Irresponsible public steps up to help pound pets after theft

The Currituck County pound staff had been planning a fundraiser to raise money for a new shelter. But then right before hurricane season, when long power outages are likely in their part of the state, someone stole their emergency power generators. So their fundraiser became a little more urgent.

But the story got picked up by TV and radio and suddenly the irresponsible public–you know, the people high-kill shelter directors and staff love to blame for all the killing–stepped forward to give the shelter two brand-new generators and $5,000 in donations all within less than 24 hours.

According to News Channel 3, after the news reports aired people called in donations to the shelter or walked in and handed the staff money. A local radio station teamed up with Lowes to get the generators donated and raise more than $1,000.

“Without the generosity we have had from the community for getting the new generators we would not have the air to breathe that we will now have when a hurricane comes through and we can’t open doors and windows,” said shelter staffer Ginger Sikes.

NC animal shelter statistics finally released

The NCDA&CS finally released the 2012 animal shelter statistics. Virginia releases theirs on March 1 every year like clockwork, but down here in Cackalacky things move much more slowly. The NC numbers come out whenever they come out (last year they were out on April 23.) You can get the reports at the NCDA&CS website in PDF and Excel format. You may also find a formatted version with further calculations, such as kill rates, added in here, and a spreadsheet that compares 2011-2012 dog and cat statistics here.

Many counties did not bother to report, and some of the numbers look obviously bogus. For example, the Pender County pound reported the exact same numbers of intakes, adoptions, reclaims and kills for cats as they did for dogs:

The cat numbers shown above are clearly a complete fabrication because according to receipts obtained through a public records request, the Pender County pound sold 660 dead cats to LBS Biological Inc. for $4 each between June 26, 2012, to Jan. 31, 2013,  or slightly more than seven months. What’s more, records obtained show that the Pender pound killed almost that many cats and dogs from Aug. 1, 2012 to Jan 31, 2013 alone, so the real number is certainly much higher.

There is no auditing or verification of any of the numbers in the report, so they could all be complete hogwash for all anyone knows.

Good riddance to the Sampson County gas chamber

The Sampson County gas chamber is gone at long last.

Photo: Sampson County Animal Shelter. See the whole series on Facebook.

Gas chambers remain in the following NC counties: Alamance (Burlington), Ashe, Beaufort, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Davidson, Gaston, Granville, Iredell, Martin, Nash, Randolph, Rowan, Union, Vance (not in use, but may be put back into use at any time), Wilkes, Wilson.

Animal advocates need to keep the pressure on until all gas chambers are removed from NC animal shelters. Contact information for gas chamber counties can be found here. A sample letter for inspiration is here.

Iredell County investigating animal control director

Iredell County officials are investigating allegations that Animal Control Director Chris Royal killed animals she shouldn’t have and sold animals for personal gain.

According to an article at wsoctv.com, someone sent an anonymous letter to county commissioners last week that was so detailed officials believed it may have come from someone inside the department.

One commissioner said the letter accused someone in animal control (presumably Royal) of seizing livestock and selling the animals. It’s not clear what is meant by the allegation that she killed animals she shouldn’t have (especially considering that almost every public “animal shelter” in the state is killing healthy and treatable pets they shouldn’t be killing …)

Iredell is one of the North Carolina counties still using a gas chamber.

Inspector finds cats kept in traps for three days at Pender County pound

On a surprise visit to the Pender County pound on Monday, March 11, the NCDA&CS inspector discovered two cats who had been held in traps without litter pans for three days. “Feces was noted on the floor where they sat,” according to the report. The inspector “advised manager not to allow traps to be set unless there is an adequate shelter enclosure available for the cats.”

The impulse to bring in more cats than there is room for could be because dead cats are a revenue source for the Pender County pound. Between June 26, 2012, to Jan. 31, 2013, the Pender County Animal “Shelter” sold 660 dead cats to LBS Biological Inc. for $4 each, according to receipts obtained through a public records request. That’s $2,640 in revenue over a seven-month period, which means that over the course of a year, dead cat sales could potentially bring in nearly $4,500 in revenue. The cat-selling practice raised at least one county commissioner’s eyebrows when it was revealed last month.

LBS Biological sells the cats to Carolina Biological Supply, which turns them into dissection kits so that school children can learn all about the miracle of life in biology class.

Is this your lost kitty?

A request for records of all animal-killing drugs purchased for the Pender pound between August 2012 and Jan. 31, 2013 revealed that $636.60 was spend on Fatal Plus and Ketathesia (ketamine) during that time period. During the same period, pound staff used the drugs to kill 769 cats and dogs, one chicken, one dove and 27 opossums, raccoons and foxes.* The revenue from the sale of dead cats appears to more than cover the Pender County pound’s business of killing animals.

