A police investigation is underway after a 1-year-old English bulldog named Bruce drowned while in the care of Camp Canine, a Santa Barbara dog daycare facility. The incident has prompted an apology from the business, which acknowledged it "failed in our responsibility to keep their dog safe."
The Santa Barbara Police Department responded to the facility on Thursday afternoon following a report of a drowning. Officers interviewed Bruce's owners, Chris and Ashley Merz, as well as employees who were present at the time.
According to reports, Bruce is believed to have drowned between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. His owners stated they were not notified of the incident until they arrived to pick him up around 3:30 p.m.
Bruce, an English bulldog, had been attending Camp Canine for about six months. His family noted that English bulldogs are not strong swimmers and that Bruce was typically kept with small or medium-sized dogs. However, he was reportedly in the large-dog yard, which contains unfenced pools, at the time of the incident. Camp Canine owners acknowledged that Bruce was not supposed to be in that area but could not explain how he ended up there.
The family's pain was compounded by the handling of the situation, according to a GoFundMe created by Bruce's aunt. The fundraiser alleges that the dog's body was returned to the owners in a storage container in the trunk of a vehicle and that the family later learned he had not been transported to an emergency veterinary hospital before they were notified.
Camp Canine, which has served the Santa Barbara area for 40 years and describes itself as the "Disneyland for dogs," issued a public apology on Saturday. General Manager Jayne Sigman stated, "A family entrusted us with a cherished member of their family, and they are now living with an unimaginable loss because we failed in our responsibility to keep their dog safe."
The facility has temporarily suspended daycare operations to review its procedures and protocols. "It is our responsibility to learn from this loss, to make meaningful changes, and to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again," the statement read.