Families claim Glendale animal shelter won't let them adopt because they're in military

GLENDALE, AZ - Several families say a Glendale animal shelter is refusing to let members of the military adopt pets.

Tawny Medina and her 2-year-old daughter thought they'd leave the Sun Valley Animal Shelter in Glendale with a new pet Wednesday night.

Instead, Medina said the shelter turned them away because her husband is in the military.

“Based on what they've seen, they can't trust young military couples to take care of and keep their dogs because they move so often,” said Medina.

But shelter manager Carrie Hipskind said it had nothing to do with anyone’s job, instead the family’s pet history.

The Medinas left their last dog with their parents before moving to Arizona.

Hipskind also claimed the dog the Medinas wanted to adopt was not good with children.

“We have a strict policy that if a dog doesn't have a history of being with small children, we will not send it home with them,” said Hipskind.

Medina said several other military families have had similar issues.

“As of this morning, I've counted 20 others families that have had the same problem,” said Medina.

Margaret Leal said she is one of them, and claimed she also was turned down earlier this year.

“They don't' see us fit enough to be able to raise an animal, but they're fine to put us on the front lines and risk our lives for them,” said Leal.

Hipskind insists the shelter sees a lot of people from the military simply because it’s close to Luke Air Force Base.

“Fifteen people out of everyone at Luke is not much. We adopt a lot of people at Luke Air Force Base. We have never judged anybody because they're in the service,” said Hipskind.