My name is Eric, and I run I Love Every Dog. I'm asking you to sign this petition because a dog named Bruce should still be alive right now, and the way he died should trouble anyone who cares about how our shelter system treats the animals in its custody.
Bruce was a three-year-old Great Pyrenees mix who ended up in the hands of Ventura County Animal Services after a family caring for him fell into homelessness. He had a bite history, and I'm not going to pretend that doesn't matter. But his advocates at Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center believed his full behavioral record deserved a real hearing and that life-saving alternatives to euthanasia hadn't been exhausted. Their attorney, Dan Bolton, fought for Bruce all the way to an emergency motion filed with the United States Supreme Court.
Ventura County Animal Services, under Director Esteban Rodriguez, knew that motion was pending. County officials were notified by letter and by phone. They euthanized Bruce anyway, on August 13, before the country's highest court could even weigh in.
I am not asking anyone to pretend Bruce had no history. I am asking Esteban Rodriguez and the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to explain, on the record, why a shelter would rush to end a dog's life while a federal emergency motion was still active, and to commit to a written policy that no animal in county custody will be euthanized while a filed appeal or emergency motion is pending. Dogs like Bruce deserve due process too, and so does every family or rescue group trying to save one.
Please sign and demand accountability for Bruce, and a real policy so this doesn't happen to the next dog.
