Elderly Woman’s Pet Dog Destroyed Whilst She Was in Hospital
An elderly lady is mourning the loss of her beloved pet dog, put to sleep whilst she was in hospital.
Jean Stack was forced to leave her Yorkshire terrier, Whiskey, alone when she was taken into Whiston hospital.
The charity today apologised for the blunder but said they had no way of knowing the dog was anything other than a stray.
The 80-year-old, who suffers from dementia, is devastated to have lost Whiskey, her companion for more than 15 years.
In a heartfelt letter to the ECHO she wrote: “I have a heavy heart. In my twilight years, I’ve lost more than I can bear.”
She had no idea the dog had been destroyed until she returned from hospital three and a half weeks later.
Her son, Rob, 51, was on holiday when his mother was taken to the hospital’s mental health ward.
He arrived home 13 days after his mother was hospitalised and when he inquired about the dog’s whereabouts was told he was destroyed that very day.
It appeared that after Mrs Stack was taken into hospital Whiskey was subsequently taken from her home in Huyton to the local police station and then transferred to the RSPCA in Halewood where it was assumed he was a stray.
Mr Stack said: “Mum had a turn so the carer decided to call an ambulance.
“I’ve told her what happened, she keeps forgetting and asking me where the dog has gone.”
RSPCA Liverpool branch secretary John Smallwood said: “Everyone at the scene acted in good faith but unfortunately nobody advised us Whiskey was anything other than a stray.”
Another blunder sees a dog die and an owner suffering terrible loss.
Very sad all round.
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OK wait a minute ‘Whiskey was subsequently taken from her home in Huyton to the local police station and then transferred to the RSPCA in Halewood where it was assumed he was a stray’
How did the RSPCA NOT ask who’s dog it was when it came from the police station?
What a terrible cock up, they should be ashamed of themselves.
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Why did the police take Whiskey to their station, I am sorry but according to the law of the UK, didn’t the police stop dealing with dogs on the 6th April 2008?
What were the RSPCA doing with this dog, cynically could they have thought this is an old dog there is no chance of it being rehomed.
Who took the dog from the police station to the RSPCA, you know who has the out of hours contract at Knowsley Council, Mr Dunnes, Animal Wardens Limited, (see the article on this website about Kiss the Husky being sold).
I wonder if this catalogue of errors that resulted in a dog being destroyed is a result of people not having a clue?
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If this poor dog was treated ‘as a stray’ by the RSPCA, does this mean that the Council, in this case Knowsley council seized the dog as a stray dog?
If the council did not seize it, then the dog should not have been classed as a stray. Somebody needs to tell the Liverpool RSPCA that the police stopped dealing with stray dogs on 6th April 2008, the RSPCA should know this as they were one of many organisations working behind the scenes to get strays away from the police!
As an afterthought, Knowsley Council uses the company Animal Wardens Ltd who messed up so spectacularly in Hastings where they denied having a Husky although the dog owner rang them every day!
Are the RSPCA authorised by Knowsley council to seize stray dogs?
Why did the RSPCA possibly accept a dog from non authorised officers if the council were not involved?
If the council were involved, what happened?
The RSPCA shown yet again in a completely negative light, why do they do this, what chance do old dogs have at RSPCA Centres if this incident is anything to go by?
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Commenters, please read the article.
The lady was taken into hospital suddenly.
As often in these cases the dog (somehow) ended up at a Police Station.
The dog was then collected and taken to the RSPCA Branch kennels at Halewood.
There is no mention of Animal Wardens Ltd.
Some Police Stations in Liverpool and surrounding areas will still take stray dogs in to help out the public.
Police Officers on reception at stations will usually book a dog in on the standard Found stray dog form no matter where the dog came from.
“Are the RSPCA authorised by Knowsley council to seize stray dogs?” Where did that come from?
“Why did the RSPCA possibly accept a dog from non authorised officers if the council were not involved?” See the note above that some Police Stations are still taking in the odd stray dog. Please don’t ask for a question of a possibility instead of a fact.
“If the council were involved, what happened?” There is no mention of LA involvement.
“What were the RSPCA doing with this dog, cynically could they have thought this is an old dog there is no chance of it being rehomed.” Cynically yes, look at the time scale involved.
Lets find out what happened instead of speculating and wildly accusing.
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This sounds blatantly like another Animal Wardens ltd mess up. Does anybody know?. If it is Mr Paul Dunne and his motley crew then he would have seen that there was no money to be earnt out of an old dog!. This has to be him. The police would have phoned him when they were in receipt of the dog. The poor old Lady will probably pine away for the rest of her short days.
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I have spoken to the Kennels.
It seems there was a lack of communication between the Police and Social Services. Each thought the other was arranging accomodation for the dog.
