Florence, Arizona - Her name was Target and she was a hero. The dog, featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", was hailed a hero after saving her owner and other soldiers from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.
Today, she was accidentally killed by a staff member at the Pinal County Animal Care and Control in Arizona. Target had gone missing from her owner, Sgt. Terry Young's, yard on Thursday.
Target was picked up by an animal control officer on Friday. Young located his missing dog on the shelter's website Friday night. Tragically, he assumed that the shelter was closed through the weekend - he didn't realize that the shelter operated on limited hours on Saturday.
Young went to the shelter to pick up his dog on Monday. The staff brought out a dog, but it was not his dog - it was not Target. After an hour of waiting, a tearful shelter staff member delivered the heart-breaking news. The wrong dog had been killed - a horrible mistake had been made.
A dog that had survived the war-torn streets of Afghanistan - a dog that had survived a suicide bomber and saved soldiers from certain death - has died. An innocent victim of a horrible, tragic mistake. Currently, the responsible employee is on paid administrative leave.
According to the shelter, changes are going to be made to ensure that this type of fatal error is not made again.
This entire story is tragic and heart-breaking. Sadly, Target should have never died, but some dog - rather a stray or surrendered, was slated to die today at this shelter. A dog was spared when Target's life was taken.
In a strange and ironic way, Target is once again a hero-her life taken in error, while another dog was mistakenly spared. One can only pray that the dog that was spared finds his or her way to a home so that the fatal error - the taking of Target's life - was not in vain.
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