Given that the capture and sale of cats is a revenue source for the Pender pound, it’s not hard to see why they would disregard animal welfare laws to trap more cats than they have room to house.

Pender is not the only so-called “shelter” in NC that  profits from killing and selling animals. LBS Biological obtains cats from shelters in 34 NC counties and cities (including Brunswick, Onslow, New Hanover, Duplin Beaufort, Lenoir and Surry). LBS is just one of many dealers operating in NC and elsewhere in the US to obtain animals for dissection or experimentation.

Other problems found in the March 11 Pender County pound inspection included:

• 18 sick cats with matted eyes and nasal mucus who had not been provided any medical care. Shelter staff killed the cats during the inspection.
• Dog biscuits lying on top of a storage cabinet and an open box of dog treats were noted in multipurpose room. 
• Spilled dry food inside an outdoor storage building
• Holes in the metal walls of indoor dog kennels. Dogs noted urinating and sticking their feet through the holes.
• Chewed dog houses in the outdoor kennels.
• Seven cats in a kennel with two litter pans (acceptable ratio is one  pan per three cats).
• Cat urine and and feces and spilled dry food inside an outdoor  food/bedding storage building.
• Trash around the storage building and the kennels.
• The cat isolation area is in a poor location in that workers must pass through the healthy cat room therefore may easily transmit disease to the healthy cats. (It was recommended that fixing that deficiency be a long-term capital improvement project.)

There is  to be a follow-up inspection to see if the deficiencies have been corrected on March 25, 2013.

Pender County Photo Gallery (all photos taken while shelter open to public):

Keeping the cigarettes dry.

Dead cats wait to be stuffed in the freezer for pickup by LBS Biological.

Harvesting the cash crop.

A dog enjoys the cleanest place in his kennel.

I wonder why more people don’t go to shelters to adopt?

Dog in poop-filled kennel at Pender County Animal Shelter.

“Damn this shelter sucks.”

Dog food with a side of poop.

Dead cats waiting to be stuffed in the freezer for pickup by LBS Biological

Very skinny dog.

Watch where you step

The smoking lounge?

___

* The killing log notes that many opossums and raccoons were killed for being “feral.”  Isn’t that pretty much a NORMAL way to be for wild animals? Why are they not being released back into their habitat? Depending on how and why they are trapped, the impoundment and killing of these animals may not actually be legal under NC law. According to The NC Division of Wildlife management, if an ACO sets a trap for a cat and by chance captures an opossum, the animal must be released from the trap on sight and should not be relocated or euthanized. If a depredation permit has been issued for the removal of an animal causing damage then it could be euthanized by the animal control officer or at the animal shelter if that is where animal control captures are killed. Also, if an animal is rabid or displays disease-like symptoms for rabies ACO’s are responsible for capturing those animals euthanizing them and submitting them for testing. The NCWRC statues and rules addressing this issue are G.S. Chapter 113 Article 21 and 22 and Title 15A NCAC 10B .0106. Back

Abolish the Granville County gas chamber!

Animal advocates in Granville County are hoping county officials will consider a recent grant offer by HSUS NC director Kim Alboum to get rid of the animal shelter’s gas chamber. Members of the North Carolina Responsible Animal Owners’ Alliance, a group that supports the use of the gas chamber to kill shelter pets, are arguing for Granville County to refuse the grant and keep its gas chamber in operation.

It’s important that county leaders understand that the barbaric gas chamber is a throwback to our less-civilized past and has no place in a modern, humane animal shelter. Animal advocates need to contact the Granville County manager and commissioners (see contact info below) and urge them to end the use of and remove the gas chamber from the county animal shelter.  A sample letter can be used as a template for your own letters to these officials. More points to use in a letter can be found in the American Humane Association gas chamber fact sheet. 

Granville County officials’ contact information:

County Manager: Brian Alligood, brian.alligood@granvillecounty.org, P.O. Box 906 Oxford,  NC  27565, 919-693-5240

Commissioners:

• Edgar Smoak: edgar.smoak@granvillecounty.org, 407 East F Street, Butner, NC 27509
• David T. Smith: david.smith@granvillecounty.org, 207 Holly Drive,  Oxford, NC 27565
• Zelodis Jay:  zelodis.jay@granvillecounty.org, 8009 Highway 96 North, Oxford, NC 27565
• R. David Currin, Jr.: dave.currin@granvillecounty.org, 2578 Joe Pruitt Road, Oxford, NC 27565
• Tony W. Cozart: tony.cozart@granvillecounty.org, 4056 Peace’s Chapel Road, Oxford, NC 27565
• Ed Mims:  ed.mims@granvillecounty.org, 2204 Regent Court,Creedmoor, NC 27522
• Timothy Karan:  timothy.karan@granvillecounty.org, 2763 Garland Court, Creedmoor, NC 27522

Pender County forming Animal Shelter Advisory Committee

Attention Pender County No Kill advocates: Please, please apply to be on the county’s new Animal Shelter Advisory Committee. County commissioners will select three members for the positions of citizen-animal rights champion, citizen at-large and veterinarian.

