The Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RISPCA) euthanized a 4-year-old German shepherd named Alfie after deeming him “dangerously aggressive.”

It is exactly what such organizations are supposed to prevent from happening. The incident has led to threats of a lawsuit stemming from another organization.

They had tried to adopt Alfie.

So, you can imagine their feeling when they found out he’d been put down.

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While volunteering with the RISPCA, Kaela-Rose Gentile met Alfie, a German shepherd who’d had a rough life.

“He had such a hard life and he showed such resilience. His ability to learn to trust humans again was amazing. He was inspiring,” she later said to the Providence Journal.

Alfie had been abused by his previous owner.

He had suffered from malnutrition and had even once been stabbed by the person who was supposed to care for him.

The abuse Alfie had endured traumatized him so much that he would sit in a corner and urinate upon hearing someone call out his name while at the shelter.

He was surrendered to the RISPCA by police after his owner had stabbed him. Unfortunately, it turned out that was a very unsafe place for Alfie to be as well.

Alfie was adopted but it didn’t work.

Upon being adopted by a new family, Alfie reportedly showed aggressive behavior and was returned to the RISPCA.

It was then that Earl Newman, an agent with the shelter, determined that Alfie fit the legal definition of a “vicious dog” under Rhode Island law.

He would later tell the media that they were unable to re-home him.

“I agree with everyone who thinks it’s a tragic ending. It is,” Newman said. “It was clear that we would not be able to place him. … We exhausted every option that we had, morally and legally.”

This meant that RISPCA would schedule him to be put down.

Newman’s claim that they exhausted every option is being heavily disputed, however, most notably by another organization that offered to take the dog in.

Gentile posts to social media in an attempt to save Alfie.

Alfie was scheduled to be put down the following day, which led to Gentile frantically posting to social media to help save the German shepherd.

When James Lamonte, founder of the K9 PTSD Center in Seekonk, became aware of the situation he offered to adopt the dog. He would later say that his attempts were denied by the RISPCA, however.

“This center was built specifically to keep what happened to Alfie from happening,” Lamonte said. “He needed treatment. They denied him care. I never thought I’d be fighting a rescue to save a dog,”

Lamonte is hoping to file suit against the RISPCA.

“They failed Alfie. All they had to do was hit pause,” Lamonte continued.

Gentile disputes that Alfie was aggressive.

Gentile would later say that she never saw Alfie being aggressive. She also lost her position with the organization for posting about Alfie on social media.

“Essentially, I was fired for trying to tap into the community to save this dog. [The center] was the perfect place,” said Gentile.

Despite numerous attempts to find a solution that would not result in Alfie being put down, he was euthanized as scheduled.

Had the RISPCA just waited to hear more from Lamonte, this situation could have been avoided. How did an organization created to prevent cruelty to animals fail so miserably?

“This is exactly the type of dog my facility was designed to treat,” Lamonte continued. “I was told that he was an awesome dog and had no history of aggression or biting at the shelter. Yet, they had attempted to re-home him, and it was unsuccessful, and they simply gave up.”

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Source: The Providence Journal/Press Reader/WPRI