FL Animal Shelter Worker Killed By Rescued Dog Died Pursuing Passion For Helping Animals

BROWARD COUNTY, FL — An animal rescue volunteer working at a nonprofit shelter in Broward County died Thursday after she was attacked by a large, mixed-breed dog that had been turned into the shelter earlier this month.

According to the Broward County Sheriff's Office, just before 11 a.m., Pam Robb of Fort Lauderdale was working as a volunteer at the 100+ Abandoned Dogs of Everglades Florida shelter in Oakland Park when she was attacked by a 3-year-old dog named Gladys.

"The two adult females are workers. One of them was working with the dog when apparently the dog suddenly snapped," said Claudinne Caro, spokeswoman for the Broward sheriff's office. "A second adult female tried to aid that first worker and, in the process, she herself got injured."

Both Robb and the other volunteer were taken to the hospital, where Robb was pronounced dead. The other volunteer's injuries are minor.

Robb, a former physical education teacher for Broward County public schools, was a lifelong animal lover.

Originally from Afton, Minnesota, she moved to Florida after graduating from the University of Minnesota, and spent her career teaching physical education and coaching sports teams at Broward County schools.

She was spending her retirement years pursuing her passion for animals. In addition to volunteering for 100+ Abandoned Dogs, she was a volunteer at the South Florida Wildlife Center in Fort Lauderdale.

In a Facebook post, she recently expressed her dismay with the surge in animal cruelty cases she's witnessed since the coronavirus pandemic began.

"What unimaginable cruelties we have seen since this crisis began. Too often humans take their frustrations out on helpless animals and the stories are alarming," Robb said.

Gladys, a 125-pound dog, was an example of the cruelty Robb condemned.

The collarless dog had been abandoned in the Everglades between Alligator Alley and the Miccosukee Service Plaza. A family found her two weeks ago and brought the dog to 100+ Abandoned Dogs.

Shelter founder Amy Roman provided updates on Gladys on the shelter's Facebook page as volunteers began working with the traumatized dog.

In her posts, Roman expressed doubts that Gladys could ever be trained and placed in a permanent home:

“She is scared of everything ... everything scares her, freaks her out.”

“We don’t know where she came from. We don’t know what she has been through. We are sticking to her obedience commands. She is very obedient.”

"She is good with certain people. She is not good with others. She has got tremendous, tremendous fear. She has got some fear issues. It might be out of our hands, a little over our heads.”

Following Robb's death, Gladys was taken to Broward County Animal Control where she was humanely euthanized Thursday.

Robb's wife of two decades, Angie Anobile, said she doesn't blame the dog. She said Robb died doing what she loved.

“She wasn’t just doing, she was being — she was being Pam Robb, a great, giving, loving person," Anobile said.

She noted that Robb was aware of the risks of working with abused and abandoned dogs with behavioral issues due to the cruelty they suffered.

“There’s always risk when you work with abused animals and Pam was well aware of it,” she said. “She had a love for those animals, she really did, and they responded very well to her. This was just a fluke accident.”

In a statement, Roman asked for some privacy while she and the other shelter volunteers grieve for their friend.

"Our hearts are broken for our dear friend Pam. Our deepest condolences to her family and friends," she said. "We are all grieving and ask for you to please give us time to process this great misfortune and the loss of our dear friend."

Nearly 2,000 expressions of sympathy have been posted on the shelter's Facebook page following Robb's death.

Since it was founded 10 years ago, 100+ Abandoned Dogs of Everglades Florida has rescued more than 4,400 animals.