MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – The City of Midland apologized after a local woman says the shelter euthanized her dog, and now a local organization is stressing the importance of microchipping your pet.

“There’s been an outbreak at the shelter and so a lot of the animals have been separated whenever they come in and we had an unfortunate situation where an animal was exposed to that and had to be put down and I think that is very unfortunate, I have met with the pet owner directly and apologized and just really helped her talk through the grieving process we are also going to be taking an urn to her and we apologize on behalf of the city and the animal shelter,” said Tommy Gonzalez, Midland City Manager.

Since the pet was not microchipped, the shelter could not contact the owner.

Fix West Texas, a local veterinary organization, is now stressing the importance of microchipping your pet.

“Because of the whole situation that happened with Luna at the Midland Animal Shelter we are holding a pay what you can afford microchips for the rest of this month in honor of her and in hopes we can prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. I think microchipping is super important it is the first line of defense on getting a pet home whenever they get out, get lost, so I think its super super important for everyone to know how important it is and how easy it is the process only takes about you know you come in and we can do it with vaccinations it’s just like a 20 second process and that’s something that lasts a lifetime and will ensure that your pet is safe,” said Katlyn Walthall, Fix West Texas Director of Funding.

For those interested in getting your pet microchipped, Fix West Texas is hosting a vaccine clinic everyday at 10am through Saturday, August 19th.

More information can be found on the Fix West Texas website.