Don't the animal shelters have something in place so they aren't euthanizing the wrong dogs?

It’s extremely rare. Veterinary facilities will have different ways of doing things, and it actually varies a lot, from state to state.

It’s pretty hard to do. The euthanasia drug, is a controlled substance. So. Only certain people can even get to it, let alone administer it. In my state, the is a log, that must be filled out, with owner information, and addresses etc. So. You’d really have to drop the ball, to have an accidental euthanasia.

The real concern, is that the animal that is set for euthanasia, is actually owned by the person paying for it. That’s hard to prove. But neighbors will bring in a barking dog, or cat they deem a pest, and say it’s their’s and try to have it put down… Gotta love our fellow human beings…...

The animal control guy managed to trap OUR cat on OUR property a couple of years ago. It took me 4 days to figure out where my cat went. The AC guy said he thought it was a stray and took it to the humane society. (She was spayed and up to date on all her shots.)
I called the humane society. They said they did not have a black cat in their facility.
The AC guys said he DID drop the cat off there. So I went there in person. I looked through every cage, no Vanta.
Then I noticed a bank of cages at the end that didn’t have wire. They were more like metal boxes. You couldn’t see into them. I told the gal to open them up. She tried to argue with me, that there were no cats in there. Maybe something in my eyes told her to shut up and open them—or I was going to do it myself if I had to fight her.
She opened the first 3 of 4, nothing.
She sneered at me, sarcastically triumphant.
Then she opened the last one. There was my cat. Nobody seemed to have a clue that she was even there. She’d been gone for 4 days. To this day I wonder if she’d even had food and water during that time.
I can only imagine that they’d have euthanized her if we hadn’t claimed her. What else do they do with an overflow of animals?

Depends on the place. Some shelters actually euthanize a LOT of animals.

There is only so much space for strays. Decisions have to be made. Often, terrible decisions. Lots of “vet techs,” have a crazy amount of animals. They just can’t let them die…

Yes. They’re called “kennels” or cages where they move the animals as they get closer to “the time.” They also have a pen where they put questionable animals, ones that have tags or tattoos or micro chips.
The next time you pass your friendly neighborhood animal shelter, note how big their dumpster is.

There was a case like that in my city a few years back, so I’m sure it happens all the time.

The man’s name was Zimmerman. His dog was missing. He went to the animal shelter for days to see if anyone had picked it up. He was shown all the holding areas.

His dog was euthanized on the fourth day—even though it had tags and shot records and the owner had been looking for the dog for days at the shelter. It was only a few feet away.

The man who euthanized the dog was not a doctor or qualified to do it. His story (the man who administered the lethal dose) acted like HE was ordered to do it, blah blah blah. The dog had tags and everything—and the owner was looking for him.

I twice had jury duty (twenty years apart) and BOTH cases involved the Memphis Animal Shelter and its inhumane treatment of animals.

@Dutchess_III What a horror story! Holy cat napping stories. (also, love the name of the black cat… Vanta! Nerdy and awesome!)

T’was Fluther Nerds who came up with the name! It was the first I’d heard of the material, and it’s super cool.

Yeah, and THEN they wanted to charge me with all kinds of fines, about $80 worth!! I went toe to toe with the chief of police and they dropped them all. Boy I was hot.
I also finally realized what that metal box was in my drive way and I stole it. The Animal Control guy had to come knocking to get it back! He tried to get all condensending, telling me that cats need their shots just like dogs, and they should be spayed and neutered just like dogs. I hissed that she HAD all of her shots and she IS neutered. He FINALLY showed some remorse at that!

Maybe if they only euthanized the right dogs they wouldn’t get the wrong ones and make no more mistakes.

What?