Animal control procedures

The handling of Lucy as a stray dog didn't ring true. If I understood what happened correctly, the dog came into the pound as a stray and, the same day, was taken into a foster home. That is not the way things are done. By law, stray animals must be held at the pound for a set number of days (the least amount of time I've ever heard of is 48 hrs. in NYC) in order to give the owner a chance to claim it. After the legally mandated holding period is up, the shelter can do what it thinks best with the animal - euthanasia or an opportunity for adoption if it is healthy, temperamentally acceptable, and young enough. The only exceptions I can think of would be if the animal is terribly ill or injured, in which case, it might be removed to a veterinary office. The animal does not belong to the pound until the holding period is up, so they can't just send it out to foster until then.

Certainly, if Lucy had come into the pound and, against the law, been sent out to foster that same day, there would have been a record in the log book of both her admission into the facility and the specifics as to how she was disposed of. It is, of course, true that shelters are notorious for not keeping accurate records, considering the volume of animals they handle. But I do think the shelter clerk in this case would have seen some notation in the records when Wendy came looking for Lucy, considering it was the very next morning after Lucy was brought to the pound. And this worker, unlike many pound employees, did seem at least minimally sympathetic and appeared to seriously consult her records.