RICHMOND, Va. – A dog belonging to Robin Starr, the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA, died after being left alone for four hours in the car.
In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch at the SPCA’s offices, Starr and her husband Ed cried while recounting the story.
Ed said he put the dog, a sixteen year old deaf and blind mutt named Louie, into the vehicle as Robin prepared for work.
Robin arrived at her job without realizing the dog was in the car.
Several hours later when she left to get lunch, Robin saw Louie in the car.
She took the dog inside to the SPCA clinic, then to an emergency veterinary clinic.
The dog died later of kidney failure.
Starr has been CEO of the Richmond SPCA since 1997.
She does not plan to resign.
SOURCE:
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Dog of Richmond SPCA CEO dies after being left in car for 4 hours
4 Responses
2009 Aug 28
She didn’t see Louie when she got in the vehicle to go to work but when she went to lunch she she did see the dog. Something tells me he was more active when she went to work then when she went out to lunch no matter how old, deaf and blind he was. First and foremost, if dogs enjoy being in a vehicle, the anticipation, no matter how old they are, makes them excited and he wouldn’t have just lied down and gone to sleep. Second, dogs have a keen sense of smell and know when their “owner” is present. I know, we just lost a 14 year old in January who was pretty much the same but she knew when we were around. Her tail would wag and her face would light up. So I can’t believe she did not notice Louie when she got into that vehicle the first time.
And third, I can’t believe anyone else hasn’t commented on this here. They have every where else. Facebook is loaded with peoples comments and they aren’t very nice.
2009 Aug 29
There does seem to be an awful lot of questions surrounding this incident. The first thing that I thought of was, if this is her favorite dog, how then did she not know where he was when she left the house?
The other thing about this incident I personally find troubling is why did it take one week for this story to break?
I feel that she should step down from her position as CEO of the Richmond SPCA, if for no other reason than out of respect for her position.
2009 Aug 31
She’ll get away with it, no questions asked. Her kind always does. They’ll brush it off that it was an old dog and she’s suffered enough with what has happened. Let it be. Kind of like Vick, they’ve both “done their time”.
BS!
2009 Sep 04
She needs to resign. As far as I’m concerned it’s negligent homicide.