basie
Basie, the dog who was euthanizedAs a dog owner, I always have the fear way in the back of my mind that one day my dog is going to run away. It's an irrational fear, I know, as I live in a yardless city, but every once in a while, my husband gets ballsy and takes our pup off his leash when we're a few buildings away from ours. And it makes me want to kill him. I can think of few things worse than little Onion (that's his name) running off into the night.

Except having him run off into the night and someone finding him and euthanizing him without my permission. Yes, this just happened to someone.

Basie, the 17-year-old dog of Allen and Alison Holmes, was out playing in the backyard a few weeks ago. Allen had taken off Basie's collar since it was bothering her, and checked on her every 10 minutes to make sure she was alright. On one of his "checkings," though, Basie was gone. The Holmes searched the neighborhood high and low and plastered fliers everywhere, assuming she would eventually turn up since she "moved very slowly." But no sign of their girl.

The next day, they found her cremated remains. They learned that their pooch had been euthanized just a few hours after she went missing. Someone found Basie in the woods and assumed she was a stray. Alison, who's obviously gutted, doesn't understand how anyone could take Basie for a stray, despite her lack of a collar. She mentioned that her nails had been clipped and she was very clean -- she even had had a tooth extracted recently.

I don't understand how something like this could have happened. If someone found a random parked car on the street, would they call a demolition service and have it destroyed? Who kills a stray dog without looking for its owners at all? And what kind of vet euthanizes an animal who clearly doesn't look like a stray? Disgusting.

I hope the vet who took Basie's life has his or her license revoked, because they did was a awful. As Alison said, "Basie died alone with strangers, which is the real tragedy. She was a baby, just a helpless little dog, you know?" Ouch.

Check out the video.

How heartbreaking is this?


Image via WUSA9