Please don't let this happen to your family pet

YoYo was the name inscribed on the collar so I prayed that YoYo's parents would call soon and they did. I was able to meet YoYo's dad at the place I left her, but was shocked to find her body was gone. After several calls, I found out that YoYo had been taken away by the F.D.O.T. (Florida Department of Transportation) and thrown away into a landfill. I was horrified!  I worked back and forth with the D.O.T and with YoYo's mom and dad in order to resolve this horrible tragedy.

Here is an account of what happened written by YoYo's mom.

“We are devastated by the loss of our pet. But what compounded this tragedy was the inhumane and inconsiderate actions taken by the D.O.T. While we were out searching for her, a stranger left a message on our recorder to let us know what happened and where to find her. This kind woman, we later learned, rescues animals all over the area. We went to the location she gave us, but our YoYo was not there. We then found out that the D.O.T. within hours, and without proper notice to our family, took her remains to the dump!

This action deprived our family of giving our beloved pet, YoYo, a proper burial in our yard. What should a parent of a 12-year-old say when he asks: "Where is she?"

After we found out what happened to YoYo we were able to contact the D.O.T. driver and his supervisor and became even more heartbroken and appalled by the unconscionable behavior and attitude of the D.O.T.

This was our family pet, our baby!  If this would have happened to you, wouldn't you want some kindness shown? Shouldn't the Department of Transportation be of service and accountable to the taxpayers of this community? Since we are in fact paying their salary, should we not expect competence and compassion with this job?

In short, we should have received both a call and a message from the D.O.T. as well as a reasonable amount of time for us to claim her remains! Instead, what they did made our loss that much more painful.

If not for the thoughtfulness of a stranger, we would still be looking and forever wondering what had become of our beloved four legged baby, YoYo. We  do not want this to happen to anyone else.  A change of police and procedure must be made! Please think hard about this, it is just too important to ignore!”

An added note: I just want everyone to know that when the above owner told the D.O.T. supervisor she spoke with that she was going to the papers with this article, his response was: " If you do that I will just slap a big fine on you for letting your dog out!"  Please note that the owner of YoYo had out-of-town company and the dog got out accidentally without anyone's knowledge.

Terry Stitt

Freeport