When shelters kill lost pets whose owners are trying to find them and it makes the news, shelter directors often attempt to blame the owner, stating that the pet should have been microchipped. The implication being that if the pet had been chipped, the shelter would have called the contact information associated with the chip before killing the animal and the owner could have had a chance to find out where the pet was while still alive. As if somehow that is in any way a reasonable explanation for why a pet was killed by someone whose job it is to provide shelter to lost pets. At any rate, it’s false. We know that pet killing facilities do not always call to get the contact information associated with a microchip before killing pets.
The Medina Co pound in Ohio has bragged about its very high lifesaving rate for dogs for some time, while stuffing cats into the gas chamber until the public recently shamed them into ending the barbaric practice. But numbers don’t tell the whole story, as evidenced in records obtained via FOIA request which show Medina Co was regularly killing dogs using incorrect dosages of Fatal Plus. Another dog record recently obtained via FOIA request shows a stray pet was impounded last summer when the finder brought him to the Medina Co pound:
The neutered cattle dog mix was picked up by a Good Sam who found him running loose. The Medina Co pound clearly scanned the dog for a chip, found it and noted the chip’s manufacturer and ID number on the records. Then they killed the dog, noting they didn’t have “time” to do their jobs and shelter him. There are no records indicating Medina Co ever contacted Home Again to obtain the contact information for anyone associated with the microchip.
When I shared this record with an animal advocate in OH, she contacted the chip manufacturer listed and was advised the chip had been implanted by a shelter in OH. She called that shelter and spoke to someone who looked up the chip’s ID number. The chip belonged to a dog named Gambit who had been adopted to a new owner. The new owner apparently did not register the chip in his name. The shelter records for Gambit contained a note that he was an “escape artist”. It seems plausible that Gambit escaped from his new owner’s home and was found by the Good Sam who brought him to the Medina Co pound. The shelter worker who spoke with the advocate said Medina Co had never contacted them about Gambit and if they had, the shelter would have picked him up right away.
Many pet owners do not understand how microchips work or the importance of registering them. This is one reason chip manufacturers keep the contact information of the facility where the pet received the chip – so even if the new owner doesn’t follow through with registration, there is still a contact for the pet in case of emergency. But Medina Co apparently couldn’t be bothered to make that phone call. Because they don’t have “time” to do their jobs. Too busy injecting dogs with insufficient amounts of Fatal Plus and gassing cats last summer, I guess. And while it’s understandable that a pet owner might not understand the significance of a microchip, workers at a taxpayer funded animal shelter definitely should.
Nobody WANTS to kill animals, except when it takes “time” to save them.
Just trying to ‘get’ this… are you saying that it is the shelter’s fault that the previous owner and the new owner did not change the micro chip information? Also, just curious: do YOU work at a shelter?
Did you not read the part where the finding shelter apparently didn’t do *anything* with the chip information? It looks like they scanned the chip, then shrugged and went about their day (which involves killing animals.) If they had called the chip manufacturer, they would have been given the original shelter’s name, and that shelter would have come for the dog. Two phone calls = one life saved. Not a bad return for five or ten minutes worth of effort. So, yes, the shelter IS responsible for needlessly killing this dog. The new owner’s failure to switch the chip information does not justify the shelter’s far more grievous action of injecting the dog with Fatal Plus.
I just opened up a fresh can of Troll B Gone.
This kind of behavior by the staff at taxpayer run POUNDS.. they are NOT shelters.. is deplorable and every last one of them should be fired. The thing is this.. in what looks like a good portion of states have pounds that don’t bother to contact the chip’s manufacturer or the service that keeps the information on the animal, why pay to have it done? If they get out, get lost, get picked up and taken to the pound they would much rather kill the animal other than picking up the phone and finding out who the animal belongs to. It makes no sense to even have the service if it’s not going to be used in the way it was meant to be. People that do have their animals chipped are paying for this service every month and they expect the county or city pounds will do the job they get paid for and their pet will be returned to them. More times than it happens, it doesn’t happen. It’s too much trouble for these idiots to pick up the phone and do their job. If the human resources departments of these cities and counties do not start doing background checks on the people they hire to care for these animals and physically go to the sites and CHECK TO MAKE SURE they are doing their jobs.. this will never change. Every taxpayer in these places need to do whatever it takes to make sure this is done. It’s actually NOT that hard. Go see for yourselves. Check out the place. You have that right. If you see something that is not right, call the offices of the people in charge and let them know … go back and follow up on it.. Call and see if they have been to check. If not, stay on it until they do. A good shaming letter to the editor of the local paper a lot of times does the trick. It’s worth a shot.. sitting around doing nothing and just talking about it is not helping these sweet souls that have no voice. YOU are their voice! USE IT!! Just My 2 Cents worth… but something needs to be done. There is just way too much of this going around NOT to try and stop it.
An unregistered chip is NOT the end of the line for information. If you come up against an unregistered chip, your next question to the chip manufacturer is “to whom was this chip sold?”. They KNOW and they can tell you! Then you call the place where it was sold and ask if they have records for the animal with such and such a chip number. Some will (rescues, proper shelters), some won’t (puppy mills). But it is ALWAYS something that you pursue as far as you can, as hard as you can.
Unless you work for Medina County Animal Shelter, I guess. Why didn’t they put a plea out on Facebook? “Dog found with unregistered chip! Here’s his picture, here’s his chip number and the chip manufacturer! Can anyone please help us get this dog home?” Oh, right, because they don’t do that sort of thing…they don’t want to interact with the community at all, that’s a big pain in the ass.
This dog should be alive today. He had a rescue that would have come and gotten him, if only they had known he was there. One question (to whom was this chip sold?) and one phone call would have saved his life.
IF they had been at all interested in saving him, they could have without too much bother. Bottom line is, they found it much easier to kill a dog who should have lived. And what is their excuse for this violence against an innocent animal?
This happens at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control in AZ all the time. They kill microchipped dogs, they kill dogs that rescues have put holds on, they starve dogs, they allow their vet techs to do surgery. They’re absolutely horrible and yet we never read about it, I’d love to know who they’re paying off because we’ve been trying for years to get something done and no one is interest. Check out the FB page Fighting for Justice for the Dogs of MCACC.