An Oklahoma City woman was arrested after she broke into the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare and took off with her pit bull. Toya Stewart said she broke into the animal shelter on Monday, February 14, to save her dog Hazel which was just hours away from being euthanized.
The woman was arrested for burglary/ breaking and entering along with vandalism of property offenses but was later released from jail on Friday, February 18. Toya told KFOR that she was trying to save her best friend Hazel from dying after the court ordered to euthanize the “dangerous” dog.
“She doesn’t deserve it and they knew that I loved her,” Stewart said. “Why would you kill somebody that somebody loved so much?” Pit bulls have had a lot of bad press, many states have banned pit bulls and some insurance policies and housing options also exclude them.
Earlier it was popular to breed pit bulls for their power and aggression. Brutal stories about their fights and attacks by the media have created a bad reputation for dogs labeled as pit bulls.
Toya got Hazel when the dog was just two months old and was her service dog throughout an abusive relationship and when she became homeless. “She helped me through a lot. She protected me through this relationship and protected me through life,” Toya said.
“Ms. Stewart’s dog came into us on October 4, 2021. She came in due to being involved in an attack and a bite on a person. Ms. Stewart was charged with harboring a dangerous animal.
On January 24, 2022, the dog involved was deemed dangerous by the court and the judge ordered euthanasia of the dog,” Jon Gary, Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Superintendent told Newsweek.
Hazel lived with Toya for three days before it was taken back to the pound and euthanized while Toya was arrested. Gary said Hazel had some issues and the dog was deemed “dangerous”. “We originally impounded the dog due to dangerous charges being filed against the dog,” Gary said.
“We have a secure area that was broken into, and they were able to break a window and get into the building,” Gary said. Eventually, the police tracked down Hazel and took the dog to the shelter while Toya was taken to jail.
Toya said that although Hazel was involved in some biting incidents and one dog fight, it never caused any problems to their family, “She was just real protective,” she said.
So when the judge reviewed Hazel’s biting incidents and ordered to euthanize the dog, Stewart said she had to go after her, “I couldn’t let her die like that,” Stewart said. “I had to let her know that I’ve tried everything for her.”
Stewart revealed that after she broke in, she searched around for Hazel’s cage, opened it before taking off. “We army crawled together under this fence to get out of there. We took off running through the woods,” Stewart shared.
“She stayed beside me. She just doesn’t deserve that,” Toya said crying. Her family held a balloon release to honor Hazel at 1 pm on March 6.
Anything the government or state wants to restrict or take from you is good for you , and bad for them, its more form of control and exercising the overreaching power. any group of dog is called bad instead of good depends on how they were raised, the idiotic diseased fascist government officials think they got power to judge who or what lives and dies when they’re the first group of scumbags that should be put to death for crimes and attacks upon our constitution, wr put government Nazis in positions of making choices for us, we can take them out, go to their house and tell them there’s something that you need to kill because you don’t agree with it and see how they fight you, and what they try to do using their power of their position to stop
you, these people are sick and Evil what they really fear is you having a dog that protects you because you need protection from scum like corrupted government & state officials they’re constantly working on ways to restrict your freedom your rights & stealing your money, these people are evil and will get what’s coming to them in the end.
This was a beautiful story with a very sad ending. I completely understand Hazel’s owner and it’s why I own a cat. I would never survive having my pet being taken away from me. People get dogs to protect themselves and then the courts deem them dangerous for doing just that. My cat hissed as I’d never heard before to a person entering my home so I asked if they disliked cats and they did which told me a lot. I find what Hazel’s owner did as admirable because Hazel died knowing that her owner loved her. People find it stupid and/or silly to have an attachment as such with an animal but animals show true unconditional love which many people have only received from an animal. My cats acted like dogs but they didn’t attack and thereby couldn’t be taken away from me for acting aggressive. When I was diagnosed w/Stage 3 Breast Cancer, I moved in w/my family because they were helping me through it. I didn’t know what was going to transpire so I had to find homes for my babies as I couldn’t bring them with me. It was the single hardest thing I had to do and I miss them so much to this day. There isn’t a day that goes by that I do not think of them & how they are doing. So, yes, I feel that Hazel was punished in the worst of way for doing what she instinctively did and our courts need to rethink some of their decisions.
So many sad stories to be told involving a true love for animals…usually mishandled by some ‘authority figure’ who upsets the dog & then deems it to be something it’s not. Such a shame. My heart still bleeds for the dogs that were taken from me by some ‘B’ hypnotized by a cruel system…& Its paycheck
A dog bites when s/he is mistreated by someone. Unfortunately killing the killer – in this case all those who are involved with the killing of Hazel (including the judge) – is (currently) not “gone after” – but KARMA will take care of this – sooner or later – as KARMA has no expiration date! – Be well Toya Stewart. –
detestable decision to kill the dog for protecting her Mama, and detestable decision to put the lady in jail for trying to save her baby’s life. STUPID, STUPID EVIL, JERKS!!!
im in tears reading all of your supportive comments. UNFORTUNATELY i have not been well. I cant and wont move past this. Ive been through a lot this year and checked myself in rehab and am going to start law school to fight back.ty so much
“7/25/23 – President Joe Biden’s dog Commander bit or otherwise attacked Secret Service personnel at least 10 times between October 2022 and January 2023, including one incident that required a hospital visit by the injured law enforcement officer, according to records from the Department of Homeland Security.”
Democrats do whatever they want.
I guess even dogs know who the enemy is!!!!😊