Riverside animal control was called out to pick up Lily (blue pitbull) from our neighbors yard on Dec.1st 2015. Somewhere in the process of capturing her the 250lbs officer decided he needed to hit Lily who is 60lbs 3 times in her face with a baton. The morning after we went in to pick her up and pay fines not knowing yet what had happened the shelter said she needed to be fixed and just to pay fines and we would see her the next day after her surgery. We did not want to pay anything until we knew they really had her and she was ok so we refused to pay or leave without seeing her. So finally they bring her out and she is covered in her own blood. They said the officer had to hit her to get her under control. So we left upset and waited for the officers to come by and inspect our backyard to make sure Lily was not going to get out again. Well the same officers who picked her up came by and the male officer admitted to hitting her 3 times with a baton because she was too strong. This same officer put in his report that Lily was NOT AGRESSIVE... So why was she hit 3 times in her face by a 250lbs man? Doesn't make sense why a trained Animal Control officer couldn't handle this situation properly.
Day 3 (Dec 3rd) of Lily being in the shelters care we get a call from a few officers on speaker phone telling us Lily has a broken jaw and advised us to sign her over to be put down because it would cost a lot to get her jaw fixed. It took them 3 days for them to realize her jaw was broken! She was in pain for 3 days before they told us! Last I check its part of the shelters procedure to evaluate an animal after having to hit or pepper spray it. Why did it take 3 days to know Lily had a broken jaw after being hit multiple times with a baton by one of the shelters officers? And why put her down? I thought shelters were here to protect and save animals.
Lily has had surgery on her jaw and a tooth extracted today (Dec. 9th) because of this and is now in recovery. The Riverside County Shelter / Animal Control needs to take responsibility for abusing Lily! They need to be charged for animal neglect and cruelty! Let's make sure this never happens to another animal again! Please sign!
