Those claims turned out to be true.
The results of the investigation have been released, and 92 dangerous dogs were adopted to new families. Michael Riordan, chief operations officer for the City of Albuquerque, is the head of the Tiger Team, which conducted the investigation.
The reason they're doing this is because they have employees who feel sorry for certain dog breeds and/or they want to keep their "kill" numbers down.
Riordan said they sent letters to the families that adopted the dogs and heard back from 50 of them. None reported any problems with the animals, and they all wanted to keep them.
But shortly after allegations about the dangerous dog adoptions surfaced, Target 7 found city records that showed 51 dangerous dogs were euthanized at city shelters.
"We had some staff that were putting dogs on euthanasia lists that didn't deserve to be there because of how they did on their (safety) test. It's an animal that could've been worked with," said Riordan.
Riordan said the main reason staff members and volunteers were making so many mistakes is because there were no clear-cut procedures on how to handle dangerous dogs. Now everyone will get training to make sure it does not happen again.
Riordan said the Tiger Team is working to strengthen Angel's Law. It is a city ordinance passed 10 years ago that provides criteria on what a dangerous dog is and what the city can do with a dog that is identified as dangerous.
Riordan said the current law is restrictive, because it is very difficult for the city to seize animals that have committed a dangerous act. The Tiger Team plans to work with the court system to make it easier to seize dangerous dogs when they attack.
They are also working to determine if more insurance is needed by homeowners with dangerous dogs. The current requirement is at least $100,000.
(KOAT Albuquerque - June 25, 2015)
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