Pet owners grieving after pup killed and taken to landfill
By Kristen Consillio
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WAIANAE, Hawaii (KITV) — For Patricia Corpuz and Cole Smith, their puppy Mila was their whole world.
“She was our velcro dog,” the couple said. “It’s very heartbreaking for us.”
Mila was hit by a car this week while the couple were working after getting loose in Waianae.
They later found out her body was taken to the Waimanalo landfill by the state Department of Transportation. She wasn’t wearing her collar and considered a stray.
“They just treated her like a bag of trash, they picked her up and threw her in the landfill,” Smith said.
“We wouldn’t even want to think about her being alive when they bagged her up and buried her in the landfill,” Corpuz added. “We don’t know if she was dead. We just hope and pray that it was quick.”
The couple said DOT workers did not scan Mila to see if she was microchipped.
“It just baffles me because I’m like our puppy there’s no way somebody with common sense, excuse me, would’ve thought she was a stray,” Corpuz said.
Mila was like a child to the military couple.
“Now like… she’s gone for life, and I can’t ever forgive myself for that,” she said.
They created a petition that has hundreds of signatures so far in hopes of changing rules so that pets are scanned and can be reunited with their families.
“We don’t even know where she’s buried at this point. We just wanted her body with us at least. She’s an extension of our family. We wanted that closure by taking her home,” the couple said.
State Rep. Darius Kila said he’s asking DOT leaders to see if staff can be equipped with scanners.
“Unfortunately, right now they don’t have the equipment to actually scan some of these animals,” he said. “And it just hurts. The one time that we have the instance of family trying to claim their animal. It just, it’s not, it’s not able to happen or occur.”
The couple hope no other family feels the same pain.
“There’s five to 10 minutes of identifying the dog, it’s gonna affect them for five minutes,” Smith said. “But for me and my wife, we’re gonna deal with this for the rest of our lives.”
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