Killing them with kindness - The Globe and Mail

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Toronto

Killing them with kindness

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Kate Hammer

T hey browsed the cages and checked out nearly every dog available for adoption at the Toronto Humane Society, but after spending just minutes with Harley, a boxer-catahoula mix with big brown eyes and a tongue like a face-seeking missile, Ainsley Kendrick and Dian Miguel fell in love.

After the couple filled out the adoption paperwork, they expressed several concerns: the seven-month-old puppy couldn't seem to bear weight on her back left leg when she sat, and there was a pouch containing an empty pill container hanging from her cage.

Days after Ms. Kendrick, 28, and Ms. Miguel, 25, took Harley home, it became clear something was wrong.

What followed was a saga that culminated in the couple discovering they had brought home a seriously injured dog. Her leg was fractured and her kneecap severely displaced, a condition made worse by the Toronto Humane Society's inability to return their desperate requests for veterinary records. Left in the dark, Ms. Kendrick and Ms. Miguel had spent $526.21 in tests, X-rays and medication by the time their own vet confirmed that one of the country's largest animal shelters had given them a dog with a broken leg.

Ms. Kendrick said that when she did finally get through, the THS management said that they had made a mistake, that the dog shouldn't have been adopted, and that they would reimburse some of the costs.

“They're a shelter, they're supposed to be there for the protection of animals – and you just assume that it's a good place and you can trust them,” Ms. Kendrick said. “It's really disappointing to find out that you can't.”

Harley's attentive owners made her one of the society's luckier pets. An investigation by The Globe and ...

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