Family Devastated After Dog Mistakenly Euthanized

MORTON, IL — It was a tragic case of mistaken identity. That's what a Peoria-area family said they were told after their dog, Moses, was euthanized by Tazewell County Animal Control after being mistaken for another dog last week. Tony Wang said Moses was being held on a 10-day quarantine at animal control after biting a maintenance worker who came into the back yard unannounced.

"He opened our side gate and knocked on our sliding door multiple times," Wang wrote on Facebook in the aftermath of the incident. "Moses thought he was an intruder and bit his lower leg."

Even though the Wangs were able to verify that Moses was up to date on his shots, they were told the dog would have to be kept in quarantine for 10 days and then released back to the family.

"I was so scared and I asked them many times not to take him away or hurt him. They assured me multiple times that everything would be OK with Moses," said Wang, who visited his dog every day on his lunch break.

He said Wednesday was the last time he got to visit his precious pooch. "He had not been eating because he was sad to be there," said Wang, who brought him some food and sat with him while he ate. "After he (was) done eating, I said goodbye to him. He wanted to jump up to me and lick me. If I knew that was going to be the last time I ever going to see him, then I would've stayed and let him lick and jump as often as he wanted to."

Wang snapped this photo (above) of Moses that day, not realizing it would be the last picture ever taken of the family dog, he tearfully told WMBD.

Before leaving the facility, Wang said on Facebook that he talked to director Ryan Sanders and said he'd be back again the next day. The next morning before work, he said he packed Moses' favorite treat and left his house. But at around 9:30 a.m., he received a frantic call from his wife, Jennifer, "screaming and crying that Moses was dead."

"I thought she was pulling a prank on me because I literally just saw him less than 18 hours ago and I was getting ready to go see him in 3 hours," Wang wrote. "I rushed to the facility and found Moses' lifeless cold body laying on the concrete floor ... The director, Ryan Sanders, who I saw the day before I left, was the one who killed my baby. I couldn't imagine how lonely and scared Moses was when he was woken up at 5 a.m. and taken to a small room with a water heater and cold concrete floor and someone stick a needle into his heart. How could this happen to a loving dog?"

The Wangs said they were told a different dog, a stray that was considered vicious, was the one that was supposed to be euthanized. Wang said the stray had gold fur, while Moses was white, wearing a collar and was microchipped. Wang said he asked Sanders why his dog was euthanized and why he hadn't double checked before putting the dog down, and claims Sanders replied, "I don't know."

In a statement issued to WMBD, Tazewell County Animal Control confirmed that the wrong dog had been "mistakenly" euthanized. "Tazewell County truly regrets this error," the stastement read, in part. "Tazewell County will be reviewing policies and procedures to prevent any such occurrence from happening in the future."

Wang said the experience has been devastating for him and his wife, who is four months pregnant, as well as their young son.

"We had to explain to our 6-year-old son that the puppy he grew up with would not be coming back (and) instead Moses was going to Heaven," Wang wrote on Facebook. "Our son was heart broken and confused. He cried himself to sleep and said he wanted to go to Heaven so he could see Moses."

The Wangs told WMBD they have been reaching out to attorneys to take legal action against animal control, but as of last week had not received a response. Friends have set up a GoFundMe campaign called "Justice For Moses" to create a legal fund. In just two days, the campaign far exceeded its $1,000 goal, with more than $7,000 in donations as of Monday.

Photo via GoFundMe, a Patch promotional partner