Today, the world woke up to a sad news hailing out of Auckland, New Zealand concerning one of the city's four-legged airport employees.
Grizz, a 10-month-old border collie and german shorthair pointer mix was an Aviation Security Service dog who specialized in explosive detection until yesterday when he was fatally shot after he broke away from his handler.
According to New Zealand Herald, Grizz's escape was causing runway delays and after about a 3.5 hour attempt to contain the distressed pup, he was taken down by police "as a last resort."
Unfortunately an Aviation Security dog was shot this morn @AKL_Airport staff had tried for 3 hours to catch it our thoughts are with handler
— Auckland Airport (@AKL_Airport) March 16, 2017
"All efforts to capture the dog were exhausted and the airport company had no option but to request police to shoot the dog." said Avsec spokesman Mike Richards. "The handler and Avsec are naturally upset but do understand there were no other options, in the very difficult circumstances." he added.
Safe, a New Zealand national animal rights organization said the shooting was "needless" and that a "tranquilliser gun should have been used after efforts to catch the dog failed. If such a gun was not available - which it should - then they could have borrowed one from Auckland Zoo or elsewhere." The controversial decision to shoot the service dog has since sparked outrage from people across the globe and some took to Twitter to express their feelings and seek answers:
. @AKL_Airport so the dog died? If so the dog died so commercial airlines could avoid expensive delay costs. Absolutely shameful decision.
— Carolyn Deuchar (@CarolynD_NZ) March 16, 2017
@AKL_Airport Honestly, if a human was running around and delaying flights, you wouldn't shoot him would you? Jesus christ Animals have lives
— Tranquillize Jamaa (@_Tranquillize_) March 16, 2017
@realtraceyrice @julzbanks @AKL_Airport so livid. Decision would definitely be about $. Potentially cost would be huge but bad call. Thanks
— Carolyn Deuchar (@CarolynD_NZ) March 16, 2017
@AKL_Airport That 10 mo puppy didn't ask to be 'employed', he didn't ask to be let lose on the runway and he certainly didn't ask to be SHOT
— Jenny (@sleepysarcasm) March 17, 2017
@AKL_Airport What about family pets that may escape their cage while travelling in pet cargo? Is "policy" to shoot it if not caught in time?
— Merenia Wright (@Merenia_Wright) March 17, 2017
This is a truly terrible situation and hopefully Auckland Airport will consider implementing a plan for when incidents like this arise in the future.
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