Warning – The video linked below may be too disturbing for sensitive viewers. It shows both dead dogs and cats, as well as living cats, in a filthy kill room at the McCracken Co Humane Society. There are no images of pets actually being killed.
This week, we learned of allegations of abuse at the McCracken Co HS in KY – specifically that a certified euthanasia technician had killed 4000 fully conscious pets via heartstick. A new report puts that number at 8000.
The investigation and pending charges against the euthanasia tech are due to the advocacy of one compassionate person – employee Jeremiah Robertson. Mr. Robertson saw the wrongdoing at the pound and talked to his supervisors. They did nothing. So he spent weeks recording video and audio in the kill room at the pound on his cell phone. He then took those recordings to the county sheriff’s office. A local news station viewed and listened to some of the recordings:
The video shows dying dogs, lying in pools of their own blood. A cat roams loose as the dogs draw their last breath.
Video of the same room on a different day shows that cats died together in a pile. The employee who shot this video said it’s not uncommon for dead animals to be left for days and often in the same room with uncaged, live animals.
And as if the video isn’t disturbing enough, there’s the audio, captured during euthanasia. From the recording, it’s obvious the animals are in pain.
“They bled. They yelped. I’ve seen them bleed from the mouths where he missed the heart and got the lung,” Robertson said. “Its pretty rough.”
I am including the video link in this post because I feel it’s important to get this evidence out there. The brave employee who exposed this abuse did so at a risk and his efforts must not be in vain. The abuse and needless killing of pets in our country’s so-called animal shelters is a crime kept mostly under a cloak of darkness by a culture of conspiracy among those in power. When advocates take non-violent action such as Mr. Robertson did, we chip away at that power. With enough chips, those opposed to reform will eventually crumble. Power to the people – the real humane society in our country who doesn’t want to see shelter pets abused and needlessly killed.
This is a local “humane society” in KY. You might think this is nothing at all like what goes on in the kill room of your local municipal facility. You may be right. Or you may be wrong. Unless compassionate advocates take non-violent action to expose wrongdoings wherever they exist, we don’t know for certain. One thing we do know – this is not an isolated occurrence. Notice how those in power seek to maintain the status quo and avoid responsibility, even in the face of undeniable cruelty:
Robertson said after he released the video to authorities, the McCracken County Humane Society Director Shirley Grimes created a new rule: no cell phones while at work.
We reached out to Grimes to get her response to all this. She had no comment.
The McCracken County Attorney told Local 6 while the director may have an ethical obligation to make sure things like this don’t happen, legally, the responsibilty falls on the certified animal euthanasia specialist.
Again, I want to warn readers that this video shows images of dead pets and may be too disturbing for some. The purpose of viewing and sharing this video is not to simply gawk at the brutality but to expose an institution of cruelty too common in our shelter system. And to remember that, like the millions of other pets needlessly killed in our shelters every year, the pets in this video deserved to live. They are all loved. They are not forgotten. Remembering them motivates me to continue working for change. They deserve nothing less.
Link to video: http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/home/related/Undercover-video-of-McCracken-County-Humane-Society-134160873.html