She was picked up in Culver City on the block of 6300 Green Valley Circle as a stray on 10/27/07. A3745343 was her impound number and this photo here was her Carson shelter mugshot. Zephyr was just ten-month old. I saw Zephyr's photo on the LA County DACC's website but I never got to meet Zephyr while she was still alive. My rescue partner who at the time, was still a volunteer with the Carson shelter (she has since been 'fired' because she spoke out on Zephyr's behalf) met Zephyr and thought she was a sweet, darling puppy. She put a "Call when PTS" on Zephyr hopping to be able to get Zephyr out of Carson. 
This was a photo of Zephyr taken by my rescue partner. Zephyr was still vibrant and full of life in this photo. However, like most all the animals at the Carson shelter, Zephyr came down with upper-respiratory infection. What made her even more susceptible to this URI was the fact that she ever received any vaccination upon impound. She never got her Bordetella and DHLPP shots as she was supposed to. I have Zephyr's record to show that she never got her vaccinations. What is being sent via the PRA will be a doctored piece of document. It will show that the shelter gave her Bordetella and DHLPP on 11/27/07 - the same day they reported her very sick and recommended that she be humanely euthanized. My rescue partner never received the call even though she had asked that they call when Zephyr was to be euthanized. It's interesting though that they would give Zephyr her shots on the day she was reported by the veterinary staff to be very ill and on the very day that the shelter vet recommended that Zephyr be put to sleep. Does that make sense to you? It makes no sense to me. The reason is that the department of animal care and control lied. They never gave Zephyr a chance. She was never vaccinated. She fell ill and they failed to treat her so she died IN THEIR CARE.
This was Zephyr looking on and around her in the late afternoon of Friday 11/30/07. One can hardly recognize that she is the same puppy who was so full of life just a few weeks prior. In this photo, we didn't know that it was Zephyr's last night being alive. 
What happened to Zephyr did not have to happen, but it did. I am sure there are many, many more like Zephyr dying in the LA County shelters right now as I am writing this blog entry. Their deaths will not be known as Zephyr's death would have been unknown had it not been for us showing up the morning of 12/1/07 to try and get her out to a private emergency vet. 
If you are reading this blog entry, I hope that Zephyr's short tragic life touched you the way it touched me and forever changed my life. Four days after Zephyr's death, my rescue partner (former Carson volunteer) and I rescued another puppy (8-month old) from Carson. Justin was his name. Justin also died from distemper (he received his vaccination 3 weeks after he was impounded at Carson). I was able to get Justin's cremain. I did not get Zephyr's cremain as Marcia Mayeda sent her body out for the necropsy.
1 comment:
I've looked at these photos again and again, and I am still not convinced this dog was ill. Dogs don't die of 'upper respiratory' illnesses -- these diseases are of no more consequence than the common cold. And if she had no immunity, distemper would have got her within a few days of entering the shelter, not a month later. So her vaccination status, or lack of it, is not the issue here.
In my professional opinion (as a breeder and trainer with 4 decades of experience) this dog died of dehydration from neglect.
scarletpimpernel@spam.la
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