On December 15, surrounded by a handful of staff members at Austin Animal Center in Austin, Texas two-year-old shelter dog, Dro’s life was ended. Six weeks earlier, he attacked another large dog, causing significant injury that required the other dog to have emergency surgery. The dog recovered, but due to the serious bites, we believed Dro could not be safely placed back in the community. We alerted volunteers and staff he was going to be put to sleep.
We’re America’s largest No Kill municipal shelter, taking in about 18,000 homeless pets every year. A lot of people think we never euthanize an animal, but that’s not what it means. We saved about 96 percent of the pets this past year, but there are times we can’t save them and this was one of those times.
At our shelter, we make a commitment to tell people before we’re going to ‘euthanize’ a dog for behavior-related reasons, and luckily, it’s very rare. When we do have a dog who is at risk of having his or her life ended for behavioral reasons, we often encourage volunteers and staff to look for alternative solutions. In Dro’s case, people rallied immediately. They pointed out Dro had no history of aggression toward people and was friendly with everyone he met while in the animal shelter’s care. They sought a sanctuary-type placement, where we could be assured Dro would never have contact with other dogs and he could live out his life in humane conditions.
For the next month, advocates for Dro tirelessly scoured the country, reaching out to hundreds of rescue and sanctuary groups. In the end, despite the long and exhaustive search, they were unable to find a suitable sanctuary placement.
A few days ago, we made the heartbreaking decision to move forward with ending Dro’s life. Once the decision was made, he spent his last 24 hours surrounded by the people who loved him. They let him run in the play yard for hours, fed him burgers and fries, and gave him lots of cuddle time - his favorite thing. At the very end, a team of five staff members stayed with him, using their happy voices and telling him what a good boy he was, even though this was the hardest thing to do.
After he died, the people who loved him gathered together to pay tribute to Dro. One of his caretakers read a poem she had written. This is what she said:
“We know a dog named Dro. Who doesn’t like other dogs no ‘mo. He has dreamy eyes but there’s always a catch… Because if you have food, he’s like, ‘Uh…You gonna eat all that?’ Sleek and strong, most things he dominates. But it only takes a tennis ball to show some things he just can’t coordinate. He has a coat of blue silver and a soft, loving heart. From our memories, Dro, you’ll never be far. Dro’s spirit is a free one, never to be placed on a shelf. We’ll see him showing his belly to us saying, ‘Well, it’s not going to rub itself!’”
As one of the people who made the final decision to end his life, and part of the team that was present when he died, hearing her words was devastating. In that moment, I was immensely proud of the people around me, who despite being responsible for several hundred dogs, showed incredible love and compassion towards this one. They tried to save him, and when they couldn’t, they made sure he knew he was loved. Through my tears, I promised our team we’d keep trying to do better by our dogs until the day comes when we find places for dogs like Dro.
Like all of us, Dro had countless wonderful qualities, along with a few challenging ones. He was loved by dozens of staff and volunteers, who saw his gentle demeanor with people and the way he would roll on his back and stare up at you and beg for a belly rub. He loved everyone he met and he would get a giant grin on his face when he saw one of his favorite people, wagging his tail and waiting excitedly to be petted.
While our goal in Austin is to save every animal except those who are medically suffering with no chance of recovery (imagine a cat with late-stage cancer who cannot be made comfortable with pain medication), we aren’t there yet. Even though we save nearly every healthy dog, a few are put to sleep as a last resort when they have demonstrated aggressive behavior and caused bodily harm to a person or animal.
There are some sanctuary options for dogs who have acted aggressively towards people but are friendly with dogs, but it’s almost impossible for us to find a humane sanctuary placement with available space for a dog who is aggressive to other dogs. In our shelter, and almost every single other animal welfare organization in the world, dogs like Dro, despite being healthy and great with people, are still losing their lives.
Stories of healthy cats and dogs whose lives are ended in shelters are rarely told. Animal shelter leaders worry about public criticism and internal organizational conflict. Virtually every one of the estimated three million pets dying in shelters are invisible to the public. No one ever knows their faces and names. We believe it’s important to tell the stories of the animals we can’t save. If Dro’s story can inspire animal lovers to volunteer, foster or advocate for animals in their own communities, his life and death weren’t in vain.