How could they kill a healthy guide dog? Family of blind woman who put down her HEALTHY pet so it could be buried alongside her receive death threats



Sheila Stadler requested healthy five-year-old Toffee be put down



The guide dog was displayed in her coffin at the funeral viewing

Family then receives death threats for destroying a health dog



Funeral home said Toffee had been Stadler's 'constant companion'



The family of a blind woman who killed her healthy guide dog so it could be buried alongside her have suffered a hate campaign and received death threats, it was revealed today.



Shelia Stadler, 68, from Terre Haute, Indiana, died of cancer with her five-year-old guide dog Toffee by her side last month .



A few days later later her son Andy had the healthy dog put down so it could placed in Mrs Stadler's coffin to fulfil her dying wish.

But the controversial decision to destroy the dog has provoked a huge backlash in the town with Mrs Stadler's son receiving death threats - and even suffering abuse from members of his own family.

Heartbroken: Sheila Stadle apparently couldn't bear to part with her guide dog when she died

Faithful companion: Healthy five-year old Toffee was apparently put to sleep and buried at the request of his owner (file picture)

'How could they do it?' Gregory Reilly from the Honey Creek Animal Hospital was wrongly implicated as having put the dog down, and believes the decision to do so was questionable

Gregory Reilly, a veterinary assistant with the local Honey Creek Animal Hospital, said: 'It got totally out of control. The neighborhood was really angry. People were saying they should burn in hell. Terrible things were said.



'Mr Stadler told me he had received death threats and a member of his own family wrote on a Facebook page that she could not believe he had done it.'



Mr Reilly was also caught up in the furore after being blamed wrongly for putting Toffee down.

He said: 'We would never euthanise a dog - we simply find them a new home. All I did was try to find out whether what the Stadler's did was legal.



'It seems very morbid to me but unfortunately as the dog was their property, it was perfectly legal.'

Mrs Stadler died on March 8, and had expressed a wish to her family that she should be buried with her beloved labrador Toffee.

Her son Andrew, a tax accountant, then carried out her instructions after saying the dog had shown signs of mourning and 'wandered aimlessly' in the days after Mrs Stadler died.

It is not known when Toffee was euthanized but the story first emerged on WTHITV , which stated: 'Shelia Stadler, 68, of Brazil, died March 8 at home with her service animal, Toffee, at her side.



'Days later, the Stadler family had Toffee, a perfectly healthy 5-year-old dog, euthanized, displayed in the coffin at Shelia’s visitation, and buried with her in Summit Lawn Cemetery right outside Brazil.'



In mourning: DeBaun Funeral Homes and Crematory's obituary said that Toffee had been Sheila's 'constant companion for five years'

BURIAL TRADITIONS: PHAROAHS DIED WITH FRUIT BUT BYRON WANTED HIS DOG

Egyptian burial was intended to keep the Pharoah in the same level of comfort he enjoyed in life . Common items included games, musical instruments and wine, but also mummified cats and monkeys



Tutankhamun took four ritual couches, a sunshade and eight baskets of fruit

Excavation of Anglo Saxon site Sutton Hoo revealed a young man buried with his stallion

British poet Lord Byron asked to be buried with his Newfoundland dog Boatswain, but his wish was never honoured.



Planners in Lincolnshire in 2010 approved a joint animal and human cemetery where masters can be laid to rest near their pets



It cited an obituary saying: 'She loved Toffee, her seeing-eye dog and constant companion for five years.'

But when the report provoked a storm of criticism against Mrs Stadler's family, station boss Todd Webber withdrew the story from the website and refused to comment on the reasons why.

Mr Reilly said: 'The family and the station have taken a lot of heat on this. There was a Facebook page with so much criticism on that they had to take it down.'

The Dogs Trust said: 'There is never any reason to put a healthy dog to sleep when it could be happily rehomed.



'We hope that this sad story could never be repeated in the UK.



Guide Dogs UK also made it clear that this case was unacceptable.

Oliver Barton, regional director, said: 'We would never condone this. Whatever happens, we would make sure that the dog was happy and cared for'

Paying tribute to Mrs Stadler, the DeBaun Funeral Home refused to comment on its involvement in displaying the euthanized dog but said that she had been a 'dedicated homemaker' whose favourite book was the Bible.



Mrs Stadler is not the only owner to request such a burial in recent years.



NBC reported that Tom Tom, a healthy 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier was put down so that he could be buried with his owner, Donald Ellis from Arkansas.

His sister said that she had 'a lot of grief for doing this, but it’s what my brother wanted.'

