Buddy was one of those guys that just kind of hung around. He was never in trouble; never hurt anyone or anything.The only trouble he ever got into was when he left his foster family and got adopted. What should have been a happy forever after turned tragedy when the adoptive family abruptly gave him up to another agency. That agency killed him for no reason. You see Buddy was a cat, and he was killed with his identifying microchip in him by the Arizona Humane Society when an irresponsible owner of only 3 days turned him over to them thinking he would get adopted again. This is very hard to write because I was his foster mom and without meaning to I let him down.. I guess I adopted him to the wrong people even though they answered all the questions in our very thorough interview correctly. I was especially careful to read out loud to them, as I always do when adopting out, the statement they initial agreeing to never turn our animal into any shelter. And to return the animal to us if it is ever unwanted for any reason. Being a foster mom means the animals live in your home. Buddy did not just live in my home, he lived in my heart. That is the only place he now exists.
Like all the other animals in our group CHARM,Inc.,Buddy was microchipped. Over the last several years I have suffered terrible frustration about the scanning of microchips in the local shelters. I know I share this frustration with other rescuers and owners who "chip". Are they scanning every animal? Are they catching every chip? Are they re-scanning before euthanasia? CHARM,Inc. has been putting a chip in each animal since 1994. The recent tragedy of Buddy is hard to understand. We were called by the AZHS and told they had a cat with our chip in it. When we called back the receiving person told us they wouldn't release the cat to us because we couldn't prove ownership. Even though AVID(the chip manufacturer)had confirmed to them that we purchased the chip from AVID,this was not enough according to AZHS. We were told to get the necessary info. to them the next day. In addition to this I left a message in the voice mail of the shelter manager, who I was assured was in the building confirming that we wanted our cat back. When I called the following morning I was told' the animal is no longer here'. Since then my phone calls and AVID's have not been returned. In the less than 12 hours Buddy was at AZHS, he could not have gone through the health check and adoption process leaving the only other option; the horror of euthanasia!
The purpose of the microchip is so that shelters across the US can identify an animal immediately, and reunite owners with pets, rescuers with their rescues, and drop their kill rate. This negligence regarding an animal's life, in this case Buddy's, by the AZHS is inexcusable.
-- Mary Jo Raffone, Director of CHARM, Inc.
