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LARGO — It's hard to overcome the image of severed dog heads in a restaurant Dumpster.
But the owner of a local medical company is trying.
Ron Buck, president of MedRx, says one of his workers improperly dumped the heads in a trash bin at Tucson's Southwest Grill after a veterinary training seminar.
"I think it's about the dumbest thing I've ever had an employee do," Buck said.
Buck says his company, which manufactures veterinary and human hearing health care products, holds a few educational seminars for veterinarians each year and uses dog heads for training purposes.
Usually, one of the participating vets takes the heads and disposes of them, he said. If that's not possible, the company will ask the facility where the seminar is held for permission to use its Dumpster, he said.
The worker, national sales manager Chris Perry, did not return a call for comment. Perry, who has worked for the company for five or six years, leads the company's veterinary sales division.
Buck says this is what Perry told him happened:
Perry attended an educational seminar on ear care in Jacksonville. On March 28, he demonstrated the company's Video VetScope, which can be used for a variety of diagnostic and surgical work. The dog heads were used for the training.
A couple of the veterinarians wanted in-office demonstrations. So Perry kept the heads another day.
Perry, who lives in North Carolina, returned to Largo, planning to fly back home from here. He stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, near Ulmerton Road.
About 5 a.m. March 30, Perry got a call from another sales rep who wasn't able to catch a flight out of town. Perry hopped in the company minivan to pick up the other worker. He smelled a rank aroma and realized he forgot to dispose of the dog heads, which were in a cooler in the back. He saw the Dumpster nearby and tossed them in there.
"I was furious," said Buck, who heard of the incident while he was in Australia on vacation, followed by business. "How can anybody not think through the ramifications of doing that?"
He said he's not sure how he's going to handle Perry's actions since he's under contract.
Buck said he's afraid the incident will tarnish his reputation as a "good community guy."
In 1998, the St. Petersburg Times wrote a story about Buck and another local businessman who flew to Mexico to bring more than 200 free hearing aids to needy children.
Buck said a Selma, Ala., veterinarian provides the specimens. And that veterinarian usually gets euthanized dogs from the Humane Society there, he said. The heads are shipped directly to the facility where the seminars are held.
Tuesday, Buck showed off his building at 1200 Starkey Road. His dog Roxie followed close behind.
Buck says he adopted the 1 1/2-year-old Plott hound-collie mix from the SPCA in January. He also has five dachshunds, horses and ducks on his 4-acre Seminole property, he said.
Largo police Lt. Mike Loux said his department has not completed its investigation of the case.
The SPCA helped the Largo Police Department research the case.
Buck said he donated $1,000 to the SPCA to make up "for wasting their time."
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