BALTIMORE — Jamesha Cruz was nervous to place her trust in a pet sitter from the popular app, Rover, for the first time. She left for a cruise the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
"The day that I left I sent a message and was like, 'I'm literally having a hard time, I'm breaking down because I'm just leaving them in your care, and I'm going to be gone for so many days. This is the longest I've been without my Rocket and Jet," Cruz told us.
Her worst fears would eventually come true. On Tuesday, while on board a ship with very limited cell phone service, she learned her dog, Jet, had been missing since the night before. The Rover sitter said he got loose. Cruz couldn't get a flight back home until Thursday.
So her family put up flyers in the area where he was last seen, and checked the local shelters. As soon as Cruz got back to Baltimore, she put feet to the pavement.
"I had a bullhorn, walking up and down all the blocks and screaming into the bullhorn just everything that I would say to him - 'Jet, Jet, let's go get Rocket,' his brother," Cruz said.
A neighbor told her that a dog matching Jet's description was hit by a car and killed that Monday, the same day he apparently got loose.
"So my sister and my family went the entire week searching for my Jet," Cruz said, fighting back tears.
Cruz was told by witnesses the accident happened on North Avenue. An employee at Carey Hardware tells her he picked her dog up out of the middle of the street, and held him until an animal control officer arrived.
"I showed him pictures and he just broke down and he's just like, I'm so sorry. I did; I stayed with your dog," Cruz said.
Cruz says the worst part is not having closure. She wasn't given the chance to identify Jet.
Baltimore Animal Control picked him up and took him to BARCS. But Cruz says his chip was never scanned before he was cremated,.
"There has to be a better process. This pain that I'm feeling inside, I can't even describe to you. [...] Thursday I was supposed to pick up both of my dogs. And I picked up one," Cruz said.
BARCS says, "for animals that are already deceased when picked up by Animal Control, BARCS has no involvement in those protocols. Those deceased animals are entered into Animal Control's database and placed directly into the shared freezer here on the shelter’s property for cremation. [...] Per Maryland law, stray animals without identification are held for 72 hours. In the case of unidentified deceased animals, the outcome is cremation."
When a private citizen brings a deceased animal to the shelter, BARCS does have protocols to check for a microchip.
Below is the full statement from BARCS:
"BARCS is a private nonprofit organization, that holds an annual operating agreement with Baltimore City Animal Control/Baltimore City Health Department but is not a municipal entity. Under that agreement, BARCSoperates the sheltering and provides medical care to animals who arrive through Animal Control that are alive. However, for animals that are already deceased when picked up by Animal Control, BARCS has no involvement in those protocols. Those deceased animals are entered into Animal Control's database and placed directly into the shared freezer here on the shelter’s property for cremation.
The misunderstanding that BARCS did not follow protocols is likely because, if a private citizen brings a deceased animal directly to the shelter, BARCS does have protocols to check for a microchip and take a photo for our records.
In the case of Jet, his remains and paperwork would have all been processed directly through Animal Control on Monday. Per Maryland law, stray animals without identification are held for 72 hours. In the case of unidentified deceased animals, the outcome is cremation. The cremation company picked up Jet’s unidentified remains on Thursday. Unfortunately, a representative from Jet’s family did not visit the shelter until Friday, so there was no way for BARCS or Animal Control to identify Jet and change his cremation process.
During that Friday visit, the Cruz family representative showed a photo of Jet to BARCS’ staff. Because BARCS had no involvement, as mentioned above, or record of the case, an Animal Control officer was called to our public lobby to assist. At that time, the Animal Control Officer said that Jet did resemble a deceased dog they picked up on Monday.
All of us at BARCS are pet owners and understand the importance of closure. We are incredibly sorry that Ms. Cruz lost her beloved dog in such a tragic way and sympathize with her pain."
The Baltimore City Health Department, which oversees the Office of Animal Control, tells us although it followed current protocols, it will change those protocols going forward to prevent this from happening again:
“First, the Baltimore City Health Department’s Office of Animal Control offers our thoughts to Ms. Cruz and Jet. Above all, our staff is motivated by our love of animals and the way that pets enrich our lives. On Monday November 27, we picked up a deceased dog. In following protocol, we brought him to the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter. On Thursday, the dog was picked up for cremation. Because the dog was deceased, he was not scanned for a microchip, which also followed protocol. Unfortunately, because Ms. Cruz was out of the city, Animal Control was not asked to check for a microchip in the deceased dog before his cremation. However, to avoid such a situation from happening again, Animal Control will change our protocol to always check for a microchip whether a pet is deceased or alive and whether Animal Control is in touch with a pet owner or not.”
Rover sent us the following statement:
At Rover, most of us are pet parents, and we were heartbroken to learn of Jet’s passing. Our hearts go out to all who loved him.
Throughout this deeply upsetting experience, our 24/7 Trust and Safety team worked diligently to support the Cruz family. We paid for flyers to be hung up, offered a reward, posted on online lost pet channels which also contacted local animal shelters, and reached out to local pet sitters asking them to assist in the search. We fully refunded Ms. Cruz’s service and removed the pet sitter from our community.
Safety [rover.com] is at the heart of everything we do to support our community of pets, pet parents, and care providers. We understand the deep trust millions of pet parents have placed in our platform and work hard every day to continue earning that trust.
Before booking a service, we encourage pet parents to contact several potential pet sitters to ensure the booking is the right fit for everyone. We also recommend that pet parents and sitters have a mutual understanding of the pet’s personality and behavior, including if they’ve previously tried to escape a home. We recommend pet parents share detailed expectations for care, including their pet’s unique needs, routines, and other information the sitter should know in order to provide safe and loving care.
In the Baltimore area, over 350,00 services have been booked through Rover, with 97% of reviewed stays receiving a five-star review."