The application is here.

If you don’t end up getting selected, please go to their meetings anyway, which will be subject to NC’s open meetings law. They need more watchdogs over that awful pound.

Davidson County pound killed almost 10 times more pets than were adopted out in 2012

According to this article, the Davidson County pound adopted out 669 animals last year, “which is up from the past two years.” Yes, it’s 42 more pets than the 627 they adopted out in 2011. (The 2011 number is 132 pets more than the 495 they adopted out in 2010).

The Davidson pound killed  6,591 animals in 2012, which is 417 fewer than they killed in 2011. It’s also 9.85 times more animals than they adopted out in 2012. Without knowing the total intake for 2012, we cannot calculate if the actual kill rate went up or down from the 87.12 percent killed at the Davidson County pound in 2011.

One small tiptoe toward progress is that fewer of these animals died in the barbaric gas chamber (2,341) than by relatively more humane lethal injection (4,250). However, given that more than 90 percent of the killing at shelters is unnecessary and completely preventable, it’s very small consolation.

Pender County pound volunteers required to attend re-education session

More than two months ago, Pender County pound employee Darlene Clewis sent all of the pound’s volunteers a notice telling them they were not welcome at the shelter until further notice:

From: Darlene Clewis <darleclew@aol.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 5:14 PM
Subject: updated volunteer procedures

we are currently updating our volunteer procedures until this is done we ask that you be patient with us every one will be notified with the new volunteer sheet. no volunteers at the shelter until the new policy is in place.

Some believe this was done because Pender volunteers were telling other folks what sort of things went on that the pound, and apparently Clewis and former director Keith Ramsey* didn’t like that.

The new policy appears to be in place now, because the volunteers have all been invited back to the pound for a volunteer orientation, or re-education in the case of existing volunteers, this Saturday, February 16, at 11 am.

Would it be surprising if the re-education includes volunteers being made to sign an unconstitutional “confidentiality clause?” Maybe not. Directors and staff of high-kill pounds like Pender often prefer to intimidate volunteers into keeping their mouths shut than to be held accountable for dismal conditions, questionable practices and high kill rates.

Fortunately for animal advocates who want to improve conditions for and save the lives of pets in pounds, it is illegal to ban or retaliate against volunteers or rescuers who exercise their First Amendment rights by talking about what they see going on at the pound. A federal statute best known as “Section 1983,” has been successfully used by animal advocates whose ability to help or save shelter pets was restricted  after they went public with their observations of shelter conditions and neglectful treatment.

In fact, the very existence of a mandatory “confidentiality” agreement could be considered a threat of retaliation against a volunteer or rescuer exercising his or her constitutionally protected rights. In the words of attorney Sheldon Eisenberg, (who successfully sued the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control in such a case):

A question may arise as to whether a volunteer or rescuer needs to wait for a government official to follow through on a threat to retaliate before filing a claim under Section 1983 or whether a threat of retaliation alone is sufficient to trigger one. For example, some volunteers have been told by officials that publicly speaking about a shelter will result in the volunteer being banned. Since the whole point of a Section 1983 retaliation claim is to prevent the “chilling” (discouragement) of constitutionally protected rights, it seems clear enough that a threat of retaliation for exercising those rights, which is specifically designed to obstruct the exercise of those rights, should be sufficient to satisfy the actual injury element of a Section 1983 claim. (From: Section 1983 To The Rescue)

There is also precedent under US statues for the prevailing party to recover all attorney fees in a suit filed in vindication of civil rights. This means that volunteers and rescuers, who often don’t have a lot of money to hire lawyers, may be able to find an attorney who would take such a case on contingency. For more about Section 1983 and its application to animal shelters, see Sheldon Eisenberg’s slide show.

The Pender County pound volunteer orientation is open to new and existing volunteers. The pound is located at 3280 New Savannah Rd. Burgaw, NC 28425. Phone: 910-259-1484.

*In January, the animal shelter was taken from under the control of the Pender County sheriff’s department and put under the county manager, so Ramsey, a sheriff’s lieutenant, is no longer director and Darlene Clewis (who was director before the sheriff  took over the shelter) is back in that spot.

