Abu Dhabi: A young Indian couple has accused a pet lodging centre in Dubai of having their four dogs killed.
Skidd, Turvey, Cash, and Keisha were given away to the municipality for euthanasia by Doggies Palace on November 12 after the owners defaulted on an outstanding bill, XPRESS can confirm.
'My husband and I lived and worked for those four dogs. They were like our own children. Now we cannot believe that they are gone forever - put out of life with no mercy,' Enid Pitchen, 24, told XPRESS.
Skidd, 6, Turvey, 3, Cash, 2 were mixed breeds and six-year-old Keisha was a Border Collie.
Enid and husband Dexter, 26, who runs a business, decided to lodge their dogs at Doggies Palace as they were facing a financial crunch.
'On March 16 we put them for a three-month lodging at Doggies Palace at a special rate of Dh25 per dog per day. We also paid an initial security deposit of Dh5,250,' said a pregnant Enid whose baby is due in February.
Dexter and Enid said it was hard to part with their pet dogs and send them for lodging. But the couple had no choice when they moved out of their villa to an apartment behind Shaikh Zayed Road where dogs were not allowed.
'We never abandoned them and disappeared. We were simply facing a financial crisis like many other human beings. They have no right to kill our dogs,' Dexter said.
However, Doggies Palace maintained that the client was well informed that should they fail to settle their payments before November 11, their dogs would be surrendered to the municipality for euthanasia. They had to make space for more dogs that were coming in.
But for the Pitchen couple, putting their four dogs to sleep without their consent was a 'callous and ruthless' act. The couple had rescued Skidd, Turvey, Cash and Keisha between 2008 and 2011 after they were found abandoned in public places. For instance, Skidd, the oldest of the dogs, was homed by the couple in 2008 after they found him tied to a tree in Jumeirah.
According to Doggies Palace, the couple paid another Dh2,000 on October 24 but an outstanding balance of Dh7,250 remained even after they were given a discount from the actual amount due of Dh16,750 as of November.
On November 9, Doggies Palace sent a text message to Dexter saying the dogs would be surrendered to the municipality if they did not make a payment the same day.
'We pleaded with them and tried reasoning, citing that we needed time till the end of the month to receive salaries to make part payment. We immediately started villa hunting, and I applied for cash advances on my credit card as well as got a loan from my family,' said Enid who works as an administrative assistant.
But the pet centre gave the couple the ultimatum on November 11 that lest they paid up immediately, their dogs would be surrendered to the municipality.
Doggies Palace told XPRESS in a statement that the couple was given concessions, flexibility of payment considering their personal situation, but they failed to respond in time.
'Doggies Palace contacted the client again on November 11 to inform that the dogs would be sent to the municipality the same evening. No further communication was received that day from the client and therefore Doggies Palace sent the dogs to the Dubai Municipality for euthanasia,' said the management in a statement to XPRESS.
They added that as per their agreement with clients, if dogs are not collected within 20 days of the scheduled check-out date, Doggies Palace has the right to sell or re-home the dogs.
In this case, the management claimed, the dogs were killed because they were not fit for sale or rehoming.
The couple said they were in absolute despair not knowing what had happened to their dogs. 'The very next day, my husband went and checked in the municipality where surrendered dogs are kept but there was no trace of our dogs. We still cannot believe they got killed,' said Enid.
The couple has lodged a complaint with the municipality, and investigations are on.
'A life is a life...whether it is a dog or human being. We are not going to get our dogs back. But this should be a lesson to all those dealing with pets,' said the desperate couple who is trying to raise funds to fight a legal battle with Doggies Palace.
No comment was immediately available from Dubai Municipality.
Do you think Doggies Palace was right in handing over the dogs to the municipality for euthanasia?
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