Dog Euthanized After 'Savagely' Mauling Volunteer At Animal Shelter In North Haven

NORTH HAVEN, CT — A dog that recently attacked a volunteer at The Animal Haven shelter in North Haven was humanely euthanized Wednesday, officials announced with “terribly heavy hearts.”

The dog, Sarge, jumped at the volunteer and “savagely mauled her face,” the shelter said in a previous statement. The volunteer survived the attack but underwent reconstructive surgery and will likely need one or two additional surgeries, according to the shelter.

The unprovoked attack left the volunteer with “level 5 bites to her face (the highest level short of death),” the shelter said in an update on Wednesday.

The shelter said that after “consulting veterinarians, animal behaviorists and animal control, we concluded that euthanasia was necessary.”

Sarge’s behavior was described as “pathologically abnormal” and “untreatable and unrehabilitatable,” according to the shelter.

The Animal Haven is a no-kill, non-profit animal shelter located at 89 Mill Rd. in North Haven, and officials said the decision to euthanize Sarge was “one of the hardest, if not the hardest, decisions we have ever had to make in The Animal Haven’s 77 years of saving cats and dogs.”

Read The Animal Haven’s full statement below:

It is with terribly heavy hearts that we are informing the public that we had to have Sarge humanely euthanized today.

After consulting veterinarians, animal behaviorists and animal control, we concluded that euthanasia was necessary. Sarge’s unprovoked attack on our volunteer resulted in level 5 bites to her face (the highest level short of death). Sarge’s behavior was described as “pathologically abnormal” and “untreatable and unrehabilitatable.” Given that, the possibility that Sarge would again attack and severely injure another human being was far too great to responsibly and ethically be ignored.

As much as we would have loved to have simply transferred Sarge to another facility, we could not do so without endangering others and exposing them to very significant risk. And of course, Sarge certainly could not be safely fostered in someone’s home, as was suggested by some people. We therefore had to make one of the hardest, if not the hardest, decisions we have ever had to make in The Animal Haven’s 77 years of saving cats and dogs.

We understand that many people will be very upset with this outcome. We can only hope that they can understand, at least a little, the horrible dilemma that we were in, and that all of us at The Animal Haven are extraordinarily upset with this outcome. We knew and loved Sarge and greatly mourn his passing.

We also know that a group of people, who claim to love animals but, apparently, are intent on destroying The Animal Haven, will continue to speak ill of and defame us. They will spread more lies on social media, as they have been doing now for months. They will probably picket at the shelter again and continue to threaten the safety and lives of our staff, volunteers and animals. All we can say to every one of them is that our dedicated staff and volunteers will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of homeless and abandoned cats and dogs and ensure that The Animal Haven is here for animals in need forever.

We also want to clarify that despite having to make this very devastating and painful decision, The Animal Haven remains a no-kill shelter. As Best Friends Animal Society’s definition of no-kill says, “The no-kill philosophy acknowledges that euthanasia may sometimes be an appropriate choice in rare cases of irremediable canine aggression in which public safety cannot be reasonably assured and other interventions would compromise the animal’s quality of life.” https://bestfriends.org/no-kill-2025/what-does-no-kill-mean.

Our hearts go out to our friend and volunteer who was severely hurt by Sarge and to her family during this very difficult time.