Cat's Death Raises Eyebrows

As a Wilderness Lakes family mourns the loss of its cat after a Pasco County Animal Services officer killed it before bringing it to the shelter on Saturday, the policy that enabled the in-field decision-making is under question.

Peggy, a 10-year-old cat, who was born with only three paws, according to WTSP.com, was discovered July 6 in a neighbor’s garage. Thinking the cat was injured, the neighbor called animal services, the story says.

According to a Pasco County media release, “The eight-year veteran Animal Control Officer examined the feline more closely and found that it's two rear legs had been injured by severe trauma. The officer explained to the neighbor that the animal may have to be euthanized based on established policy and on the injury sustained.”

The neighbor, however, told WTSP a different side of the story.

“It was actually pretty agile. It came right up to me. It was a friendly," Casey McCarthy was quoted by WTSP as saying. McCarthy is the neighbor who called animal services.

Pasco County Commissioner Pat Mulieri is also questioning the decision to put Peggy down in the field. While the cat didn’t have a collar or identification tag, according to the county’s media release, Mulieri said she’s been told Peggy was a healthy-sized cat – a clear sign that she belonged to someone.

“There are no 20-pound stray cats,” Mulieri said. “If this cat was 20 pounds, it was owned and should be been brought in and given pain medication.”

Mulieri said county policy enables animal control officers to euthanize animals in the field under certain circumstances. The media release said officers are authorized to euthanize “a severely injured or ill animal. If the severely injured or ill animal is nonresponsive and has no traceable ID and no known owner, the Animal Control Officer may perform humane euthanasia in the field, documenting his/her findings thoroughly.”

While an investigation into Peggy’s death is being conducted by the county, questions about in-field euthanasia have been raised before.

In late June, a resident brought it to Mulieri’s attention that she was seeing an uptick in the number of cats being killed in the field. That resident asked animal services about the situation, but got no response. At the time, Mulieri didn’t get a response either.

Following news of Peggy’s death, Mulieri said there are plans in place to have a veterinary technician working on Saturdays.

“They should assess the animal and decide,” she said.

Whether that means the policy will change, however, remains to be seen.

“That’s a management decision,” Mulieri said.

Stay with Patch for updates on the investigation into Peggy’s death as they become available.

What do you think about the policy that enables animals to be killed in the field? Tell us by commenting below.

See Also:

• Pasco Animal Services Director Resigns
• ‘We Are Killing for Space,’ Commissioner Says of Animal Services
• Virus Prompts Closure of County Animal Shelter Pasco Says ‘No’ to Feral Cats 
• Pasco Commissioner ‘Frustrated’ With Overcrowding at Animal Services