Animal rights advocates and dog lovers alike are up in arms after a dog was shot with pepper spray before being euthanized in a shelter in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The move has caused a huge uproar leading for calls to have the shelter president removed from his position.
A concerned employee at the shelter refuted the claims, however, and said the dog was made to suffer unnecessarily before it was euthanized.
The shelter came to the decision to put Tanner down after employee Marissa Cox said the animal bit her several times on September 4.
Cox admitted that she didn’t need extensive medical attention but claimed, however, that she feared for her life after the multiple bites.
It is not clear from the shelter’s narrative if anything could have triggered the dog to be more aggressive than usual.
The order to use pepper spray on the dog came from the shelter president and CEO Robert Fecht. He issued the instruction the following day after the biting incident, even telling employees to bring Tanner outside for the pepper-spraying.
Former employee Kevin Brueck who opposed the pepper spraying move from the start also accused Fecht of instructing the employees not to have their phones out while they pepper spray Tanner.
The shelter president said he was afraid if they didn’t do what they did, the biting incident could have happened again and somebody might get killed as a result.
Animal welfare advocates and dog lovers are questioning the necessity of the method, claiming that it is not a humane tactic to resort to. As a result of what was done to Tanner, a petition has been started calling for Fecht’s head to roll, so to speak.
Animal rights activists can cry all they want, it doesn't change the fact that the American "pit bull" is violent and unpredictable by history and nature. As far as the news is concerned, this breed of dog is two times as likely to attack unprovoked or turn on its owner. Just two or three Googles is enough to never look at these animals the same way again. Whenever you see a dog running off the leash to bite another animal? Usually a pit bull. Woman loses her arm to her own dog? Pit bull.