FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - An employee at Fresno State says she cannot believe the City of Fresno's policy for dealing with found dogs is to abandon them a second time - an order she was told came directly from Mayor Jerry Dyer himself. Fresno State Library Assistant Tricia Totherow says it was around lunchtime on Friday she found a dog on campus she believes had run away from a nearby home. Dangerous dogs are roaming Fresno County: What you can do about it "We were concerned, due to the time of day, that it might go run into the busy street," Totherow said. Being a self-proclaimed animal lover with four dogs and 10 cats at home, Totherow says she started calling out to the dog to get his attention and distract him while she called the agencies she thought could help. "We called the various animal rescues and shelters in the area. From just a phone call, none of them were able to receive a stray animal," Totherow said. "They told me that if it was injured or sick or aggressive, they might" According to Totherow she was repeatedly referred from agency to agency, and started feeling like she was "pretty much given a hot potato with the dog." Eventually, Totherow says she was referred to the Fresno Animal Center. "I decided to go in person because I figured it would be harder to say no to me. We got the same answer," Totherow said. "We were told by the kennel assistant that under an order directly from Jerry Dyer, I was to release it within a mile radius of where I found it." Totherow says she was shocked to find out that this process was how the City of Fresno has been handling strays since the problem with overcrowding began. In response to Totherow's story Mayor Jerry Dyer himself expressed understanding of Totherow's experience but said there is only so much Fresno can do alone. "Accepting every animal has previously resulted in our shelter being severely overcrowded and an unhealthy environment for the animals," Dyer said. "Accepting healthy strays will absolutely result in euthanizing healthy animals to reduce capacity." Dyer says the community has made it clear to him and his staff that, "euthanizing healthy animals is unacceptable" but Fresno will continue to work to pick up injured, vicious, and owned animals only. "The Fresno Animal Center is at capacity and not able to take in healthy, stray animals," Dyer said. Totherow says she and her husband could only release the dog back into the vineyard. "The dog thought we were just going for a walk. He jumped out of the car, and went to sniff in the vineyard," Totherow said. "We started to drive away, and I told myself not to look in the rearview mirror, but I did, and he was chasing behind us, trying to get back to us." "It was the most heartbreaking thing." Mayor Dyer said, moving forward, the city would be happy to work with the Fresno State staff member to provide needed materials to allow them to foster the dog."