Family devastated to learn fate of missing dog after he wandered away from home

A family from Texas have been left devastated over their pet dog who was euthanized after the animal wandered away from their home.

Gunner, a 13-year-old Labrador, went missing last Tuesday in a rural area of Denton County, north of Dallas.

The family own eight acres and usually allow their four dogs to roam the property's grounds freely.

But it was only after Gunner was called in for his dinner and he didn't respond that the family began to panic. 

‘At that point, I'm starting to freak out, so I jump in my car and I drove around for nearly five hours,' Gunner's owner John Gilcrease told KTVT.

He was able to find Gunner had been taken in at a nearby shelter, the Linda McNatt Animal Care and Adoption Center.

‘He's at a safe place. They're gonna feed him. He's gonna be happy to see me in the morning,' Gilcrease said he thought to himself.

However, the shelter was closed on Wednesday, so Gilcrease was asked to come and pick his dog up on Thursday morning – but he was too late. 

When Gilcrease returned to pick Gunner up as arranged, he had already been euthanized, despite the shelter having a 72-hour hold on stray animals.

Gilcrease explained how initially the shelter would not give him a straight answer as to what had happened to his beloved pet. 

Eventually, the director of the shelter admitted to euthanizing the pet.

In a statement the shelter tried to justify its actions saying Gunner was found to be ‘geriatric, had severe mobility impairment, and no control over his bladder and bowels,' so he was put down.

The shelter explained they decided to waive their usual 72 hour policy to ‘alleviate animal suffering.'

Gilcrease believes that any perceived medical issues the shelter found on Gunner were down to fear.

He claims they said: ‘Your dog was old. He had arthritis. He can barely stand up. He pooped and peed himself,' and I said “because he's scared”,' Gilcrease said. 

‘My children are damaged. I'm damaged. I can't stop crying.'

Adding to the trauma, Gilcrease claims he wasn't even given an apology for what happened and was given the dog's body in a plastic bag to take away. 

‘I think Gunner's last moments were, “I'm scared. Somebody picked me up, somebody brought me to a place I don't know. Where is my dad? And why am on this cold table? And why are they killing me?”‘ Gilcrease said, who is now pushing for animal cruelty charges to be filed against the shelter.  

The City of Denton has asked the shelter to review its policies and processes with the findings to be shared with the community.