Bruce the bulldog mix looked happy, but he had a problem. Bruce had persistent health issues, and Michelle Middleton says Bruce's time at Lee County Domestic Animal Services was running short.
"I told the staff that he had an ear infection and we needed to try a different shampoo because this one wasn't helping anymore. They came out a little bit later and said they were going to euthanize him," said Middleton, who was volunteering at LCDAS at the time.
At the 11th hour, Middleton adopted Bruce herself. The first thing she did was take Bruce to her veterinarian.
"They did a simple skin scrape and found out he had a bacterial infection. They put him on amoxicillin for two weeks, and it cleared up, and now he's fine," she said.
Bruce was lucky, but many other dogs at Lee County DAS are not. In the first 10 months of this year, LCDAS euthanized 393 dogs, according to its public database. That's on top of the euthanasia specifically requested by the pet owner.
Middleton and Kathleen DeCorte, who also used to volunteer at LCDAS, say many of the dogs didn't deserve to die.
"It would happen in waves. You come in one day, and all of a sudden, there are six dogs gone off the adoption floor, and you're like, not all six could have done something since yesterday when I was here. It's just devasting, it's heartbreaking, it's like losing one of your own," said DeCorte.
This summer, Middleton and DeCorte started speaking up about their concerns. They say they first spoke in private to staff at LCDAS.
"I said we don't have to be doing things this way. We don't have to kill adoptable dogs. We shouldn't be killing a dog because he bites a leash. We should be training him and working with him but it's just easier to kill the dog instead of training him," said Middleton.
Middleton and DeCorte eventually took their concerns to county commissioners. On Sept. 10, they were both fired.
"I asked if it was performance-based and they said no, and they walked away from me," said Middleton.
A county spokesperson would not comment on why Middleton and DeCorte were fired, but they said the following in a statement about the euthanasia cases:
"LCDAS is continually improving its facilities for the constant fluctuation of the number of animals taken in each day. And it should be noted that euthanizing dogs does not occur to 'create shelter space.' It's for instances such as behavioral issues posing a public safety concern, for individual owners or in the case of medical situations to relieve suffering."
Middleton and DeCorte say working at LCDAS was emotionally exhausting, but if given the chance, they say they would go back so that they could save more dogs like Bruce.