Local 4 News focuses on a local animal shelter that came under scrutiny after two puppies adopted from the facility got sick and died. The place is King’s Harvest Pet Rescue. Some people say it’s happened there several times before. A mother and daughter who adopted one of those sick dogs want answers tonight. That’s after they wound up with several thousands of dollars in medical and adoption bills along with a lot of heartache after their dog charlie died ten days after taking him home.
WARNING: You might find some of the details in this story difficult to hear.
It’s one of the first great joys of life, child getting their first dog.
For Tracy Harper and her 12-year-old daughter Grace that joy became a reality on November 27th, 2020, the day they brought home Charlie.
After just a few days, the Harpers noticed Charlie started to change.
“He started to act really lethargic,” said Grace Harper. “He really loved treats, and then he wasn’t taking them. I pretty much knew something was up when he wasn’t taking treats.”
Time that the Harpers hoped would be spent taking walks and playing with their brand new puppy, turned into daily trips to the animal hospital.
Charlie was diagnosed with Parvovirus. It’s a very contagious sickness that can be fatal. Dr. Scott Sandeman at Glenroads Vet Clinic in Bettendorf says symptoms could take 3-7 days to show up and vaccines have slowed its impact.
But everything the Harpers did to save Charlie didn’t work.
So after just 10 days and almost $4,500 in medical bills the Harpers had to make the decision to end Charlie’s pain, by ending his life.
It’s a moment that the Harpers say they, unfortunately, will never be able to forget.
A great deal of personal pain, something shared by Rochelle Dougall, former assistant director at King’s Harvest Pet Rescue in Davenport.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Douglas. “I also felt a lot of shame for participating in it, and more importantly, helplessness. Because I didn’t feel like there was anything I could do.”
Dougall was let go by the shelter before this specific case, but according to her this isn’t the first time a family adopting an animal from the shelter has gone through such a tragedy.
“After a while, I did notice that a lot of the animals being adopted out came down with various illnesses,” said Dougall. “Kennel cough, ringworm, upper respiratory infections, heartworms, and even fatalities.”
Local 4 News found out Charlie came up to King’s Harvest via transport van from Texas. We also checked animal welfare inspection records from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Local 4 News found in December of 2020 a complaint about sick animals led to another inspection outside of the routine one that’s done every year.
The report lists several code violations including failure to maintain adequate records, failure to maintain programs of disease control and prevention, and failure to place animals infected with contagious diseases into isolation facilities. A re-inspection was scheduled for early January. Those findings are not available yet.
King’s Harvest tells Local 4 News the litter of dogs were vet checked on November 23 and were up to date on age-appropriate vaccines. They say the dogs were in a foster home in Texas for three weeks, which they felt was a long enough quarantine.
The shelter director’s also told Local 4 News, not in regards to any specific case, “No one wants to euthanize these great pups so we were just trying to help as many as we could, which meant we tried to adopt them out as quickly as possible to prevent others from dying.”
Since our investigation, King’s Harvest has changed its policy on holding animals, saying they will now hold them for a minimum of three days before adopting them out.
The shelter adds they are saddened by what happened but still want to encourage people to adopt, not shop. They say rescue dogs are less expensive and do come fully vetted.
The shelter director also says the re-inspection from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship found the shelter is complying with regulations and the dogs in question were fully vetted before getting to the shelter.
The shelter did raise and hand out around $6,500 to the families of the dogs that died. Their full response to our inquiries can be found below.
Full statement from King’s Harvest:
“On November 26th, 2020 a transport of dogs arrived with a litter of puppies and their mother to Kings Harvest Pet Rescue. Mama and puppies were vet checked on 11-23 -2020 and received a health Certificate which is enclosed. They were also up to date on age-appropriate vaccines. We had them in a foster home in Texas for 3 weeks so they weren’t exposed to anything in the shelter they came from. We felt this was a long enough quarantine.
There was a puppy that was underweight upon arrival so we placed her quarantine, the other ones seemed healthy and bouncing around and playing. We sent 2 home the next day however, we did test them for parvovirus that came back negative before they left. We kept the remaining puppies until the 30thand then sent them home. The one smaller underweight puppy was taken to the veterinarian, where she tested negative once again for Parvo, but unfortunately passed due to failure to thrive. It wasn’t until seven days later three others did test positive for Parvo, and were being treated. Unfortunately two of the puppies passed away. So apparently they contacted Parvo on the transport van, that’s why it took so long for them to show any symptoms. We were all heartbroken over the situation. Normally, in our contract, it states that once the adoption is final the owner is responsible for the animal. With some of their extremely high vet bills, we did pay the adopters $6500 to help offset their costs.
We pull a lot of dogs from kill shelters in the south. No one wants to Euthanize these great pups so we were just trying to help as many as we could, which meant we tried to adopt them out as quickly as possible to prevent others from dying. There is no law that requires a hold time on animals but since this unfortunate incident has occurred, we have changed our policy. We will now hold animals a minimum of three days or longer and ask adopters to take their new pet to the vet within 72 hours. This has its ups and downs since now litters of puppies and dogs are being euthanized since there aren’t open cages, in our shelter, and the other shelter has to make room for new animals coming in. This incident saddens us all, but we do still want to encourage people to still adopt, not shop. Rescue dogs are always less expensive than pet store dogs and come fully vetted. We really hope the story does not discourage people from adopting.”
