Lefty, who had sight and hearing issues, never returned after escaping a fenced-in yard on Thursday

Beloved Dog Euthanized at Florida Shelter Hours After He Went Missing from Yard

A special needs dog that wandered away from his Lakeland, Florida, home on Thursday was euthanized at an animal shelter hours later.

According to ABC Action News, who reported the story, when Kristi Durham’s dog Lefty — a beagle with sight and hearing impairments — broke through her fenced yard, Durham and her husband acted fast to find him. They quickly called three animal shelters and shared a Facebook post about him on a local lost pets page.

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On Friday, Durham’s husband went in person to the shelters and he came to find out the pup had already been euthanized by Polk County animal services. There was no apparent waiting period, no stray hold.

ABC Action News reports that Polk County animal control says Lefty wasn’t at the shelter when Durham called looking for him on Thursday.

A microchip was scanned but the phone number given by the chip company did not work. The couple, who moved house in August, hadn’t updated the chip with their new address, the story said.

A pup with health problems and no identifiable owner doesn’t have much time at a shelter. Lefty’s fate was decided hours after he’d gone missing from his yard and he was euthanized, per a vet’s recommendation.

“It was just the perfect storm, and it’s very sad. We feel terrible for this pet owner. She’s welcome to come to animal control and we’ll give her a pet for free. We certainly don’t want this to ever happen again,” a public information officer with the Polk County sheriff’s office told the station.

It appears the outcome would have been different if the dog had been healthy. Healthy animals are put into a database and kept at least four days before being put up for adoption, Action News explained.

Durham, who rescued the pooch three years ago, seems devastated by how quickly it all happened.