A Texas veterinarian, being investigated for animal abuse, was using a beloved family pet for blood transfusions for nearly six months after telling its family the pooch was put down.
The Harris family was shocked when a former vet technician at the Camp Bowie Animal Clinic in Fort Worth called them last week and said that Sid, their 5-year-old Leonberger, was not only still alive but in good health.
The employee, Mary Brewer, had quit her job earlier the same day that she decided to alert the family, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
“I told her, ‘He’s still here,’ and she’s like, ‘Can he walk?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, he’s here waiting on you. If you came today, he’d walk out and jump in your car,'” Brewer told NBC News.
The family initially brought Sid to veterinarian Lou Tierce last May for an anal gland problem. Tierce operated on the dog and when his condition worsened, the vet advised the family to have him put down. He said the dog had a degenerative spinal condition.
The heartbroken family said their goodbyes and agreed to let Tierce put Sid down and bury his body.
Instead of putting the pup to sleep, he was kept in deplorable conditions, allegedly caged 24 hours a day and used for blood transfusions as well as other tests, according to Brewer.
“The biggest hurt in all of this is the deception and what it means with something that means so much to you,” Marian Harris told the Star Telegram. “Our pets are family members.”
Shortly after receiving Brewer’s call, Marian and her husband, Jamie, went to the clinic and rescued Sid, who is now safe and sound at their Aledo home.
Fort Worth police officers raided the clinic Tuesday and seized two dogs.
Jim Eggleston, the attorney representing the Harris family, said more allegations have surfaced of other pets being kept alive for experiments and blood transfusions.
“You have a vet keeping dogs under false pretenses,” Eggleston said to the Star Telegram. “You have family pets that people thought were cremated or put down peacefully that may still be alive.”
Eggleston told NBC News the police and Tarrant County district attorney are meeting to determine whether any animal abuse charges will be filed against Tierce.
“I’m happy that something can be done and that people are listening, and that they can’t get away with it no more,” Brewer said.