The American Veterinary Medical Association states that cats should be microchipped “by a licensed veterinarian or under supervision of a licensed veterinarian” via subcutaneous injection in the area between the shoulder blades. I don’t know whether the terrible Rowan Co pound in NC follows the recommendations of the AVMA regarding microchipping but since the procedure is pretty straightforward, any significant deviation being part of the protocol seems highly unlikely. And yet, somehow a cat named Cooper had his jaw broken reportedly during the injection of a microchip at the Rowan Co pound on Tuesday. Cooper is being fostered by Debbie Orbison:
Orbison said Cooper was healthy when shelter staff brought the cat into a closed-to-the-public area of the shelter. Cooper was bleeding from the mouth after being microchipped, Orbison said.
“I can’t say what happened, but when he went back to get microchipped he was fine,” she said. “He came back with a fractured jaw.”
A state inspector is investigating the incident and Rowan Co has placed an ACO on paid leave during the investigation. The county has refused to name the ACO.
Cooper has already undergone one surgery on his jaw and will require additional surgeries.
While we wait for the state to conclude its investigation, it’s hard not to imagine what sort of obscene cruelty might have resulted in this cat’s jaw being fractured in two places. It puts me in mind of former Memphis pound employee Frank Lightfoot who was observed by an undercover police officer stepping on a cat with both feet after he failed to kill the cat via injection. And of the Chesterfield Co, SC pound workers who reportedly beat cats in the head with pipes “to knock them out.”
And I can’t help but wonder what type of an environment exists at the Rowan Co pound that someone capable of this cruelty would be employed. What else has happened on this director’s watch? I mean, besides mandatory cat killing, dragging an injured dog on a chokepole then throwing him in the gas chamber, and deeming most animals “unadoptable” as an excuse for killing them. What else has gone on in that closed-to-the-public area of the shelter?
But of course of course OF COURSE we must remember that these folks wouldn’t work there if they didn’t love animals and it’s a hard job and if only the public would spay and neuter, shelter cats wouldn’t have to get their jaws broken during a routine injection under the skin. Dang that irresponsible public!
(Thanks Lisa for the links.)