ONE VERY LUCKY DEATH ROW DOG SPEAKS
Shenandoah
You know the expression, “what you don’t know can’t hurt you?” It’s not true! Every day I post dog food recalls so that you can be aware of the dangerous lurking in your dog’s food bowl!
Soon, I’m also going to tell you where the money goes. Here is a video about Shenandoah, a little border collie we rescued in 2011. She was heartworm positive, adopted, used the alternative method of treatment, and is negative today.
Ever wondered why I take the heartworm positive dogs? It’s not like I seek them out! I know that many shelters have a standard rule; do not adopt out heartworm positive dogs. They must go to a rescue, or they are put down. Even if the shelter has dozens of empty crates available, even if the dog is young, even if the dog is a purebred, even if the dog has an awesome temperament, heartworm positive dogs are doomed.
If you research all of my heartworm positive dogs, you’ll see that many of them were rescued by me because I knew they had no way out. There was no chance in hell they would be allowed to live because of a simple and easy-to-cure heartworm.
Shenandoah is one of those dogs.
Click here to see Shenandoah’s Original Post
Irreconcilable Differences
The Battle for the Heart & Soul of America’s Animal Shelters, by Nathan J Winograd
The battle lines have been drawn: No Kill advocates on one side. Those who kill sheltered animals on the other. Can’t we all just get along? Irreconcilable Differences says we can’t because shelters act in ways which are the antithesis of the values most Americans hold dear. We are a nation of animal lovers. But the shelters we expect to save animals are instead needlessly killing about four million of them every year. Thankfully, animal lovers all over the U.S. are increasingly rejecting the excuses and blame shifting of shelter administrators used to justify that killing. And it is that rejection of the status quo, propelled by the American public’s great love of companion animals, which is explored in this book’s essays.
If you get this book, and read it, I beg you to leave your comments on this blog post so we can share each other’s thoughts!
Animal Over-Population, Gassing and Lethal Injection
I feel compelled to share what is being Circulating on Facebook. While we are honest about where a dogs come from, and share with you the history that we know, the number of dogs that we rescue compared to the number of dogs that we are asked to rescue is shocking. This article is not appropriate for young children.
A Letter from a Gas Chamber Man in an Animal Shelter This where your pups will end up, I put dogs in the gas chamber Yes, I Gas Dogs and Cats for a Living. I’m an Animal Control officer in a very small town in central North Carolina. I’m in my mid thirties, and have been working for the town in different positions since high school. There is not much work here, and working for the county provides
good pay and benefits for a person like me without a higher education. I’m the person you all write about how horrible I am.
I’m the one that gasses the dogs and cats and makes them suffer. I’m the one that pulls their dead corpses out smelling of Carbon Monoxide and throws them into green plastic bags. But I’m also the one that hates my job and hates what I have to do. First off, all you people out there that judge me, don’t. God is judging me, and I know I’m going to Hell. Yes, I’m going to hell. I wont lie, it’s despicable, cold, cruel and I feel like a serial killer. I’m not all to blame, if the law would mandate spay and neuter, lots of these dogs and cats wouldn’t be here for me to gas.
I’m the devil, I know it, but I want you people to see that there is another side to me the devil Gas Chamber man. The shelter usually gasses on Friday morning. Friday’s are the day that most people look forward to, this is the day that I hate, and wish that time will stand still on Thursday night. Thursday night, late, after nobody’s around, my friend and I go through a fast food line, and buy 50 dollars worth of cheeseburgers and fries, and chicken.
I’m not allowed to feed the dogs on Thursday, for I’m told that they will make a mess in the gas chamber, and why waste the food.
So, Thursday night, with the lights still closed, I go into the saddest room that anyone can every imagine, and let all the doomed dogs out of their cages. I have never been bit, and in all my years doing this, the dogs have never fought over the food. My buddy and I, open each wrapper of cheeseburger and chicken sandwich, and feed them to the skinny, starving dogs. They swallow the food so fast, that I don’t believe they even taste it. There tails are wagging, and some don’t even go for the food, they roll on their backs wanting a scratch on their bellies.
