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Victoria’s Lost Dogs Home has stood by its decision to euthanise a 12-week old puppy, amid calls for change led by Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell.
Purcell recently unleashed a social media storm when she announced a Staffordshire-cross puppy named Murphy had been put down at the shelter — along with his mother — despite being in full health and a foster couple “begging” to adopt him.
She is now concerned Murphy’s sister, Milly, could also be put down.
Purcell has questioned the behavioural tests used by The Lost Dogs Home that were used to determine Murphy’s fate, and said she wouldn’t “feel comfortable” until Milly was out of the shelter’s hands.
“Why was Murphy killed within hours, as his distraught foster carers begged to give him a second chance?” Purcell asked in a social media post.
“Murphy was let down significantly by the Lost Dogs’ Home. Let’s make no mistake, they hold responsibility.”
What happened to Murphy the Staffy-cross?
Murphy was returned to The Lost Dogs Home after he had spent a standard two-week period with a foster couple.
In a statement published to Purcell’s Facebook, the couple said their pleas to save Murphy weren’t heard.
“On Thursday the 25th [of September] your staff called me in the middle of my work day saying he was to be euthanised. I told them they had it wrong and they seemed relieved, they told me to relay my experiences to the behavioural assessment staff and maybe we could convince them, but no promises,” the statement read.
“I talked to the staff member who assessed him for half an hour … By the end of the call I was begging — mid sentence the phone was handed back to another staff member and I was told I had become too emotional.”
Purcell revealed that after being informed by the couple, she made effort to reach out to the shelter through various channels in an attempt to rescue Murphy.
“They refused to give us answers, or let us know if he was even still alive,” Purcell wrote on Facebook.
“This morning in an email, after 12 hours of us and his foster carers following up on his welfare, the Lost Dogs Home confirmed to us that Murphy is dead — along with his mother.
“One of the reasons they stated was because ‘[Murphy’s mother] was displaying consistent high levels of stress and anxiety’.”
Purcell said a “scary shelter setting should never be an indicator of an animal’s behaviour or personality”.
The Lost Dogs Home said Murphy had failed behavioural tests and therefore it was unable to legally re-home him.
A spokesperson for The Lost Dogs Home told SBS News that Murphy’s behaviour review was triggered by “extremely rare, unusual circumstances”.
Murphy had arrived at the shelter in a litter of three with his sibling Milly, an unnamed puppy and their mother.
The mother tried to bite another dog, and was put down, while the three siblings were sent into foster care.
During this time, the unnamed puppy killed a kitten, which automatically brought into question the temperaments of the other two puppies in the litter.
“When an animal kills another animal, there are occasions where we are required to euthanise them,” the spokesperson said.
“We called them back because it was such an unusual event. It’s incredibly rare of a puppy that age to do that.”
The unnamed puppy’s siblings were recalled to the shelter from their foster families for behaviour reviews, where The Lost Dogs Home specialists found Murphy was displaying “abnormal” behaviour for a puppy of his age.
“We have to look at the burden owning that dog will place on society and we’re looking at the welfare of that dog. Do we want to burden that dog with being fearful it’s entire life? It’s a welfare question. The decision has been made with all of those really complex things in mind,” the spokesperson said.
“The shelter helps 18,000 animals a year. We are always looking for positive outcomes. It’s much more complicated, and it hasn’t been represented fairly.”
In a statement posted online, the shelter said its decision regarding Murphy was “exceptional and rare” and based on the Victorian government’s Code of Practice for the Management of Dogs and Cats in Shelters and Pounds.
“[The decision] was based on multiple sources of information on an ongoing basis and clear behavioural indicators that made him unsuitable for rehoming … Murphy’s case is exceptional and rare,” the statement read.
“We understand the distress it may cause, but our priority must always be public safety.”
There are provisions in the Victorian government’s Code of Practice that allow for euthanasia of a healthy animal based on its performance in behaviour tests.
A “temperament and health assessment” is required by the code for re-homing animals.
If the animal’s behaviour leads to a failure and is deemed unable to be corrected in spite of “potential rehabilitation efforts”, that animal will meet the criteria for euthanasia.
However, Purcell found the definition of “poor behaviour” rather vague and insufficient.
Speaking on ABC Radio’s Melbourne Drive program on Wednesday, she called for “transparency and accountability” from the government, and an end to “outdated” behavioural assessment and euthanasia practices used at “some shelters”.
Milly, the last Staffy-cross in the litter who remains alive, is undergoing behavioural testing under The Lost Dog Home’s purview.
In a statement released on Wednesday, The Lost Dogs Home said Milly was “safe and loved” in a private home.
“We’ll continue to monitor and review her behaviour. Our aim will be to understand more about personality, temperament and motivations,” the statement read.
“To give us the best chance of evaluating Milly’s behavioural suitability for rehoming, this monitoring is expected to take place over a few weeks as it’s important that we set Milly up to succeed and provide her with the best opportunity, as we do for all the dogs in our care.”
The Victorian Lost Dogs home is a charitable organisation which works under the state government’s animal welfare regulations, overseen by the minister for agriculture.
A Victorian government spokesperson said it valued the work of the Lost Dogs Home, and was working with the organisation to “better meet community expectations”.
“Rehoming is always the goal, but it can not come at the cost of community safety,” they said in a statement.
“We’re working with The Lost Dogs Home to understand if there are any processes that can be improved to better meet community expectations.”
