A husky has been accidentally euthanized at an Arizona dog shelter – in the third mistaken killing at the center in the past four months.

Moscato was put down last week after a rescuer sent an email to the wrong inbox, meaning the animal was not removed from the euthanasia, or e-list at the Maricopa County Animal Shelter.

It comes just three months after the tragic death of a Rottweiler in January, right before he was supposed to be rescued.

Another similar mistake also happened in December last year at the Phoenix shelter, according to Arizona’s Family.

A volunteer who arrived at the center to pick up Moscato only to be told the harrowing news, told the outlet: ‘Your heart just dropped to your stomach knowing that there was a dog that deserved to get out that didn’t.’

Moscato the husky was put down last week after a rescuer sent an email to the wrong inbox

Dogs without a home in the county can be placed on the e-list if they have behavioral or medical issues, which includes struggling with the shelter environment.  

Alison Nicolosi, the co-founder of AZ Husky Rescue, was working on getting Moscato out of the shelter when the tragic incident happened, and believed the husky should not have been on the list. 

‘She was letting us pet her, she was being so sweet, you could see it in her eyes she was just a scared dog,’ she told Arizona’s Family. 

She said she was emailing back and forth with a worker at the Maricopa County Animal Shelter, and was planning on taking in Moscato as soon as she found room. 

The person she was speaking to did not work the next day, so instead of the email going to a different inbox and being picked up, it was missed. 

This meant that no one saw to pull the husky from the e-list. 

When volunteer Emi Litcof went to pick up the animal, she was told it had been put down that morning. 

She told the outlet: ‘Your heart just dropped to your stomach knowing that there was a dog that deserved to get out that didn’t.’

The rescue organization argues that dogs should not be placed on this list, but rather put up for adoption to the public. 

‘She was very sweet, she was very scared in a shelter environment and she had no aggressive tendencies whatsoever,’ Litcof said. 

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Nicolosi added: ‘We’ve seen so many dogs that were so much worse than she was and she just had so much potential to be a really good family dog.’ 

A Maricopa County Animal Shelter spokesperson told the outlet: ‘We are deeply heartbroken for what has occurred.’

They added that they are sending Moscato’s ashes to AZ Husky Rescue, and hiring a behaviorist to work with dogs who struggle in the shelter environment. 

On the county’s website, regarding the e-list, it posted: ‘We don’t want to see animals suffer, and in their condition, it is not humane to have them in a shelter environment. Euthanasia is always the last resort.’

Rottweiler Cerrit was also accidentally put down at the center in January

Rescuers said Moscato ‘had no aggressive tendencies whatsoever’ and was ‘very sweet’

A spokesperson for the shelter said they were ‘deeply heartbroken for what has occurred’

A similar tragic incident happened in January, when a rescue group was devastated to learn that 3-year-old Rottweiler Cerrit had been put to sleep just before he was supposed to be rescued. 

Shelly Froehlich, who runs ‘Rotten Rottie Rescue,’ saw 3-year-old Cerrit on MCACC’s euthanasia list for behavioral issues and knew she had to save his life, she told Arizona’s Family. 

‘He needed to get out of there; it was a bad place for him,’ she said. 

Kim Powell, a spokesperson for shelter, said a staff member on the vet team missed a critical step and did not see that ‘Rotten Rottie Rescue’ was going to pick Cerrit up.

‘A rescue group was supposed to get Cerrit after he was neutered, unfortunately, there was a note in there that the vet tech didn’t see. They didn’t see that this dog was a guaranteed pull. It is an irreversible error and the person responsible for this is besides themselves,’ she said. 

At the time, she admitted it had also happened in December, leading to another dog’s unecessary death.

‘Now we are taking a deep dive into what it is and how we can make sure this doesn’t happen again,’ she said at the time.