LEXINGTON, N.C. – A Lexington family is devastated after their family dog was mistakenly euthanized.

• Almost a week ago, the Varker family’s dog, Blaze, bit a member of their extended family.
• Blaze wasn’t up to date on his rabies vaccinations, and Animal Control told the family to bring him to Davidson County Animal Shelter.
• When they came back to check on Blaze, the director informed the family that their dog had been euthanized by mistake.

Almost a week ago, the Varker family’s dog, Blaze, bit a member of their extended family. Blaze wasn’t up to date on his rabies vaccinations, and Animal Control told the family to bring him to Davidson County Animal Shelter.

The full-blooded blue heeler was going to be quarantined until he was confirmed to be rabies free.

The family came back to check on Blaze and realized that the dog the shelter had listed as their dog was not Blaze.

“They first go back to his kennel and take a picture and come back and show me the dog, and it’s not my dog,” Rhea Varker, Blaze’s owner, said.

The Davidson County Animal Shelter brought Varker back to the kennels to see if she could find her dog. After searching, the director informed Varker that they had accidentally euthanized her dog Saturday.

“We had some limited paperwork that we have before we actually input dogs into our intake system. We were in that interim phase over the weekend and this dog just got mistakenly misplaced," Casey Smith, assistant county manager, said.

Smith said they are coming up with new ways to differentiate the dogs, so this doesn’t happen in the future.

The shelter offered the family $300 and another dog to bring home with them.

“They could offer us $10,000 and that’s not going to bring our dog back,” Varker said.

The family has reported their situation to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, who is currently investigating.