A Newburgh woman says the city euthanized her family dog after she could not afford the fees to get the pet back, a case that has sparked a strong reaction across the Hudson Valley. The city, for its part, says the dog had a documented bite history and that a judge had ordered the animal to be put down, offering a different account of how the decision came about.
Lisa Diedrich says she was given an impossible choice: pay thousands of dollars or lose her beloved 12-year-old family pit bull, Luna. She described how the situation snowballed from what began as a small incident into the loss of a pet that had been part of her family for years, leaving her devastated by the outcome.
According to Diedrich, her two dogs, Luna and Onyx, got out last month through a broken door. By the time she turned around, she says, the dogs had gotten into a minor tussle with another dog in the neighborhood, and the owner of that dog was scratched during the encounter before the animals were separated.
Both of Diedrich's dogs were taken by City of Newburgh Animal Control after the incident. She says she could only afford to pay hundreds of dollars in fees, which was enough to get Onyx back, but not enough to secure the release of Luna, who was ultimately euthanized while in the city's custody as the dispute over the fees continued.
Diedrich stopped short of defending the dogs' behavior, but questioned whether the outcome was fair. Now I'm not saying it's right, she said, adding that she did not think anybody should have paid their life for it. She has framed the loss of Luna as a punishment far out of proportion to what she describes as a minor incident.
The city points to a different set of circumstances, saying the dog had a documented history of biting and that the decision to euthanize it came by way of a judge's order. The competing accounts, one from a grieving owner and one from city officials, have resonated across the Hudson Valley and drawn strong reactions from people following the case.