Pet owners across Broward County are barking about the poor treatment of lost pets that are "rescued" by the county animal shelter - and the shelter can blame it all on O'Malley the cat.
The shelter, which handles 20,000 strays a year, mistakenly killed O'Malley after thinking the fur ball was a stray.
Turns out O'Malley was a beloved family pet, but employees at the shelter didn't realize he had a pet ID chip under his furry coat until after they started the euthanizing process.
Now, other pet owners are complaining about similar stories of pet death at the hands of shelter workers. O'Malley the cat has become a martyr.
"They were just very insensitive," Jennifer King told the Sun-Sentinel after her dog was killed, she claims, after being picked up by county animal care. "They don't save animals. They just kill them."
The county admitted this week that, at least in O'Malley the cat's case, the shelter violated its own rules for animal care, notifying pet owners their lost pet has been found, and euthanizing.
O'Malley was picked up in mid-February by the county's animal round up. As his owners, the Coombses, searched for their missing family member, O'Malley's health deteriorated at the shelter.
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It got to the point where it was time to put O'Malley down, when workers scanned his skin one final time for a microchip that might identify the animal. The scan revealed the chip, but the euthanizing process had already started and the cat was too far gone to bring back.
Shelter workers still notified the Coombses, who immediately took their complaint to the commission and the media.
The shelter is also facing allegations of animals living in filth and some employees selling valuable breeds for their own personal gain.
The allegations are gaining traction on the County Commission, which has launched an investigation to determine whether dozens of recommendations to improve care and customer service at the animal shelter have been implemented.
"There were protocols that should have been in place that were never implemented," Commissioner Lois Wexler told the Sun-Sentinel. "There were enough things discovered in the O'Malley investigation that tipped the scales that more needed to be done."
Get ready for the fur to fly.
