MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Every time she looks at the photos, Heather Sanders says her heart breaks.
“You can see the incision`s open, bleeding.”
The animal was spayed at the Memphis Animal Shelter and then adopted without the proper stitching, she said.
“I was not told about this when it occurred and I wish someone had brought it to my attention,” said the Memphis Animal Services Director Alexis Pugh.
She said she first saw the picture on Wednesday.
She didn’t deny that it happened but said with no identifying information there’s not much she can do.
“I have zero way of even looking this up to reach out to the owner.”
Sanders said it’s just the latest in a troubling pattern at the shelter.
“Healthy, happy, adoptable puppies being euthanized.”
She’s one of more than 1,400 people who have signed an online petition calling for Pugh to be fired just three months after she took the job.
“Rome was not built in a day and we understand that, we realize that, however, show us. Show us something.”
“In July, we had a 10 percent higher live release rate than we did July last year,” Pugh said.
Pugh told WREG they’re also rewriting the shelter’s euthanasia policy and should have a new one finalized by the end of the week.
She said they’ll then begin training all shelter staff on the new policy.
“We are gonna stop accidental or wrongful euthanasias because our policy is gonna be better.”
