CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) – The Champaign County Executive is taking responsibility and admitting fault after a family pet was mistakenly put down but providing few details to WAND News about what happened, why or how it will be prevented in the future.
The owner of the dog, Monica Lopez, said her dog, Dada, got loose on Friday, Dec. 18, before someone turned the pet in to animal control. Lopez said she had tried to reach animal control after searching everywhere and was told they did not have a dog matching Dada's description.
Lopez called animal control again on December 23, 2020 and, upon reviewing a picture of the dog sent by cell phone, officials confirmed to Lopez that Dada was with animal control. Despite being told Dada was safe, and warm and would be held until Dec. 28, Dada was put down on Christmas Eve.
"It is unfortunate error,” Darlene Kloeppel, who is the County Executive, said. “It is rare that this happened, but because of the holidays and vacations and things going on right now, it was an odd situation with how the communication worked."
Kloeppel said Wednesday that county policy is to hold the dog for five days before determining its future. When asked by WAND News’ Chris Carter, Kloeppel referred him to ordinances listed on the county’s website.
After reviewing the ordinances, WAND News could not find any mention of five days, instead the policy reads “The Administrator or Animal Control Warden shall give notice of not less than 7 business days to the owner prior to the disposal of the animal. Such notice shall be mailed or delivered to the last known address of the owner.”
Under that policy, Dada’s seven days in custody of animal control would have ended no later than Dec. 30.
WAND News interviewed Kloeppel before determining this information and attempted to reach Kloeppel but did not hear back by the time of this publication. During the initial interview with Kloeppel, she said changes were being made to make sure another animal is not mistakenly put down, but would not provide details on what those are, instead saying “we have put some measures in place to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Kloeppel also told WAND News there are policies in place to determine when a dog will be put down, and that is usually when it is sick of vicious. Kloeppel could not provide the reasoning behind Dada’s euthanization. She referred WAND News to the same online polices, where information about putting down an animal could not be found.
According to animal control records listed online, the Champaign County Animal Control facility has put down 127 dogs between February and October of 2020.
