The Associated Press has picked up a “feel good” story which some of you may have seen regarding a dog in the Ozark City pound in Alabama who was injected with drugs designed to kill him but who survived. It’s a story that pops up in the news somewhat regularly – pets who have been either injected or gassed for convenience at the pound but do not die. Sometimes they are re-killed, sometimes the staff decides to do their jobs and find placement for the animals. In the current Alabama case, it’s the latter and the dog is now living in a foster home, reportedly doing well.
Where the AP dropped the ball in its reporting:
The dog was owner surrendered to the Ozark City pound on August 19 after having been hit by a car. His leg was broken and he was bleeding from various cuts. The pound left him to suffer until September 10. On that day, the contracted vet, whose identity is being kept hidden by the city, showed up to kill all the animals the pound didn’t want to deal with anymore. This dog was one of them. He was killed in a kennel, likely in view of other animals, and left on the concrete because it was late afternoon and apparently no one felt like bagging all the bodies before quitting time. He was walking around the pen when workers showed up the next morning.
The AP describes him as a “dog that nobody wanted” but clearly he was wanted, as he was pulled by a rescue group and is now living in a foster home. The Ozark City pound attempted to have him killed for convenience – theirs, after leaving him to suffer with a broken leg and various injuries for 3 weeks. The contracted vet’s name should be a matter of public record since taxpayers are presumably footing the bill for this person’s convenience killing services.
I’m glad this dog survived, that his broken leg is now in a cast, and that he is living in a home. I’m considerably less pleased with the AP for painting such a rosy picture of the entire horrifying ordeal. And needless to say, I’m completely disgusted with the city of Ozark for failing to shelter animals in need and trying to hide the name of its contracted pet killer from the media.
This feel good story does not feel so good to me. And I wasn’t the one dragging a broken leg around for weeks only to get injected with poison by the people charged with protecting me.
More often then not shelters/POUNDS are a legal way of getting away with animal abuse! PERIOD.
Thank you! You articulated everything I was thinking when I read this story yesterday.
Can personnel who left he animal to die be jailed? Sure hope so!! Jacqueline O’Connor POB 2552Sierra Vista, AZ 85636(520) 335-2499 The greatest menace to freedom is inert people. (Louis Brandeis, 1927)No one loves armed missionaries. (Maximilien Robespierre) If the good people don’t go into politics, the scoundrels surely will. (Judge Levi S. Udall). Patriotism is often the cry extolled when morally questionable acts are advocated by those in power. (Bradley Manning, 8/21/13)
Just so much disturbing here. The vet is clearly NOT certifying death – how many living animals were bagged and taken to the dump or incinerated in the past, one has to wonder?
THREE WEEKS on a broken leg?! How do they not face criminal charges for that?
Did they even bother trying to contact a rescue when the dog came in? “The dog nobody wanted”? Did ANYONE other than shelter workers even know that the dog was there, suffering and untreated?
This is NOT a feel-good story, it’s an unfolding horror show of nightmare proportions.
Please, I know that animals are suffering everywhere that’s why I want to become involved in the No Kill movement but I can’t take a steady diet of these horrible stories. Please, help to give us the answers…..we know the story. Many thanks, I know we are both working for the same result. Rosalie Kleopfel
Sent from my iPad
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These stories, as awful as they are to read, ARE important. YOU might know the story and that what happened is wrong, but the general public has been fed a lie that no shelter worker WANTS to kill or harm animals, and that everything they do is someone else’s fault. It’s stories like this and blogs like this that helped completely change my mind about our shelter system. Not everyone who visits this blog knows the truth, and stories like this may very well make them pause and rethink everything they thought they knew. Also, telling the REAL story is a way of honoring this poor dog that ‘no one wanted’ (except the people who did). Telling the stories of animals that shelters killed because they could honors animals that would otherwise be forgotten and swept under the rug.
On the story itself…if any owner let their hit-by-car dog with a broken leg go untreated for 3 weeks, they would surely face charges. Just fine and dandy for a shelter to do it, though…
There are proven ways for a community to go no-kill and they are spelled out very clearly. Check out No Kill Advocacy Center and Road Map to Reform, both linked on the side of this blog. There is no need to reinvent the wheel here. It takes people who care and are committed to stop the killing to make sure those in charge are aware and take the right action. From the number of these stories (and, yes, they do need to be told) the lie that no one wants to kill is just that – a lie.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the stories, so I suggest that you start locally. Find out what is going on in YOUR shelter and work to fix that. With social media, none of us needs to fight the good fight alone, anymore!
Tired Caregiver, I hear you! However, we all choose to read this blog or not. I’ve been through several phases of not being able to stomach one more post about animal abuse or neglect by a paid employee of a *shelter*…but I keep on reading because hiding my head in the sand doesn’t make it go away and it doesn’t make it better for anybody.
What makes it go away is people everywhere standing up and saying NO MORE. And what makes it better is getting involved locally and discovering that my own back yard is not as evil as MAS, and many of the local excuses are not nearly as tired as some of the ones posted day after day on this blog. I personally appreciate Shirley being willing to keep posting these horrific stories, and her willingness dig deeper and shine a light into the ugly often hidden truth. I couldn’t do it!
Sometimes I’m a tired caregiver too. But it always helps to spend time with the animals and appreciate the living. I hope you can find peace in that space too.
I believe it’s very important to educate reporters and editors about this issue. They have no idea that we’re seeing a historic shift in approaches to animal sheltering — they’re typically generalists and have no access to the information we have.
To complain in this instance (obviously I’d suggest including the URL for this blog entry):
1. Email the reporter’s bureau chief — the bureau chief’s are responsible for everything the bureau does, and has a hand in okaying assignments and story approaches:
Alabama Chief of Bureau Michelle Williams: MWilliams@ap.org
2. Tweet to the reporter, the bureau chief, and the AP as a whole, again including the URL for this blog entry:
@Jay_Reeves
@souatlchief
@AP
*the bureau chiefs are responsible for everything their bureaus do*
*and have a hand in*
Typing too fast, sorry.
I despise shelters! They’re a bunch of bastards getting away with animal abuse! Enough is enough. It’s time we all contacted legislators and complain! Maybe we can make a difference if many of us get the word out! We need more sanctuaries, not shelters staffed by lazy,incompetent, psychotic bastards! If anyone has an idea, let us know. We’ll be more effective as a large group! I’m sick of the crap put out by SPCA and other large groups who want dogs killed. It’s election time and if we stand as a group we might make a difference! There is also a site called mail President!