The Lewisburg Animal Shelter in TN has room for 20 dogs. Yesterday, they reportedly had 28. But that shouldn’t have been a problem because an area rescuer was coming to pull 9 dogs. She had pulled dogs previously, had an established relationship with the ACOs at the pound and was in communication with them about her intention to pick up the 9 dogs yesterday. A couple of hours before she was slated to arrive at the pound though, an ACO called her and said, “Don’t bother.” The pound had killed 13 dogs, knowing rescue was on the way for 9 of them.
The area ABC affiliate reached out to Lewisburg City Manager Tommy Engram for an explanation. This guy is an asshelmet. Not only does he defend the killings with a holier than thou “We are following the law” line of baloney, he has the gall to add that if rescuers really cared about these dogs, they would have gotten to the pound before the dogs were killed.
At the end of the article on the news station’s website, it says:
City officials said the shelter is not an adoption center[.]
The pound is described on Petfinder as follows:
We always have plenty of dogs in need of good homes. Please come by to see what we have to offer! We have extended our hours so we are open later most weekdays…see details below! We can also meet off hours or even on weekends if someone is interested in adopting one of our dogs and cannot get here during our normal open hours. We are also rescue friendly and more than willing to work with any legitimate rescue organization.
And on its own website, the home page reads:
We are a City run shelter working hard to serve the community and help the unwanted dogs of Marshall County!
We have recently expanded our hours to accommodate potential adopters!
So, fine. Despite the pound’s internet presence which would lead one to believe it’s a facility that works hard to adopt dogs, maybe it isn’t an adoption center. But the sign says “shelter”, right? So at the very least, the facility should be a place where dogs are protected from harm. And hey, even if it’s not an adoption center, it’s not a pet slaughterhouse either. So killing 9 dogs who had rescue on the way – plus another 4 – when the place was only 8 dogs over capacity is in no way consistent with being a Not Adoption Center. You can rename it a “holding facility” or “animal control” or SatanMart for all I care, there is no name in the English language that justifies killing dogs when rescue was on the way to pull them and had communicated directly with the staff.
I am sometimes attacked by those who kill shelter pets because they are angry that I blame them for the killing. They often say, “Nobody wants to kill animals.” Here’s how I see what happened in Lewisburg yesterday: The city wanted the pound to reduce the population. Rescue was coming to pull enough dogs to get the population back under capacity. But the staff chose to kill the dogs slated for rescue, plus some extra, anyway. They wanted to kill these animals. I see no other possible explanation.
There will be a protest on Saturday, July 28 at noon if you are in the area.