MIAMI (CBS4) ―

(CBS4-Miami) February 18, 2010
The court case of a woman whose 8-year-old golden retriever named "Cowboy" was mistakenly euthanized may cost Miami-Dade County a lot more than it was hoping to pay. Miami Circuit Court Judge Valerie Manno-Schurr ruled against the county and in favor Anays Rodriguez-Porras, Cowboy's owner, meaning the county may be on the hook for up to $100,000 for pain and suffering.

"At least now we have our day in court," Rodriguez-Porras told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "which is what we want. As humans, we don't give each other unconditional love. Our animals do. Our dogs do. My dog did. And what better way is there than for me to fight for him and any other animals who are treated cruelly."

The county wanted to move the case from Circuit Court to County Court, where damages from Rodriguez-Porras's lawsuit would be limited to $1500, the value of "Cowboy."

Now, Cowboy's owner says she looks forward to pursuing this case and the county at a jury trial. No future hearing or trial date has been set.

"He was special. He took care of us," said Rodriguez-Porras, a married mother of five young children, including triplets. "He went on vacation with us and took care of the kids. It's like the loss of another being. He was a member of our family. He didn't deserve to be put down. They killed him. It was a wrongful death. That have to be held accountable. This wasn't just a mistake. This was animal cruelty."

Rodriguez-Porras is haunted by the death of her family pet. After slipping out of his Kendall home on August 5, 2005, he was picked up by Animal Services the next day. That was Saturday, August 6th. Even though Cowboy had a microchip, he was not traced to his family until the following Wednesday, some four days later.

He was at the county's shelter and despite clear written instructions that he was going to be picked up, he was euthanized on Friday, August 12th of 2005. That day, Rodriguez-Porras's husband was not able to find Cowboy at the shelter and on the next day, Rodriguez-Porras was told that Cowboy had been euthanized by mistake.

"They shouldn't have touched him," said Rodriguez-Porras. "They were not supposed to do anything for 10 days, especially since we as owners called and asked that nothing happen to him. It definitely haunts me. It haunts me and he didn't deserve that. I feel terrible I couldn't save him. I feel terrible that I couldn't be there for him. And the people were so cold hearted. They did that to such a beautiful dog, such a beautiful animals. This should never have happened. I think about this all the time, and the injustice of what they have done. I can't live with this injustice."

"I think the most cruel thing was when they gave me the picture of Cowboy. And they verbally told me what happened. In the picture my dog was looking down. He knew something was going to happen before he died. And then it hit me at that point. It destroyed me. It was so so cruel," said Rodriguez-Porras. "It could have been avoided. They were told don't do that. The owner is coming."

"The dog was euthanized by an employee who made an error," said Dr. Sara Pizano, Director of Miami-Dade Animal Services. "That employee has been terminated."

Cowboy died just weeks after Pizano took over as Director of Animal Services. She says improvements have been made.

"We have inventory control, we have inventories twice a day. All the animals are checked for chips," Pizano told D'Oench. "We also double check all of the animals for identification as well. What happened was an unfortunate error. This was heartbreaking."

Pizano said the shelter cares for 250 to 600 animals a day and takes in an average of 100 new animals every day. She said the shelter helped a total of 37,000 animals last year. "We saved more animals than ever last year," said Pizano.

But it's the death of just one animal that could cost the county a significant amount of money. However, Rodriguez-Porras said the case isn't about money.

"It's about preventing this from happening again. Cowboy was part of our family. He was a good loyal dog," said Rodriguez-Porras.