Pit Bull Euthanized While Giving Birth

The shelter director called it an 'unfortunate' but necessary decision
By Janet Cromley,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 6, 2018 3:28 PM CDT
Updated Jun 10, 2018 7:04 AM CDT
Woman Says Shelter Put Down Pit Bull as It Was Giving Birth
   (Getty/lesliejmorris)

A pit bull in Texas and her puppies were euthanized as the dog gave birth to the puppies, sparking a social media conversation about the ethics of such a situation. Dacia Anderson, a former volunteer at the Amarillo-Panhandle Humane Society, which rents space from the Animal Management and Welfare shelter, was doing a walk-through of the shelter in order to take photos for the humane society’s Facebook album. In a Facebook post on May 31, she described seeing the dog before it was euthanized on May 10 and said that it appeared friendly but scared. Later, when she checked on the dog she was in labor, so she talked to staff about getting a proper whelping box for it. When she returned to check on the dog, it was being moved, and she heard later that the dog and her puppies had been put down before the dog had finished giving birth.

According to the shelter director, the facility had taken custody of the dog after its owners called 911 to report it as aggressive. “The following morning,” he told KAMR, “we ended up euthanizing it due to the nature of the call and the behaviors the animal exhibited.” He called the actions "unfortunate" but "the right call," adding to ABC7 that due to the shelter's limited budget, "we just simply can’t save all the animals. ... When animals come in with behavior issues, those animals will be ultimately put down." Anderson disagrees with his account, noting there were no markers on the dog's cage deeming her aggressive. The longtime volunteer says she understands the reality of euthanasia due to overpopulation at shelters, but found this particular situation inhumane and "horrific," she wrote on Facebook. "If this is acceptable to the leadership of the shelter, then what is out of bounds?" (More animal cruelty stories.)

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