A surveillance camera captured a border collie walking around the pet hotel's yard the day before the dog died. After the hotel operator claimed the dog had gone missing, the owner searched for the dog and created missing-dog flyers. THE KOREA HERALD/ANN Photo

SEOUL — A pet hotel operator is facing charges after allegedly concealing the death of a customer’s dog and falsely claiming it had escaped from the facility, according to local media on Wednesday.

The owner of a border collie boarded the dog at a pet hotel in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on July 13.

The following day, the hotel informed the owner that the dog had jumped over a fence and gone missing.

Believing the dog was still alive, the owner spent two days searching the area.

“I think I searched all over Chuncheon. I felt so guilty and was determined to find my dog somehow,” the owner was quoted as saying by MBC on Wednesday.

Two days later, however, the owner learned the dog had died at the hotel.

The owner said the hotel had also sent photos on the morning the dog was reported missing, claiming it had been taken for a walk. Those claims later proved to be false.

In a recorded conversation aired by local media, the hotel operator admitted withholding the dog’s death from the owner.

“I was terrified. This was the first time something like this had happened, and I didn’t know what to do,” the operator said.

According to the hotel operator, the dog had been left overnight in a storage room with the air conditioner running after staff left for the day and was found dead the following morning.

The owner also alleged that surveillance camera footage from the facility had been erased.

The owner has filed a police complaint against the pet hotel operator on allegations including animal abuse and requested a necropsy to determine the cause of death. — THE KOREA HERALD