Johnston County may be getting rid of gas chamber for real

Forwarded emails aren’t always the best source of information. But I got one the other day that a knowledgeable source says is true. It originated from someone who had spoken to Ernie Wilkinson, the director of the Johnston County pound and said:

He was happy to share the following news — use of the gas chamber to euthanize was discontinued last week.  The chamber is still on site, temporarily, but is no longer in use and all gas canisters have been disposed of.  The chamber will be dismantled and removed in the near future.  The shelter was waiting for issuance of its drug license, which came, and now all euthanasia will be done by injection.

Wilkinson had announced in December that he was planning to reduce gas chamber use but retain the contraption for use on “vicious”animals.

While getting rid of the gas chamber altogether will represent progress, there is no reason to be killing healthy, treatable and rehabilitatable animals at all in the face of lifesaving alternatives. The next step for Johnston County should be to implement ALL of the proven lifesaving steps of the “No Kill Equation“:

• Feral Cat TNR Program Trap-Neuter Release (TNR) programs allow shelters to reduce death rates of free-living cats. Traditional methods of managing the feral cat populations have involved removing cats from their home territories and euthanizing them. Modern community cat management strategies involve neutering the cats and returning them to their capture site (TNR). As a neutered community cat population ages, the number of cats will decrease by natural attrition and will not be replaced by subsequent generations. Numerous studies have shown that trap/neuter/return is the most effective way to reduce community cat populations over time, and it is the only successful method to keep feral cats from being euthanized.
• High Volume, Low Cost Spay and Neuter Services No-and low-cost, high-volume spay and neuter reduces the number of animals entering the shelter system, allowing more resources to be allocated toward saving lives. These services should be readily available to targeted populations of people unable to afford the surgery at the normal rate and/or specific jurisdictions within a community known for having a large number of unaltered animals. These services have been proven to reduce shelter intake, making spay and neuter incredibly cost effective.
• Rescue Partnerships Rescue groups provide a valuable resource to shelters. An adoption or transfer to a rescue group free up kennel space, reduce expenses, and will improve a community’s rate of lifesaving. Partnerships between shelters and rescue groups are vital, and rare is the circumstance in which a licensed rescue group would be denied an animal.
• Foster Care Volunteer foster care is a low-cost and often no-cost way of increasing a shelter’s capacity, caring for sick and injured or behaviorally challenged animals, and thus saving more lives. Providing temporary foster care to litters of puppies or kittens that are too young for adoption, animals who are shy, those that need some extra TLC, or animals who need special medical attention can dramatically increase the lifesaving capacity.
• Comprehensive Adoption Adoptions are vital to the lifesaving mission. The quantity and quality of shelter adoptions is in shelter management’s hands, making lifesaving a direct function of shelter policies and practice. If shelters better promoted their animals and had adoption programs responsive to community needs, including public access hours for working people, providing a welcoming atmosphere and excellent customer service, offsite adoptions, adoption incentives, and effective marketing, contrary to conventional wisdom, shelters can adopt their way out of killing.
• Pet Retention While some surrender of animals to shelters are unavoidable, others can be prevented-but only if shelters work with people to help them solve their problems. Saving animals requires shelters to develop innovative strategies for keeping people and their companion animals together. And the more a community sees its shelters as a place to turn for advice and assistance, the easier this job will be.
• Medical and Behavioral Programs To meet its commitment to a lifesaving guarantee for all savable animals, shelters need to keep animals happy and healthy and keep animals moving efficiently through the system. To do this, shelters must put in place comprehensive vaccination, handling, cleaning, socialization, and care policies before animals get sick and rehabilitative efforts for those who come in sick, injured, un-weaned, or traumatized.
• Public Relations/Community Involvement Increasing adoptions, maximizing donations, recruiting volunteers and partnering with community agencies comes down to increasing the shelter’s public exposure. And that means consistent marketing and public relations. Public relations and marketing are the foundation of a shelter’s activities and success.
• Volunteers Volunteers are a dedicated “army of compassion” and the backbone of a No Kill effort. There is never enough staff, never enough dollars to hire more staff, and always more needs than paid human resources. That is where volunteers make the difference between success and failure and, for the animals, life and death.
• Proactive Redemptions One of the most overlooked areas for reducing killing in animal control shelters are lost animal reclaims. Shifting from a passive to a more proactive approach has allowed shelters to return a large percentage of lost animals to their families.
• Compassionate Director The final element of the No Kill Equation is the most important of all, without which all other elements are thwarted–a hard working, compassionate animal shelter director who is willing to be accountable to results by implementing these programs. Get the right people on the team who bring strong, knowledgeable, flexible, and inspired leadership!