Statements concerning the execution of a decision to euthanise a dog despite an appeal

The County Administrative Board decided that a dog should be euthanised and the decision should apply with immediate effect. The decision was appealed by the dog’s owner. The day after the County Administrative Board had submitted the appeal to the Administrative Court, the Board instructed the kennels to euthanise the dog. On the same day, the Administrative Court decided that the appealed decision would be temporarily suspended (stay of execution), but notice of this did not reach the shelter before the dog had been euthanised.

According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, in order to ensure that the right to appeal the decision to euthanise the dog was not undermined, the County Administrative Board should have considered carefully whether the execution of the decision should be postponed as a result of the appeal, at least until the Administrative Court had had the opportunity to take a position on the question of suspending the decision. If the County Administrative Board had then found that the circumstances were such that it was not possible to wait for this, the grounds for that assessment should have been documented. The Parliamentary Ombudsman states that it is not clear from the case documentation whether the County Administrative Board gave any special consideration in that respect, which, according to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, constitutes a shortcoming.