Gerrard Kaonga
A woman who'd thought her dog had been put down discovers he is alive and up for adoption a year later.
Kristie Pereira, 32, adopted her dog Beau in 2022 from a local group in Maryland, Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation.
She told the Associated Press she'd adopted two-month-old Beau while working from home.
For a while, things were great, and the two were inseparable. However, within weeks, Pereira said, it was clear that something was wrong.
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She took her dog to the shelter where she had adopted him, where a vet concluded that it could likely be a neurological issue, and blood tests also showed he might have a liver problem.
Beau was then sent home with liver enzymes, where if it were his liver causing the problems, she would 'see improvement pretty fast'.
But when his health condition worsened, three vets concluded his inability to control his bowels and lift his hind legs pointed to a severe neurological problem, she said.
Pereira, who now lives in San Antonio, Texas, was faced with costs of up to $12,000 to run the tests and claims that she was told 'there's a very slim chance of finding what is wrong' and 'an even smaller chance' of it being something that could be fixed.
However, she wasn't ready to put Beau down and wanted to wait for another option, all while speaking to the foundation's staff.
“Honestly, I mean, after I talked to them is really when I felt, you know, that I was going to be doing the right thing by putting him down,” she told AP.
“They really gave me that support and that encouragement that, although it’s hard, sometimes that’s the best thing to do.”
So, after a few days, she took Beau to Montgomery County Animal Services to have him put to sleep, where she was told the shelter’s policy was not to allow owners to be in the room when their pets were put down.
However, while visiting her mother in Maryland last week, she checked the website and spotted Beau’s picture.
The puppy was slightly bigger but had the same main characteristics and had been given the same name he'd had before she adopted him - Amos Hart.
According to calls from the shelter, the dog wasn't euthanised after vets found no reason to do so, so they'd called Lost Dog & Cat Rescue and returned him.
In a written statement on Friday (May 24), the rescue further confirmed that their vets had found no neurological problems. When the dog's liver problems were diagnosed via tests, they paid the $7,000 for the surgery through a GoFundMe campaign.
However, none of it, Pereira claims, was shared with her.
After attempting to contact the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation for several days, she claimed that they'd refused to give him back.
Pereira says she would pay the $7,000 to get Beau back; however, before they hung up, she was told the dog would 'never go back to you'.
She said: "The person that called me was so rude and just disrespectful and just being really nasty towards me.
"Just saying that I abandoned him, and that I left him to die. That I never cared about him. I want him back with me."
In a statement to AP, rescue spokesperson Chloe Floyd defended their decision: "LDCRF does not re-home an owner-surrendered dog with its former owner.
"Our mission is to save adoptable and safe-to-the-community dogs from euthanasia."
They also confirmed that they'd spoken with Pereira during the process but said the rescue made it clear to her to take the dog to a veterinarian who allowed owners to be with their animals - otherwise, they'd take him back if she could not.
Montgomery County Animal Services executive director Caroline Hairfield also said that they are bound by contract to send surrendered animals back to rescues, so they cannot do much.
She added that while 'everyone feels for her [Pereira]', it's up to the rescue if they want to return the dog to her.
UNILAD has contacted Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation and Montgomery County Animal Services for further comment.