Earlier this month, Lane County Animal Services in Eugene, Oregon mistakenly identified two dogs as unadoptable and had them euthanized.

There was no written documentation of any medical or behavioral reasons that the two dogs should be put down. However, the shelter recently instilled a new policy that requires all decisions to euthanize an animal to be in writing prior to killing the animal.

In this particular case, the two dogs were killed as a result of a miscommunication between the shelter’s behavior and training coordinator and the LCAS supervisor.

According to the behavior coordinator, one of the two dogs was considered highly adoptable and was going to be visited by a prospective adopter  later that day.

Prior to this incident, the shelter has struggled with animal overcrowding, funding and staff issues, and questions over its kill rates.

Source: www.registerguard.com