CANTON -- An employee at Maple Ridge Kennel says a yellow lab reported missing Monday was never in danger of death and has been returned to its owners.

On Monday, a photo of the yellow lab was sent to North Country Now by a person who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the kennel. The photo caption claimed the dog would be put down after five days, but Debbie Bridges, who works at the kennel, said that was simply not true.

NorthCountryNow.com regrets the error.

“That dog was returned Saturday to its owner about 12 hours after it was located," she said.

Bridges says towns and villages have an agreement with Maple Ridge to board stray animals. Under the agreement towns and villages pay for up to five days of boarding, at that point the animals can be put down, but that isn’t typically done.

"We take dogs in from the animal control officer and house them. The towns and villages reimburse us for five days of boarding," she said. "After five days the dog can be sent to be euthanized, but we keep them until we find their owner or a new home," she said. "We are not in the animal care business so that we can have them put down. We want to help them."

Bridges said the kennel has been under fire since the story went up.

“People are calling the kennel and leaving rude messages,” she said. “We are really getting hurt.”

Bridges said it was the kennel’s efforts that helped located the owners in such a short period of time.

“Ironically people are mad at us, but it was our efforts that helped locate the owner,” she said.

Bridges said people who are upset about the situation should contact their village and town officials. She said the agreement with the town only provides five days of boarding, after that the cost of boarding the strays falls on the kennel.

“We have some animals that stay here for 40 days,” she said.

Bridges says she would like to see the municipalities partner with an animal shelter instead of a kennel.

“I’d really like to encourage people, if they disagree with the arrangement, they should discuss it with the towns and villages,” she said.