, Cody got loose and ran away.
“I put some ads on Craigslist and in the newspaper and started a search,” Broadwell said.
Broadwell found no trace of Cody until last December, when Cody’s new owners contacted him. They had stumbled across his Craigslist post. The family had adopted the dog from the Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue group, which got Cody from a shelter.
Feeling bad about the situation, the new family gave Cody back to Seattle Purebred-- expecting he would be returned to his rightful owner. However, the rescue group made Broadwell fill out an application to get his own dog back.
“I just thought it was a formality, that I would reapply, and I would get the pet,” Broadwell said.
Then he got a letter reading in part: "… due to escalating displays of aggression it became necessary to euthanize him.”
“I was just totally shocked when they sent that letter out,” Broadwell said.
“It was handled very, very poorly,” said Gretchen Schumacher with SPDR. “I am deeply, deeply sorry for what Mr. Broadwell is going through.”
Schumacher said a Seattle Purebred volunteer handling Cody’s case moved the dog to a foster home instead of working with Broadwell, as she should have. At the foster home, the dog showed some aggression and the volunteer made the decision to have the dog put down.
Schumacher said the volunteer was terminated when the rescue group’s leadership found out what happened.
“I understand his position, looking for his dog,” Schumacher said. “We all have a great amount of empathy, and I want to meet with him and apologize on behalf of SPDR. He deserves that much.”
The rescue group still has Cody’s remains and plans on letting Broadwell decide what to do with them to “give him some closure.”
KIRO
