SHENANDOAH COUNTY, VA (Rocktown Now) — The Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office is promising to improve procedures following a recent animal control incident.

According to Major Kolter Stroop, the SCSO received a call on March 25th, regarding what appeared to be a critically wounded stray dog on the caller’s property.

After several failed attempts to determine the owner, officers had the dog euthanized, sparking outcry on social media.

Sheriff Tim Carter acknowledged in a recent YouTube post that more should have been done to identify the owner before the decision to euthanize the dog was made.

“I genuinely believe that the owner loved and cared for his dog, and I’m deeply sorry for the family’s loss,” Carter said. “Moving forward, we’re committed to ensuring that similar situations are handled with the utmost care and diligence to prevent such an outcome.”

Carter added that the case has led the SCSO to implement changes to their animal control procedures.