Pit bull mistakenly euthanized after owner arranged to get dog, Illinois officials say

A missing dog was mistakenly euthanized after a family arranged to pick up the pet, an Illinois owner says.

Monica Lopez says she arranged last week to retrieve her pit bull named Dada from Champaign County Animal Control on Monday, according to a Facebook post. She couldn’t get the dog sooner due to Christmas.

“Animal control told me they had my dog (last) Wednesday and that he was safe and warm but due to the holidays I couldn’t pick him up until today,” Lopez posted Monday.

Then she got “heartbreaking news.” Dada had been euthanized.

Champaign County Executive Darlene Kloeppel told WAND the dog was euthanized on Christmas Eve because the employee didn’t realize arrangements had been made to reunite the pet with its owner.

“Fortunately, errors of this type are rare,” Kloeppel told the news outlet in a statement. “While the holidays and staff vacations made this circumstance unique, additional steps in animal control procedures have been put in place to prevent any similar gaps in communication in the future.”

In the statement, Kloeppel said animal control employees are “distressed” over the error and have received “hate email and calls,” WICS reported.

“I would ask members of the public who are doing so to stop,” Kloeppel told the news outlet. “The Animal Control staff are very distressed that this error occurred and have offered their sincere condolences to this family for the loss of their pet. Our veterinarian has arranged for the dog to be cremated and the ashes returned to the owner.”

This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Pit bull mistakenly euthanized after owner arranged to get dog, Illinois officials say."