A blind and deaf Long Island woman lost her beloved guide dog after a trainer left the pooch in a hot van for over five hours, according to reports.
Michelle Krupa told CBS New York that Labrador retriever Milton was her “guardian angel.”
“He was next to me all the time,” Krupa said. “I’m so sad because I just don’t know how I’m going to go on without him.”
Staff at the Guide Dog Foundation told Krupa the three-year-old black lab was left in the van from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, July 22, when temperatures registered over 90 degrees, the report said.
The heartbroken dog mom told WPIX-11 she spent 15 years looking for the right pooch before the non-profit Guide Dog Foundation found Milton.
Trainers employed by the foundation had planned to take him out for a walk on the day he died, but plans changed and they forgot they’d brought Milton to the car, Krupa said.
“It was hot. Plans got changed. And they left him in the van like he was going to go out,” she told the station.
“They said that they thought nothing like this could ever happen. And that’s the problem. You can’t rely on humans to be perfect when they’re not.”
Her “furious” husband Tom took to Facebook to mourn the impact the dog’s death will have on his wife.
“He was more than a guide dog, he was a part of our family. He was Michelle’s outlet to the outside world, and my pet,” Tom Krupa wrote.
“He gave Michelle the ability to go out without reservation, and have confidence both in herself and in the world that he was protecting her. Now he’s gone, and although it was a tragic accident, she again faces the world and alone,” he continued.
“Milton, I may not have told you often enough, but I and we love you. Rest In Peace my good boy, someday we’ll see you again.”
The Krupas will likely get their next guide dog from the same organization — which said in a statement that is has “been taking immediate steps to review this tragic event to mitigate the potential of this ever happening again.”
