GA – The Moultrie Colquitt County Humane Society killed most of its 40 dogs in response to a single case of distemper. Second Chance Animal Rescue in Cairo also killed dozens of dogs due to distemper concerns. The Albany Humane Society however had two confirmed distemper cases and opted to quarantine and treat dogs, euthanizing just one dog so far.
Update on the Fort Worth, Texas veterinarian accused of stealing pets from clients who thought they were being euthanized: The vet claims he did not euthanize one of the dogs because he was “too busy”, and that he’s a hoarder. The vet’s license is currently suspended and his clinic closed. The resident animals have been transferred to another vet hospital. (Thanks Arlene and Clarice for the links.)
GA – The Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Animal Control Shelter doesn’t adopt animals to the public, instead relying on rescue groups to get animals out of the pound and into homes. But the pound effectively slowed adoptions to a crawl on February 28 when it placed severe restrictions on rescuers. In 2013, the pound’s kill rate was 60%. Since shutting out rescuers, the kill rate is unknown and the county refuses to tell. (Thanks Clarice for the link.)
TX – A Rains County deputy responding to a burglary call last month shot the family dog, claiming she tried to attack him. A necropsy showed the dog was shot in the back of the head. The deputy has since been fired and charged with animal cruelty. (Thanks to everyone who sent me this story.)
In the aftermath of the botched execution of a prisoner in OK: Drug cocktail in US executions banned from use on animals, says report
Who I want to sound like: The one in the basket. Who I actually sound like: The upside down one on the branch. (Thanks Arlene for the link.)
That vet in Texas is now using hoarding as a defense? Interesting. Has…anyone been to this guy’s house to make sure he doesn’t have dead kittens on his desk at home, too? There is no way the board will give him back his license. The people that continue to defend him…I just don’t know.
And – the death cocktail thing…they’re experimenting and whatnot, but why isn’t anyone saying, “Hey, let’s just use FatalPlus”?
That’s something I’ve been curious about…it always struck me as odd that euthanizing animals is so straight-forward, but seems so fraught with error in humans. I’ve witnessed hundreds of animals being euthanized (real euthanasia, not shelter killing), and can only recall one or two where things went amiss (Sadly, one of those instances was on my own cat, who eventually required a heart stick when no one could find a workable vein. He was deeply sedated at that point, however, and did not feel anything.)
So I did some research, and it turns out a great deal of the problem is that the drug manufacturers won’t sell certain drugs if they’re being used for executions. Drug companies have been harassed and boycotted in the past for doing so. So the prisons are limited in their choices of drugs, with the more effective, single-dose drugs not available for that specific use. It forces the prisons to experiment in hopes of finding a workable solution. In this way, protests against the death penalty have actually made the process more traumatic and painful for the prisoners.
Not that I’m saying people shouldn’t protest…it’s a complicated issue, and I respect that some people find it horrific and feel it should be stopped. But perhaps it would be better to focus on changing the laws that allow it, rather than protesting the drug companies. Changing the laws would end the practice for good, where protesting the drug companies only results in less effective solutions being used.
My understanding is that there is another complicating factor in addition to the drug issue you mentioned: doctors and nurses generally will not participate in executions. Therefore the person administering the experimental “cocktail” may simply be a prison guard or some other non-medical staff. When things go wrong, and they do with some regularity, they are bound to be even more problematic than they might have been due to inadequate response.
Yes,that’s certainly true, and one of the reasons doctors and nurses won’t participate is for the same the drug companies don’t want to be involved…doctors have been protested and threatened for doing so.
Part of the confusion with restrictions on U.S. execution agents may be because all of this began with EU regs instituted back in 2005 restricting exports of any products used for executions or torture. Then, the sole U.S.-based manufacturer of the sedative then used in all U.S. lethal-injection executions, Sodium thiopental, stopped production in the U.S. and was prevented from opening a plant in Europe. As prisons shifted to the use of pentobarbital and attempted to use other agents (like, say, propofol, a move that lead to legal threats and a temporary shortage of all supplies in the U.S.), European companies and countries individually and the EU as a whole instituted more restrictive bans on drugs used in or potentially useful for executions, including restrictions on manufacturing licenses. Attempts by prison authorities and state governments to make end-runs around these nested bans and restrictions have so far proven fruitless.
Awwww, I’ve got to thank you for the squeaks – I really needed something lovely to countered some bummer things that have been going on lately. So, thank you!