Andrea Rosebrock 
Ok, so the newspaper calls it a ‘mix-up’ but from the story and the comments that follow, this seems to be the norm for Brookhaven Animal Shelter.
An older disabled woman finds a dog on the side of the road, legs mangled due to some inconsiderate slob that hit it with his car then left the poor dog to suffer which is criminal in itself but when she calls the police and shelter for help what happens? Now, keep in mind, this is a 60 yr old woman who walks with a cane, she was in no position to do anything herself but call the proper authorities for help. Did the help come?
The wounded dog lay suffering for hours with its hind legs crushed in the muddy creek bed across the street from Patricia Corn’s house in Mastic Beach.
Corn said she heard it yelping early Friday and set out to help it. She believes the brown and white pooch dragged itself 20 feet into the woods after being struck by a car.
“He was still in pain,” she said. “He was so hurt, he couldn’t get up. I was talking to him, ‘Come on, baby, get up, get up.’”
But the dog didn’t get up. It died that day, and the Brookhaven Animal Shelter said Monday that the animal control officer sent to the scene couldn’t find it. Monday morning, four days after the dog died, its body lay in the same place Corn said it was resting alive on Friday morning, next to a bowl she had filled with water. It was picked up Monday afternoon.
Corn said she had called the Suffolk Police Seventh Precinct, which sent out an officer around 7 a.m. Friday. Corn says she showed the officer the dog. The police department then called Brookhaven Animal Shelter and Adoption Center, the agency responsible for responding to such calls, Tom Burke, the town’s public information officer, confirmed.
Corn said when she called the shelter from work later that afternoon, she was told the dog had run away. “Why did they lie to me?” she asked. “What did they think — that I wouldn’t go back to the creek and take a look?”
That evening, she found the lifeless body. “When I saw the dog, I was crying, hysterical,” she said. Burke said the shelter sent an animal control officer around 8:46 a.m. on Friday. “She [the officer] did look, and she couldn’t find it,” he said.
He said when Corn called the shelter on Friday, a staff member said when a dog is hit by a car, it usually will lie still for a while and then run away.
Corn said she went to the shelter Saturday to ask why no one had picked up the dog. She said Assistant Animal Shelter Supervisor Lou Cordeiro told her unless she left the shelter immediately, he would have her arrested. “She became loud and aggressive and he felt that he wasn’t being allowed to respond,” Burke said.
“I was nice,” said Corn, 60, who suffers from osteoarthritis and walks with a cane. “I’m not a troublemaker.”
Asked why no one had picked up the carcass Monday, Burke said the dog died on the William Floyd Estate, a national park, outside the town’s jurisdiction. “Whether it’s federal property or not,” he said, “our people are going to go and meet with the park guys and get rid of the poor thing.”
Corn said she thought it was a shame the owners of the dog, which had no collar, may never know their pet’s fate. “I gave him a name, Brownie,” she said. “He has to have a name.” (Newsday.com)
Someone explain to me why no one tried to contact Ms. corn who went out of her way to do what she could for this poor dog? She would have taken them to the dog. If the dog was beyond saving then at least it could have passed humanely and without suffering.
Check out some of the comments this story received.
From James Webster
They could not find the dog. Bull! Animal control could have called the police. Animal Control could have contacted the person who filed the complaint(Corn). Animal Control could have gotten off their dead rear-end and did their job. Animal control could have asked for aditional help from the humane society
The balled of Brownie
From IMHO
The Brookhaven Animal Shelter should fire the ENTIRE heartless staff it employs.
I was sitting in the waiting room once for a walk-through and listened to customer after customer come in and be treated like dirt by the receptionists.
One man came in to drop off a stray cat that he had found loitering around his yard for weeks and tried to attack his grandson. They told him verbatum “It’s not our problem and we can’t accept that cat here. It’s considered YOUR cat now. Good luck.” He than said saracstically “OK. My only other option is to kill it then. Thanks for your help.” And started to walk out…the receptionist reply? “Next.”
They belittled a crying woman who came in looking for her lost dog. They loudly and embarassingly yelled at her to sit down like she was a 4 year old.
From Danielle
This isn’t the first time that they strike. Novemeber of last year, while driving down the William Floyd parkway, me and my friend discovered an injured black poodle. When we pulled over, the dog started coming towards us, and this healthy, large, black poodle had obviously been hit by a car and injured. I called 911 when I was unable to get through to the animal control number. SCPD assured me that they would send a patrol car out along with animal control as soon as possible. I called back after 30 minutes of waiting on the side of the william floyd parkway, and was told the animal shelter was going to respond. After an additional 20 minutes, I wrapped the now shaking dog, in a blanket from my trunk, and placed it in the backseat with my friend. I drove the 15 miles to a 24 hour vet, and explained to the tech what was going on. In the light, I could see the kind of damage that was done to the dog. I left the vet a copy of all our information, and we went on our way. 45 miutes had passed and I was filling up my car at a gas station when my phone rang at now 4am. It was the police department calling on behalf of the animal shelter, asking where we were with the dog. I informed the police dispatcher where the dog now was. Well over an hour and a half, after they were told of an injured dog on the side of a major highway, they responded.
The purpose of being an animal shelter is to help these animals. Grant it, I know you get a lot of bogus calls, but comeon.
The dog could have been given pain management of euthanasia, but instead, your lazy workers brushed by the area, just to say that the animal took off. Its ridiculous. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Sounds to me like this shelter has some serious problems that need to be addressed ASAP! No one, human or animal should ever have to be treated the way they treat them!! And this is what people’s tax dollars go to support?? Sounds like the public needs to raise some serious hell here and not just over this one horrendous and inexcusable incident, but over everything about this shelter and those in its employ!!
I intend to keep my eye on these folks. I hate to say it but too many little towns across this country have shelters and employees just like ‘this’. How disturbing is that? Very. Many employees are of low intelligence and thought this would be a neater or easier job than working at the local corner 7-11…some either don’t like or have had their fill of dogs and many have the dreaded ‘burnout’ which in effect can materialize in a deadening of emotion. The majority are hired more by nepotism than having any relevant qualifications. And they all have a major little ‘rule’ and that is “if it ain’t my territory I ain’t picking it up”. I believe this woman totally that they were rude and threatened to throw her out of the building or bullied her to get off of their premises…this is also common. Most of these places are funded through county monies given annually because they are the ‘only show in town’. It is high time the public starting giving a whit and doing something about these hell holes.
Couldn’t agree more, Caroline! I would love to see something actually done about this pathetic situation but I have the sad feeling it will either be glossed over or just ignored which happens far too often in our society when it comes to animals and to facilities run with funding that comes out of tax-payers pockets!
Damn this story makes me angry. There can not be anything more IMPORTANT than helping an animal in pain. Their sense of priorities are skewed. I would call the City and the County offices and raise holy hell.