Wake County dog killed at doggie-daycare; I-Team exposes kennel wrongdoing
CARY, North Carolina (WTVD) -- The ABC11 I-Team has uncovered a state investigation exposing wrongdoing at a popular and high-end dog kennel, in the wake of a dog attack that killed another dog.
"You feel when she's not here. That emptiness. That hole in the family," said Nancy Sullivan, a Cary resident whose dog died in the attack.
On February 3, 2017, Sullivan's Norfolk Terrier, Amber, was attacked and killed by a rescue dog named Dubie, at Camp Canine in Cary.
"I can't imagine how terrified she must've been to have something of that size coming at her," said Sullivan.
An investigation by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services determined Amber and other dogs "were unsupervised in the exercise area at the time of the attack".
Investigators concluded Camp Canine was in violation of a state regulation requiring supervision.
Three days after Amber's death, state investigators discovered Camp Canine violating regulations for dog supervision again and fined the kennel $750. Camp Canine did not contest the findings and paid the fine.
"If they'd had supervision in the play yard with these dogs, my dog wouldn't be dead, because somebody would've been there to intervene," said Sullivan in response to the state findings.
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A former Camp Canine worker, Mike Fauls, agrees with Sullivan's assessment.
"If that door had latched properly and if they had had an actual latch on the gate, Dubie would not have gotten out into the general population with the dogs. Had there been more people working it wouldn't have happened, said Fauls, who has since been fired from Camp Canine.
Suzanne Keeys has owned Camp Canine for 21 years. She took the I-Team on a tour, showing us where Dubie pushed open a door and got through a gate with a bungee cord.
"A latch was broken at the time and it had a bungee cord on it, it's since been fixed," said Keeys.
She initially agreed to sit down and answer our questions in an on-camera interview, but then backed out.
In an email to Camp Canine members after Amber's death, Keeys wrote: the staff was "shocked and saddened" by this tragic event" and the "safety of your pets is our top priority".
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Nancy Sullivan wanted the I-Team to tell her story, so this never happens again.
"People need to know that when you're taking your dog to the kennel this can happen, it happened to my dog, it's one dog too many and there was really no reason for her to die," said Sullivan.
