Rescuing golden retrievers is something Bill Hyde enjoys. He's president of the Emerald Coast Golden Retriever Rescue. So when he recognized that opportunity last month, he was excited.

"Looking through websites and found a golden retriever female 4-year-old at the Bay County Animal Control Facility."

Hyde knew the facility holds animals found on the street or given up by owners. If no one claims them, or adopts them, they're put to sleep. So Bill dropped by the Highway 231 facility. It was one of the days the shelter had lost electricity from a lightning strike.

"I was going to go pick her up, but the power was out and animal control people told me the computer was down. So I couldn't pick up the dog. So hold was placed on the dog. I came back on that Wednesday and found out the dog had been destroyed."

Animal control officials say it was an honest mistake. Apparently the animal control officer wrote the word "hold" on a piece of paper and placed it on the retriever's cage. But the paper was not dated, and since the dog was on the list of animals to put to sleep, it was euthanized.

"Dates to us are very important because we have to look at the intake date of the animal."

So the facility is making some changes, to avoid situation like this in the future. They're installing a back-up electricity source from gulf power. Also, they're making all animal records accessible from anywhere in the county. They're working to make sure people who call the shelter will talk to an actual person, not a recording. And they're updating their website to better assist potential pet adopters.

Although he's still heartbroken about the golden retriever, Hyde says he's happy about the changes.

"The thing with the power down was a bump in the road that was rare, but I wanted the attention brought up to, especially the management of the county, that something like that shouldn't happen."

If you would like any information on the Emerald Coast Golden Retriever Rescue group, call 896-3448.