Man says he'll pursue legal action after crematorium dumped his dog on side of road

    CATONSVILLE, Maryland (WBAL) -- Several pet owners said their dogs were supposed to be cremated by a Catonsville business. Instead, they were dumped on the side of the road.

Darrine Timpson is one of multiple people who contacted 11 News. Both he and his French bulldog, Bentley, have heavy hearts. Timpson's dog, Jada, died on March 27 while delivering her puppies.

"She was just unbelievable," Timpson said. "A well-(temperamental) dog … There's nothing you can replace that dog, and I love all dogs."

Timpson did some research and contacted Loving Care Pet Funeral Services in Catonsville to have his dog cremated. The next day, it returned Jada's ashes.

"About 30 minutes after he left, I received a call from animal control of Baltimore City. They stated my dog was actually located on the side of the road with seven other dogs," Timpson said.

Timpson said animal control scanned Jada's microchip to get his information, but other dogs remained unidentified.

Rodney Ward, owner of Loving Care, spoke to 11 News over the phone. He said he started getting calls late last week, one of them from Timpson.

The owner said he was blindsided, and said a new employee was supposed to take the animals to Hyattsville, where they do the actual cremations, but the dogs apparently ended up on the side of the road instead.

"It's a lot to process that somebody would take advantage of not just me but seven other people," Timpson said.

In a statement to 11 News, Ward said:

"As the owner and representative of Loving Care Pet Cremations, we outsource all of our cremations to local crematories. We are under the assumption that they are cremating our pets as contracted. We trust the process that have been instilled between us and the crematories. We guarantee to the best of knowledge that when we return cremated pets to their parents, they are the correct pet." "I was returned ashes but I'm not sure if they even are pet ashes or human ashes," Timpson said.

Ward has been unable to get in touch with the employee, but he said he refunded all of the money to the impacted clients.

Timpson doesn't care about the money, though.

"Animals mean a lot to me," he said. "I think and believe they should be held and dealt with in the same manner as a human.”

Timpson said the city is now overseeing the cremation of Jada, and he does plan to pursue legal action against the crematory.