The RSPCA were not informed of the background, they held the dog for nearly two weeks. No-one came forward for the dog and no offers were made to re-home it.
As I said in my previous post there was no mention of nor involvement in this by the Local Authority Dog Warden nor Animal Wardens Limited.
People need to stop jumping to conclusions, it does more harm than good.
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“Lets find out what happened instead of speculating and wildly accusing.”
Totally agree with you Dave this is getting very out of hand from commentators to these pages who appear to want to make allegations with no basis and before proper investigation.
You will find that cases like this are far from straightforward at the best of times as people in general do not understand that under under S.48
of the National Assistance Act 1948, those dealing with people who are taken in to care have a duty to secure the “goods and chatels” of the person they deal with and this includes animals.
But at the scene of the emergency the ambulance service are dealing with a patient, the police are dealing with a disturbance and the RSPCA or dog warden are often not there at the time. All kind of things result – I have dealt with a gentlemans dogs left running the streets after he poured scalding water over himself and was hospitlised and sectioned, the ambulance staf were dealing with him, the police were not even aware that the anmals had left his property when they got there (after he was taken away) to secure it and, had it not been for information given by neighbours, I would not have known that the dogs I found two days later on the streets were actually the gentlemans only companions, or where he was.
Then who do you find for the funding while he has a lengthy hospital stay; my boss certainly wasn’t happy to pay, the police had secured the property as far as they were concerned the ambulance had done their job and the social workers at the hospital thought that s48 was obviously somebody elses baby – took me quite some time and legal help to show them that it was not.
Lets get the facts – that way we can improve things.
If anyone wants more infomation on s48 its under information and reports on the NDWA webpages – as “property protection”. the article there was written by a Metropolitan warden and is slightly erroneous as you should be aware that where there is “county” and “district” the county agency (Police, Ambulance, Hospital/ Social Services) dealing with the person (not the dog warden service) is responsible – usually eventually Social Services and also be aware that they can re-charge the person for the care they obtain for the animal.
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By the way as far as I know Knowsley Council dog warden is still an in house service provided by a very dedicated lady I helped train myself. She has no involvement with Animal Wardens other than to have reported to the NDWA that Animal Wardens working for Liverpool City Council have operated in her area, in a North Warwickshire Council liveried van, and out of their LCC jurisdiction. An unsatisfactory error which I understand they put down to “working from postcodes”. These are established facts that will form part of the ServiceWatch report. Needless to say her job is at risk if the mangement at Knowsley believe that they can obtain a “better” service for the new arrangements by following the lead of LCC and employing Animal Wardens, only facts about Animal Wardens actual services might prevent that from happening, not anecdote or allegation.
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Dave the Dog
If stray dogs are dealt with by the council now and the RSPCA must presumably know this, why did they think Whiskey was a stray dog from the police?
What we have here, is anarchy breaking out in the dog world as in this case it seems the RSPCA and Merseyside Police do their own thing?
Who deals with stray dogs in Merseyside, councils, the RSPCA or the police?
Truly life is ‘grim up north’ if your a dog it seems!
RSPCA and police need to get a grip in the Liverpool area and get some kind of procedure in place to prevent this happening again!
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Dave the dog.
I think that you are the only pro Animal wardens fan. Maybe this wasnt him but look what he has got away with already!. One false accusation isnt bad amoungst loads of other stuff. Maybe you could give everybody a nice caring story about how a dog was properly looked after by Animal Wardens ltd?.
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Ricky
“Who deals with stray dogs in Merseyside, councils, the RSPCA or the police?”
The councils deal with stray dogs – but this was not a stray dog!
“RSPCA and police need to get a grip in the Liverpool area and get some kind of procedure in place to prevent this happening again!”
Yes, but believe me it is not just Liverpool – anyone dealing with s48 of the National Assistance Act (under which there was an obligation to deal with this dog) needs to get their act together. The animal remains the property of the person who is also in a vulnerable condition, looking after the animal(s) costs money (perhaps those who donate to the animal charities might like to see some of their donations used on this) but before such a dog can be destroyed or re-homed the consent of the owner (or their representative if they are no longer compus mentis) must be obtained. As I have stated in previous posts it is NOT so very very simple as people like to suggest.
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Ricky & R Taylor
Please read my posts again.
Certain Stations have continued to take in stray dogs in the short term to help the public and the RSPCA have a collection driver to pick them up.
Me a pro Animal Wardens fan! Again I repeat, read my posts, not just on this topic. I won’t be posting again on this one, there are too many people who are quite happy to post wild accusations without actually reading what has gone before or having any proof of what they are writing.
Thanks Cuthbert for your input.
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To Dave the Dog & C Jackson
Thanks for setting the record straight on this tragic issue.