They start running, jumping and kissing me and my buddy. They go back to their food, and come back to us.All their eyes are on us with such trust and hope, and their tails wag so fast, that I have come out with black and blues on my thighs.. They devour the food, then it’s time for them to devour some love and peace. My buddy and I sit down on the dirty, pee stained concrete floor, and we let the dogs jump on us. They lick us, they put their butts in the air to play, and they play with each other. Some lick each other, but most are glued on me and my buddy.
I look into the eyes of each dog. I give each dog a name. They will not die without a name. I give each dog 5 minutes of unconditional love and touch. I talk to them, and tell them that I’m so sorry that tomorrow they will die a gruesome, long, torturous death at the hands of me in the gas chamber. Some tilt their heads to try to understand. I tell them, that they will be in a better place, and I beg them not to hate me. I tell them that I know I’m going to hell, but they will all be playing with all the dogs and cats in heaven. After about 30 minutes, I take each dog individually, into their feces filled concrete jail cell, and pet them and scratch them under their chins. Some give me their paw, and I just want to die. I just want to die. I close the jail cell on each dog, and ask them to forgive me.
As my buddy and I are walking out, we watch as every dog is smiling at us and them don’t even move their heads. They will sleep, with a full belly, and a false sense of security. As we walk out of the doomed dog room, my buddy and I go to the cat room. We take our box, and put the very friendly kittens and pregnant cats in our box. The shelter doesn’t keep tabs on the cats, like they do the dogs. As I hand pick which cats are going to make it out, I feel like I’m playing God, deciding whose going to live and die. We take the cats into my truck, and put them on blankets in the back. Usually, as soon as we start to drive away, there are purring cats sitting on our necks or rubbing against us. My buddy and I take our one way two hour trip to a county that is very wealthy and they use injection to kill animals.
We go to exclusive neighborhoods, and let one or two cats out at a time. They don’t want to run, they want to stay with us. We shoo them away, which makes me feel sad. I tell them that these rich people will adopt them, and if worse comes to worse and they do get put down, they will be put down with a painless needle being cradled by a loving veterinarian. After the last cat is free, we drive back to our town. It’s about 5 in the morning now, about two hours until I have to gas my best friends.
I go home, take a shower, take my 4 anti-anxiety pills and drive to work.. I don’t eat, I can’t eat. It’s now time, to put these animals in the gas chamber. I put my ear plugs in, and when I go to the collect the dogs, the dogs are so excited to see me, that they jump up to kiss me and think they are going to play. I put them in the rolling cage and take them to the gas chamber. They know. They just know.
They can smell the death.. They can smell the fear. They start whimpering the second I put them in the box. The boss tells me to squeeze in as many as I can to save on gas. He watches. He knows I hate him, he knows I hate my job. I do as I’m told. He watches until all the dogs, and cats (thrown in together) are fighting and screaming. The sounds is very muffled to me because of my ear plugs.He walks out, I turn the gas on, and walk out. I walk out as fast as I can. I walk into the bathroom, and I take a pin and draw blood from my hand. Why? The pain and blood takes my brain off of what I just did. In 40 minutes, I have to go back and unload the dead animals. I pray that none survived, which happens when I overstuff the chamber. I pull them out with thick gloves, and the smell of carbon monoxide makes me sick. So does the vomit and blood, and all the bowel movements. I pull them out, put them in plastic bags.
They are in heaven now, I tell myself. I then start cleaning up the mess, the mess, that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not spay or neutering your animals. The mess that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not demanding that a vet come in and do this humanely. You ARE THE TAXPAYERS, DEMAND that this practice STOP! So, don’t call me the monster, the devil, the gasser, call the politicians, the shelter directors, and the county people, the devil. Heck, call the governor, tell him to make it stop. As usual, I will take sleeping pills tonight to drown out the screams I heard in the past, before I discovered the ear plugs. I will jump and twitch in my sleep, and I believe I’m starting to hallucinate.
This is my life. Don’t judge me. Believe me, I judge myself enough.
Please CROSS POST this, and don’t be proud; SPAY AND NEUTER your pet, and keep it indoors, for the sake of our animals futures.
The No Kill Mentality—and Why Spay & Neuter?
