Washington woman Cynthia Wakelin said she wasn't home last week when a UPS driver showed up to deliver a package. She claims that's when he ran over her 14-year-old dog and wrote a short note to her on a "missed package" slip.
"Sorry, but I backed over Tobey [sic]. He's dead over by where I turn around," the note read, Wakelin told the Daily Mail. "I didn't see him behind me. Sorry."
Wakelin, who told the outlet that she lives in a remote area and lets her dogs roam freely, said she was bewildered by the driver's note.
“All I saw on the note was ‘Tobey’ and ‘he’s dead,’ and I just started screaming,” she said in an interview. “I told my girlfriend to get my kids in the house. My son was asking what was wrong, and I said I needed to find Toby. I guess I didn’t believe it was true.”
Wakelin claimed that she had to search hard for the sharpei-terrier mix’s body, which was hidden in a wooded area under a log. She added that the driver was familiar with her pet, as he would deliver packages frequently, and he could have called the number on Toby’s collar.
"If he would have called me, it would have lightened the blow a little bit," she told the Daily Mail. "I don't ever want to see his face again."
Wakelin said that when she contacted UPS' customer service, a representative told her, "At least he had the heart to leave a note and didn't just leave your dog dead on your driveway." However, she added, another representative was sent to her house to apologize in person and intercepted the driver, who was attempting to redeliver the package, and admonished him. Wakelin said she hasn’t heard from the company since.
“UPS apologized to the customer for this unfortunate incident. Our local manager personally visited the customer and gave our condolences. The driver involved has been disciplined, and the company will make a goodwill payment to the customer,” spokesman Dan Mackin said in the statement.
Wakelin told the Daily Mail that she has been speaking with animal rights lawyers to explore her legal options because she wants "UPS to make it a point to tell their drivers that they need to care about the people they are delivering these packages to. And if their pets get hurt – even if they don't care – they should act like they care."
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