An Illinois dog owner is grieving what he described as an unimaginable loss after his cherished pet was allegedly left inside a daycare van for the entire day.
Steve Serota told the Daily Mail that Miller, his six-year-old black Labrador, was taken to Waggles Pet Resort on the morning of September 2.
The father of three said Miller was picked up at about 9am, just as he normally was, but roughly seven hours later, his wife received a devastating call from the doggy day care.
At around 4pm, Serota said Ross Miehaus, the owner of the pet resort, told the family that Miller had been left in the van all day and had died.
‘I’m dumbstruck,’ the heartbroken father said. ‘How is this possible?’
Serota said temperatures reached 97 degrees outside, making it one of the hottest days his neighborhood had seen all year.
He rushed to the facility, where he said Miller’s body was still locked in a crate inside the van.
After seeing what he considered a member of his family lying dead, the father took a moment to sit with Miller in the back of the vehicle.
Miller, his six-year-old black Labrador, died on September 2 after he was allegedly left in a van
Steve Serota told the Daily Mail that he was at work when he found out his dog had died while in the care of Waggles Pet Resort
Serota said he was given no explanation as to how his dog was left to die in the scorching heat and was dumbfounded by how employees could have missed him.
‘I mean, as you can imagine, it’s just heart-wrenching. But the most unbelievable part is that he was in the first crate,’ Serota said.
‘You open the van door and you’re staring right at him. This is a 110-pound black Lab. You see him the moment you open the door.’
The Daily Mail reached out to Waggles for comment on Miller’s death. In a statement, the company said it was devastated by the tragedy.
‘We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Miller, a dog who died after being left in one of our chauffeur service vehicles,’ the statement read.
‘This should never have happened, and our hearts are with Miller’s family as they grieve the loss of their beloved companion.’
Ross Miehaus, the owner of the pet day care, was arrested Thursday after turning himself in to police on a charge of cruel treatment of animals, according to ABC 7.
The company said it was ‘taking what happened extremely seriously.’
Serota said temperatures reached 97 degrees outside on the day Miller was killed, making it one of the hottest days his neighborhood had seen all year
‘At this time, we are temporarily pausing our chauffeur service while we evaluate steps to help prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again,’ the statement read.
The pet resort has remained open for business, leaving Serota bewildered.
‘I’ve been in healthcare for a long time, and when something happens or something goes wrong, you do an immediate RCA, root cause analysis,’ the father said.
‘You look at where the failures occurred, and you make sure that you put absolute safeguards in place before you ever take responsibility for another life. And to my knowledge, none of that happened.’
Waggles said it is limited in what it can publicly discuss because of the pending legal matter.
‘We understand the sadness, anger and concern this tragedy has caused within our community. We share that heartbreak. Miller was loved, he mattered, and his loss has affected all of us deeply,’ the company said.
‘Because there is now a pending legal matter, we are limited in what we can say publicly about the specific circumstances surrounding Miller’s death. But that limitation does not diminish our sorrow, our sympathy for Miller’s family, or our commitment to learn from this tragedy going forward.’
Ross Miehaus, the owner of the pet day care, was arrested Thursday after turning himself in to police on a charge of cruel treatment of animals. Waggles remains open for business and told the Daily Mail they were limited on what they could comment on due to pending litigation
Serota said Miller was like a brother to his three children and a big dog with an even bigger personality.
The father said the unexpected nature of his dog’s death has been the hardest part for his family to cope with.
‘When you have a dog, and we had a dog before Miller named Duffy, when a dog lives a full, happy life and they die, there is a life-cycle conversation you can have with your kids,’ Serota said.
‘But this wasn’t that, right? This was completely unexpected. This was completely unnecessary. It’s just tragic.’
Serota said he wants to speak publicly about what happened to Miller in hopes of preventing a similar tragedy from happening to someone else’s pet.
‘We can’t let this moment pass without enacting some real change to ensure that other dogs don’t suffer the same fate,’ he said.