A Town Near You
Somewhere tucked away in my State of Florida is a very rural town where the majority of its population is receiving government aid. There, citizens can barely afford to immunize their children, let alone feed them. There, animals roam freely, not really having a home to call their own, just hoping to get a bite to eat. I’m confident that I just described millions of little towns and communities scattered throughout the United States. It’s in these areas that we, as advocates, need to focus our time and energy.
The citizens clearly are just not informed as to what atrocities are taking place in their community, and lawmakers either don’t care, or they are asleep at the wheel.
While Florida is not a gassing state, the euthanasia rates in some communities are very high. In some cases, it s a local veterinarian who is making a handsome living because they are paid by the State to euthanize. As a matter-of-fact, in some cases, the veterinarian is paid per animal to euthanize.
So while we rescuers jump up and down screaming our arms about this extremely high euthanasia rate, we fail to understand why—why some of these shelters and pounds fail to work with rescuers, fail to deliver medical attention to these needy strays—because they make more money putting them down.
What communities and their leaders don’t realize, is that a low-cost or no-cost spay and neuter facility or program would, in the long run, save millions—not only dollars, but lives.
But ask yourself, why would a veterinary facility choose to spay/neuter an animal for $45 when they could make $100 per animal to euthanize?
That’s where you come in. Ah, I see you shaking your head no—so I’m going to stop you right there—don’t tell me we can’t. I’ve been there, and I know we can.
It only takes one person to stand up with their flag, and their keyboard to make statement; to write letters; to make phone calls; to create a presence of Facebook and rally support. It only takes one person to create a movement, town by town, city by city, to befriend the good guys and create a once-and-for-all solution to this problem we call, Death by the Pound.
Recently, I had an exchange of emails with a volunteer from one of these towns, who blasted my video about a dog that I took in who had Parvo.
I was unfair, she said. I should not blame the pound that the dog was sick, she said. In just a few exchanges of words, I explained to her that we could solicit change in that community, and create a long-term plan that would alleviate the problem, and she agreed. I urged her to create a Facebook page, reach out to lawmakers, contact other local area veterinarians, and businesses to rally support for a low-cost or no-cost spay/neuter program. It feel on deaf ears. Maybe some advocates would rather be the savior that plucks dogs off of death row, one by one, instead of solving the problem.
One of the major excuses I hear about this debate is the mentality of rural communities prevent change. I challenge that mentality, because when it comes to taxes, everyone listens, just look at New Mexico as a model for change.
Read Defining what is an adoptable dog, click here
Read Death by the Pound, San Antonio by clicking here
Note: Think about it! While spaying a female costs a little bit more than neutering a male, a female dog can have only an average of two litters per year. A female cat, however, can get pregnant while nursing. If you neuter a male, however, you could potentially prevent hundreds of litters from being born each and every year of that dog’s life. You do the math!
Palm Beach County News:
Dianne Sauve, Director at Animal Control, discusses the mandatory spay and neuter proposal.
PalmBeachPost.com
Major points:
Most Pit Bull owners resist sterilization
Euthanasia is not a form of birth control
New Ordinance
Read it yourself by clicking here.
The No-Kill Controversy, Both Sides:
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/index.html
http://www.nathanwinograd.com/
A message from a Shelter Administrator, and her opinions:
I have read Redemption, it is a truly great book if you have never worked in an animal shelter, and how it does get the animal lovers rallied, but I have been through mass euthanasia when a no-kill plan was poorly implemented. Here is a flip side article about Mr. Winograd. We should all try to gather all sorts of facts before making a decision, and make safe choices. Don’t get me wrong, there are good programs in his book. Please take a moment and review this website before making any conclusions:
http://www.helpinganimals.com/f-Winograd-No-Kill.asp?hanwnkggl&gclid=CN_ctOiqqJICFQERPAod4W4pRQ
Other Topics:
An Introduction to The Dog Liberator
The No Kill Mentality – Why Spay/Neuter?
Stop the Puppy Mills
Death Row Dogs – Gassing Shelters, and Euthanasia
Breed-Specific Legislation
Black Dog Syndrome – What is it?
Before You Surrender Your Own Dog & Craig’s List
Shelters, Pounds, and Rescues (the difference)
How you can Help by Volunteering
I Rescued a Human Today
Adopting a Heartworm Positive Dog
Treating a Heartworm Positive Dog
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
More About the Green Mile
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