The Kingsport Animal Shelter reportedly killed 103 cats in response to an upper respiratory virus at the facility last month. At the neighboring Washington County – Johnson City Animal Shelter, 276 cats were killed. Killing cats for having colds is inexcusable. But the directors of both facilities seem to be rather non-chalant about all the violence:
“276 cats, it’s a lot of cats in one month in fact one is too many,” said Washington County Johnson City Animal Shelter Director Debbie Dobbs.
[…]
“The cats come in sick, and once they come in sick then they contaminate the other cats that are here also,” said Sullivan County Bluff City Kingsport Animal Shelter Operations Manager Donna Davidson.
If that’s the case then that’s on you. Your job is to humanely shelter pets which for cats includes proper cage disinfection, stress reduction protocols, vaccination prior to or immediately upon intake and appropriate housing, including isolation for sick animals. If you were doing your job then cats who come in sick would not infect every other cat in the shelter. And just because you are failing to prevent mass outbreaks of disease does not give you carte blanche to use mass killing as a response.
More nonsense:
Dobbs and Davidson said the best thing cat owners can do to help fight the virus is spay and neuter pet cats which will help limit overcrowding (a huge factor in spreading the virus in the shelters).
It’s true that overcrowding makes it more likely that a virus will spread in a shelter but hullo – the pair of you just killed 379 sneezing cats and I see no indication of an intent to change practices. The locals spaying and neutering their pets is a good thing but it will do nothing to save the cats caged in your slaughterhouse right now. Only you can do that by doing your jobs.
Having a look at the Washington County – Johnson City pound’s webpage detailing its adoption policies, and it’s got all the awful. The second sentence:
If you are interested in breeding or have personal doubts about sterilization, you are looking for a pet in the wrong place.
Gee, how welcoming.
Next up is the price list where they outline that in addition to the $20 adoption fee, adopters must pay for the cost of the neuter surgery. If the pet you want to adopt is already neutered, you have to pay a $15 penalty. Because I don’t know. Oh and if you choose a dog who is about to give birth, they will spay her, kill the puppies and charge you extra. They don’t give vaccines either.
But anyway, it’s just a mountain of dead cats and cats come in sick and whaddaya gonna do – except spay and neuter of course.
(Thanks Clarice for the links.)
Too sad!! Were is your compassion for helpless, homeless and defenseless animals that are victims of neglect…. You certainly could provide better leadership??
THEY DON’T CARE!
So what I’m reading here is “People keep making us kill cats with their ignorance but we’d rather snark at them than educate them.”
Sounds like an accurate summation.
And you know, I love the reporting of “they HAD to euthanize cats”. No, they CHOSE to kill cats. It’s not a “have to” situation by any means. ALL shelters that house cats deal with viruses. How they deal with them is a choice they make.
Hospitals house sick residents, but THEY give THEIR residents MEDICINE, rather than POISON! Speciesism rears it’s ugly head again, revealing itself as the ROOT cause of “shelter” killing.
OMG! That is just unbelievable. What about a set adoption fee and only adopt after altered? What about isolation practices? Do they even work with rescues? Too many suggestions to leave here. Wow, and not in a good way.
When I read about these things, I can’t help but imagine our own cats there, at the mercy of mindlessly cruel people who repeat the same violent actions, and utter the same outrageously irrelevant sentences, over and over and over again. Our cats are spayed and neutered, but obviously, that wouldn’t make the slightest difference in what the shelter(s) chose to do to them. What a nightmare.
I’d LOVE for EVERY death camp operator, when they catch a cold, have a prankster come at them with a needle filled with blue dyed water, saying “Sorry, but you are a risk to others”. Wake up call!
THANK YOU for finally putting it plainly! Johnson City Shelter is THE WORST when it comes to dealing with cats…yet no one says a thing. Imagine the uproar if it was 379 dogs that were killled. Can’t afford vaccines? Ask them about their brand new $60,000 SIGN!!!! Day after getting it they had the nerve to beg online for pet food…and to constantly remind all those “irresponsible pet owners” that it’s THEIR FAULT they are always full! Brand new $1Million+ shelter and no ventilation or protocols for feline upper respiratory diseases? $1Million for a renovated building for their Humane Society, but not enough money for low-cost spay-neuter? Amazing how they and their cronies have the nerve to make false allegations about smaller local shelters even though those feline kill rates are a fraction of their own…of course, it’s not hard to beat 100%. Look for them to slaughter again as soon as they’re full…
Need to get if both women. Those type of person have no business running animals shelters. We need person who have love and compassion toward animals. NOT person who cut corner didn’t do their job and collect the paycheck.
I had a comment blocked when I suggested that the Kingsport Shelter reduce adoption rates to help promote adoptions. They responded that I didn’t understand how dangerous it was to reduce rates because it encouraged adoptions to the wrong type of people who might abuse them. I’m pretty sure killing pets with treatable conditions fits into the abuse category. It makes me ashamed to work in Kingsport!
I bet if they asked the animals they’d vote for life! Once they are dead, there are no do overs. Short sighted and stupid response.
The wrong type of people are running the shelters! They must have missed that isolation room class in ACO training.