Area residents mourn loss of dog

By Tracy Bell

Published: September 25, 2008

STAFFORD — Carla Blevins said Tuesday that she is all cried out. She knows that she doesn’t want what’s happened to her family to happen to anyone else.

The family dog, Buddy, 7, a Chesapeake retriever lab mix, was more than just a pet. He came up missing Sept. 1 when a family member caring for him realized he had strayed from the family’s Spotsylvania property.

According to Blevins, the family, which includes her husband Gary Blevins and her daughter Jesse Blevins, 11, put up fliers looking for their pet and did everything they could to find him. They called Spotsylvania Animal Control and personally went looking at the local shelter on numerous occasions.

Blevins said that Buddy had escaped from the yard through a hole in the fence.

On Sept. 8, a woman found Buddy alive in a ditch and reported it, Blevins said. He was just about a quarter-mile from home. But Blevins did not find this out until much later, and until it was too late.

Blevins said that the woman ultimately contacted her after seeing fliers still up in the neighborhood about Buddy. She told her that she had contacted animal control several days beforehand. An animal control officer had come out for a call on Buddy, Blevins said she was told.

Blevins said the woman told her that a man from animal control took Buddy’s collar off and said he would call the family, because there was a tag with a phone number attached. Blevins still does not understand why he took the collar off or why the animal-control officer did not call. 

“Without her phone call we would have never known he was there,” said Blevins.

Blevins said the family, including Jesse, is devastated. Buddy was buried last Wednesday.

Blevins said that when the family attempted to find out where their dog was, they had trouble doing so. There was no documentation, she said. When they went to the back area of the building to identify their dog’s body, they were told that if they would not have picked him up then Buddy would have been taken to the landfill, Blevins said.

Now, Blevins said she wants to see something done to stop how these animals are being treated and assure that proper procedures are followed.

“It’s time to stop,” said Blevins. “Enough is enough.”

William Tydings, in charge of the Spotsylvania Animal Control division, was away from the facility and could not be reached for comment by press time.

Blevins said that she was told an investigation into what happened is taking place.

For now, she is working on a possible ceremony or candlelight vigil to be held for Buddy and all animals in the very near future.