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Council dump pet dog at tip -COMMENT ON THIS STORY
A BELOVED pet dog who was reported missing and later found dead at Sewerby clifftops was mistakenly dumped on a landfill site by council workers who did not bother to identify her.
Maisie, an eight-month-old micro-chipped spaniel, went missing while her owner Michelle Fisk was walking her along Sewerby clifftops on August 19.
After half an hour of frantic searching by Michelle and her relatives, Maisie was reported missing to the dog warden, and staff at Sewerby Hall and Gardens were also asked to keep an eye out for her.
At around 5pm the family received a call from a staff member at the Hall telling them that a body of a dog matching Maisie's description had been found dead at the bottom of the cliffs.
The dog warden confirmed this, but could not confirm the identity of the animal and told Michelle to contact the council the following day, leaving the family to spend an agonising evening not knowing for certain whether the dog found dead was indeed their Maisie.
Michelle's sister, Tracy, called the council depot as instructed at 8am the following morning but was told she would have to call back at noon when the night shift wardens returned to work - meaning more hours of uncertainty for the distraught family.
Unhappy with this, Michelle's father travelled down to the council's Willerby depot and was told that deceased dogs were not kept there but were taken to the refuse site at Carnaby: a difficult call to that department told the family that a dog of Maisie's type was mistakenly put in the wrong bin and had been taken to the tip, where she presumably still remains.
Despite being micro-chipped, Maisie has yet to be found and identified, although the family have accepted that the dog that was found and mistakenly dumped must be their beloved Maisie.
Michelle, of Nafferton, has filed a formal complaint against East Riding of Yorkshire Council and has demanded to know why nobody bothered to scan Maisie for a micro-chip and why nobody from the council called the family to let them know a dog matching Maisie's description had been found - even though she had been reported missing.
If it had not been for the Sewerby Hall and Gardens staff contacting Michelle, the family would never have known Maisie's fate.
Michelle said: "My family are all respectable dog-owners and we love our pets dearly, I am unable to find words to describe the pain and torment we have all suffered over this terrible situation.
"I have taken the time to have my dog electronically chipped in order to ensure that if she were ever lost, this technology could easily identify me as her owner.
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"I am deeply upset that I fear I may never come to terms with what has happened because although it is likely that it was Maisie's body which was found, it is also possible that it may not have been."
Michelle's brother-in-law, Rob Johnson, added: "Maisie was micro-chipped, but unfortunately we will never know if this dog was Maisie, as it cannot be identified now.
"They (the council) failed to follow proper procedure. All they could tell us was it was a small black dog, and no other dogs of that description had been reported missing that day.
"As a family, we are disgusted with the council's behaviour and attitude over this, My sister is absolutely mortified and distraught."
A council spokesman told the Free Press that a dead dog, likely to have been Maisie, was picked up by the out of hours Street Cleansing Team, who do not carry micro-chip scanning equipment, though it is council policy to check all deceased pets found for micro-chips.
He said: "We are sorry to hear about the death of Maisie and the anguish suffered by her owners.
"The procedure for collecting deceased dogs which have been found is that they are scanned for micro-chips with a view to returning them to their owner, if the owner so wishes.
"Unfortunately, in this instance, the dog was not scanned and we would like to apologise for this.
"The process has been reviewed to learn from this experience."
The spokesman added that a review of procedure is now underway as a result of Maisie's plight and the council is looking at ‘tightening up the whole procedure'.
Michelle and her family are yet to receive a direct response or personal apology from the council.
By Simon Messenger
Maisie, whose body was thrown on a tip by council workers
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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