I’m originally from Duplin County, North Carolina. There is a paper published every Thursday in a small town near the county seat. This Thursday’s edition featured an article about a family whose 7-month-old black lab ran off, and was picked up by the Duplin County Animal Shelter. A neighbor, who had originally purchased the dog, called the animal shelter on Tuesday, May 13; the dog warden confirmed that the pup had been picked up, but wouldn’t allow the neighbor to come get the dog because the shelter is only open one hour each day. The warden did say that the shelter would hold the dog until Wednesday.
On Wednesday May 14, the neighbor went to the animal shelter, only to be told by the warden that the dog had been gassed (with propane) that morning. The dog warden refused to turn over the dog’s remains, or even reveal where the dog was buried. Further investigation by the neighbor revealed that the dog, along with 60 other animals, had been buried at the county landfill (I didn’t know that was legal).
Two other similar incidents have occurred at the shelter, which is not surprising as the dog warden doesn’t keep records on the animals as required by state law (there is an “unwritten” rule at this shelter that animals are to be held 5-7 days before being propaned). The family, of course is devastated and enraged; the mother of the girl who was the primary caregiver of the dog had a letter published in that same paper detailing the laws broken by the animal shelter, including several dealing with living conditions.
I considered posting this in the Pit (although I still wouldn’t be allowed to state what I want done with the dog warden), but I do have a question: is there anything I can do about this? The family and their neighbor seem to have the local government well covered; they’ve already spoken with the county manager (although he wasn’t much help), and the neighbor is scheduled to speak at this Monday’s meeting of the Duplin County Board of Commissioners. I’m wondering if any person/agency at the state level has been notified about this case, or the two other cases.
What a horrid story. Do you have a prominent animal welfare group in your area/state that could take this up? I’m not from the U.S. so I’m not sure if you can do this, but here we can contact representatives of various animal welfare groups, such as the RSPCA and AWL, who, on the owner’s behalf, can take action against your local representatives and those who run the shelter. We can also have the case brought to the attention of the Department of Local Government who monitor the different departments in all councils (similar to your county areas) in the state, including the animal shelters they run. If none of that is applicable to where you are, perhaps the owner of the puppy could publicise the shoddy way the shelter operates, and perhaps they should seek legal advice.
I can’t believe they gas the dogs. The practice of herding them into death chambers for gassing are long gone and illegal here. Duplin County Animal Shelter really needs to fix the negative image they’ve created…they can start by firing the people who run it. I always thought the purpose of an animal shelter was that they are supposed to be a sanctuary to reduce unnecessary euthanasia and maximise the re-homing of animals. Having that animal shelter open only one hour per day gives little hope for people to go to the shelter to adopt an animal, let alone save their own pet who has been impounded. Fortunately, a lot of the larger animal shelter here are open seven days a week to the public, and all have a policy to hold stray dogs for seven days to maximise the opportunity for an owner to locate the missing animal.
BTW: The sad thing is, if the puppy had been microchipped, his death could very well have been avoided.
Does every animal shelter have a reader? I’m wondering how expensive these devices are, and if a low-funded shelter would be able to afford one. If not, perhaps a tag on the dog’s collar or an ear tatoo might have been more effective.
Every animal shelter in my state is required to have a microchip reader…but that’s because microchipping your pet is compulsory here. I’m not sure what the microchipping status is in the U.S.A. Tattoos are a good idea. All my pets have a tattoo inside their ear, but that’s a marking to show they’ve been desexed. A simple dog tag would have definitely worked. Either way, a shelter needs to be able to identify an animal and it’s owner so they can be reunited ASAP so things like the death of this puppy can be avoided.
Lissa, I seriously doubt that this shelter has a reader. The article didn’t mention whether the dog had a collar or not; however, he was an indoor dog from the time he was purchased, and it’s not that uncommon for people in that area to leave the collar off of a dog in such a situation.
Necromancer, there is a separate Humane Society in Duplin County, but I didn’t even know it existed until I read that article. They interviewed one of the five individuals in charge of the society, but the only thing she had to say was that the animal shelter needed improvement. And the only animal welfare groups I’ve heard of in the area are in Wayne County, north of Duplin.
I had wondered about the legality of the gassing and the disposal of the bodies myself. The use of propane just seems weird–I had thought some other gas was used. I was also under the impression that vet clinics and shelters cremated the unclaimed remains, and that it’s also illegal to dispose of biohazardous waste (which would include animal bodies) at a landfill, whether or not they’re buried.
I’m really surprised that I haven’t seen this on the local news; they typically jump on stuff like this. I guess the family is too upset to deal with camera crews, but I would think that the focus would be on the shelter itself–especially if the station sent out a “troubleshooter” team.