Dog fatally mauls animal shelter volunteer in Florida
A Florida animal shelter volunteer was killed Thursday by the dog she was trying to help acclimate to humans.
Pam Robb, 71, a more than 6-year volunteer with 100+ Abandoned Dogs of Everglades Florida, was fatally mauled Thursday morning when Gladys, a more than 100-pound mixed-breed, attacked, Robb’s wife, Angie Anobile told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Gladys, who had been brought to the center just weeks earlier, latched onto the arm of Robb, who thought she’d been making progress with the dog.
“She was one of the few that the dog resonated with. She was just starting to build trust with the dog,” Anobile told the outlet.
But on Thursday, that rapport seemed to go out the window when Gladys — who was first found near a canal full of alligators on Jan. 18 — proceeded to drag Robb to the ground.
Private investigator and animal activist Ana Campos told the paper there were some red flags for her in the way the organization conducted the rescue of Gladys, which she saw in a 48-minute-long video posted to its Facebook page.
“I had concerns about basic safety protocols being ignored,” Campos told the Sentinel, noting that the video did not show people using safety equipment like bite sleeves during the rescue nor after.
The fatality is, according to Michele Lazarow, animal advocate and a Hallandale Beach city commissioner, the first issue the center has had with any of its thousands of rescues.
“If this was an incident that happens regularly with rescues, then everybody would have been on high alert,” Lazarow told the paper. “This is not something people expect.”
For Anobile, she’s just happy that Robb “did what she loved doing right until the end.”
“Her greatest joy was having these dogs respond to human contact, and I don’t blame anybody. It was a tragic accident, but I do blame people who abuse animals, who don’t love them like they should be loved,” Anobile told the Sentinel.