I think that several issues have clouded the waters here, the RSPCA called the dog a stray in the Echo report which as you both write shows that it was not and it was an emergency welfare case.
If they (the RSPCA) had thought it was a stray dog, why did they not question why it was coming from the police?
If councils have got some kind of out of hours service operating, why do the police and the RSPCA centre still collect dogs, what legislation do the police seize the dogs under now, is the Dogs Act 1906 not now repealed?
I agree with Dave the Dog that he is not pro Animal Wardens, you only have to see his posts elsewhere to realise that.
Any kind of error involving a dog by the ‘authorities’ (are the RSPCA the authorites too?) especially after the Hastings fiasco is going to be pounced on by people who are upset about poor service and procedural errors when it involves peoples dogs.
Luckily there is the K9 Magazine/NDWA Servicewatch to turn to now, can it be used for animal charities too?
Thanks again Dave the Dog and C Jackson for explaining how it works, I realise that you are only trying to inject clarity and reason into this discussion, but you need to realise that not all of us understand the ways of councils and charities.
Regards
Ricky
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Hi
I am Robert Stack son of Jean Stack whose dog was slaughtered by the RSPCA. Whiskey was taken by Huyton Community Police officers on March 13 from my mother’s house for temporary stay at Huyton Police Station until the RSPCA could collect and care for Whiskey on Huyton Police behalf and this was agreed with Knowsley Social Service. They both acted with good intentions but it was not followed up. Whiskey was taken by the RSPCA on March 14 and stayed there until he was destroyed.
The RSPCA could have done a lot more as on the police report sheet there was an actual address and Whiskey’s name also there was a telephone number for the officer who dealt with the case. The RSPCA could have phoned the officer to make sure what they were doing was right before the actual deed was done meaning there was nothing on the report sheet that proved Whiskey was a stray and it could have all been avoided by making a call.
I thank you all for showing an interest in the case.
Robert Stack
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Mr Stack
Thank you for your post on this site.
What has happened to Whiskey is just the sort of thing that occurs when the authorities do not follow correct procedures.
In my council area the police contact the dog warden to ask for assistance and the dog warden organises temporary accommodation of the dog or other animal until the next of kin or friend or relation can take over caring for the animal.
In the case of deceased persons with no relatives, the procedure is to hold the animal until the executor of the will decides what to do based on certain circumstances, this can be let another person have the animal or let the council arrange rehoming.
This unfortunate incident appears to be a case of too many people being involved and thinking others were sorting Whiskey out.
It is bizarre though that the RSPCA assume that Whiskey was a stray when there was no documentary indication of this?
A bureaucratic blunder results in the death of a dog because people cannot be bothered to check things out properly!
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To Ricky
What you said was a 100% right. The RSPCA had the police report in front of their eyes but never or most probably couldn’t be bothered to act upon it.
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Mr Stack
Thats what the problem is, whoever it is dealing with dogs, whether they are strays or ones that need to be temporarily cared for, people feel that it is not a priority or they should not be dealing.
End of the day, we should have the best level of care possible and to hell with the cost for people and animals, but thats never going to happen in the UK.
Is anybody going to do anything about what happened, or are they all blaming each other, which is the usual procedure for incompetence!
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To Ricky
The Rspca seem to be intimatimg that it was Knowsley Council to blame and Knowsley Council admit they are partly to blame but Knowsley Council did not do the deed.
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Mr Stack
Sorry for the delay in replying.
Did a contractor for Knowsley council collect Whiskey and take him to the RPSCA?
This may explain why the RSPCA thought he was a stray dog, especially if the person taking the dog in did not mention anything to the RSPCA people when handing him over?
I thought from other posts above that Whiskey was taken in by an RSPCA Collection Driver?
What are Knowlsey council saying they are responsible for?
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To Ricky
The RSPCA collected Whiskey from Huyton Police Station on their behalf to look after Whiskey until he could be collected but did not mention this to the RSPCA agent at time of collection. Knowsley Council also did not contact the RSPCA and mention Whiskey was someone’s property.
A total breakcown in communication between Huyton Police and Knowsley Council.
Robert Stack
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The reason is not because the Dog Warden was involved, she wasn’t, but because Knowsley Social Services were and they had a duty to look after the dog and they thought the Police were dealing with it. Breakdown in communications. See my earlier post and Cuthbert Jacksons.
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Mr Stack
are either the police, the social services or the police doing anything about this?
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No police advised me to see a solicitor but there are not many who would take on a case like this as the rewards would be too small and the ones who may do are centred around London area.
Knowsley Council offered £300 compensation but that is blood money and I haven’t accepted.
Any Ideas?
Robert Stack
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Other than Kiss the dog, what grievances are there against Paul Dunne and Animal Wardens ltd, your site does seem quite vitrioloc against them and i’m curious…???
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