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Denver kills 36 pit bulls

Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 22, 2006 at midnight

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Tami Bishop lost her fight to keep three-dozen pit bulls alive when the owner of the dogs gave them up to avoid jail.

The dogs were euthanized Thursday night after Denver Animal Control received a court order to put the dogs down, the shelter’s executive director, Doug Kelley, said Friday.

The dogs’ owner, Michael Padilla, entered into a plea agreement that would keep him out of jail. He also signed over ownership of the pooches to the city.

"I’d end up going to jail and still not getting the dogs back," Padilla said Friday. "I didn’t have no choice. I got a family to feed and bills to pay. They steam-rolled me."

Kelley said the dogs had to be euthanized because it was Padilla’s second pit bull offense in Denver where the breed is banned.

But Bishop argued the city misinterpreted its dog ordinance and had other choices, including her offer to transport the pit bulls out of state — with her own money.

She was on a plane Friday afternoon and unaware that the dogs, including 13 puppies, had been killed. She only knew that the pit bulls were no longer at the shelter, she said in a voicemail message.

On May 29, 38 pit bulls owned by Padilla were seized from a home in Denver. Padilla said he was moving from Texas to a new home in Adams County but stopped in Denver to pick up and move his ill mother.

Neighbors complained the dogs were barking and crammed into cages on the property.

Padilla was cited for cruelty to animals, animal neglect and violating Denver’s pit bull ban. The dogs were removed from his care, and two were put down because of illness.

Padilla was also convicted in 2002 for having a pit bull in Denver. At that time, Padilla signed an affidavit promising not to bring pit bulls back into the city. If he did, the dogs may be euthanized, according to the document.

And that’s what happened Thursday, when they were given a fatal dose of sodium barbitol, which costs the city between $30 and $45 a bottle.

"I feel like I let the dogs down," Padilla said. "I feel really guilty. My whole family is sick over it.

"The law needs to be changed. This is ridiculous."

Padilla was given a 90-day suspended jail sentence and a fine of $500, which was also suspended. He’ll be on probation for one year. If he receives anything other than a traffic violation, he’ll be sent to jail, according to the terms of the plea agreement.

Kelley said his employees are shaken up by the loss of the dogs. But he also said that it’s a relief because the dogs were there "way too long."

"This is a really difficult thing for the staff," he said. "It tugs at your emotions. It’s a tough day for everybody."

Padilla disagrees, saying that he believes the city was set on killing his dogs, which were said to have a sweet disposition.

"That’s how sick these people are," he said of the city and its pit bull ordinance. "They were happy to kill my dogs."

Padilla said he’s looking into suing the city.