Passerelles Pound: a German Shepherd killed after the death of her human

She was called Holga. This German Shepherd had a happy existence for a long time with her human. She watched over him for years, offering him tenderness and loyalty. And she had visibly been very loved in return.

And then everything changed: elderly, the man passed away. As often happens in this situation, the family did not want to take Holga in. The children contacted the Passerelles Pound to get rid of her...

Abandonment added to the pain of grief for the dog. Placed in quarantine on 23 November 2021, Holga found herself in a cold and bare cage.

When our investigators went there for the first time, they saw that she was injured, languishing behind bars. At that time, they did not know why she was there: was she boarding, at the shelter, or impounded? It was only during their second visit a few days later when they discovered her body in a freezer, her notes filed under deceased animals (with no mention of her serious injury) and her — brief — history, that they realised the tragedy that had happened behind closed doors.

The tragic story of Holga is not an isolated case. Thousands of animals perish in the same way in our country when their human dies or falls ill. Whatever their state of health, abandoned by everyone, they are slaughtered without being put up for adoption or if they are not adopted.

Rally with us to get Holga’s story known, just as despicable for her as the memory of her old friend. Everyone must be made aware that sometimes dogs, and often cats, are treated as rubbish by pounds.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice