AP: Vegas shelter euthanizes 1,000 animals

[catgirl]

LAS VEGAS - An outbreak of contagious diseases at a shelter where officials admit they kept animals for too long without destroying them has forced the killing of about 1,000 dogs and cats, officials said.

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Visiting inspectors from The Humane Society of the United States discovered the outbreak of the diseases — distemper and Parvovirus in dogs and panleukopenia in cats — Lied Animal Shelter spokesman Mark Fierro said.

The mass culling, which began Feb. 9, is believed to be the largest in the city's history and has prompted shelter officials to change their methods of caring for animals.

Animal rights activists said they were outraged by the killings.

"It's unforgivable in light of the fact that it was absolutely preventable," said Holly Stoberski, legal counsel for Heaven Can Wait Sanctuary, a group that has worked with Lied to find homes for impounded animals. "They were not properly vaccinating the dogs and cats in a timely manner."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070216/ap_on_re_us/animal_shelter_outbreak;_ylt=AjI4mUATMaNxmASp2lazfbSs0NUE

[catgirl]

1. Totally preventable

These animals were killed because the shelter didn't
care for them. Now they plan to reopen? And using
HSUS (Humane Society of the US) guidelines to
euthanize animals within 72 hours! How about
developing a good adoption program????

[Hell Hath No Fury]

2. And an aggressive...

spay/nueter program for the community so they don't have so many unwanted animals???

It's not rocket science, people!

[kestrel91316]

5. Preventable, yes. But the only way to do so is a HUGE

taxpayer expenditure on bigger, better facilities. Also, making sure that all animals were adequately and completely vaccinated prior entry would solve the problem, but that is of course impossible.

Infectious diseases go hand-in-hand with large commingled populations of vulnerable and sick animals.

In a shelter situation without adequate hospital-level isolation for the sick/contagious, euthanasia is the only rational, kind choice. IMHO, parvo dogs, distemper dogs, and panleuk cats in a shelter need IMMEDIATE euthanasia. URI cats, if managed aggressively with l-lysine, might not need to be.

Publically and privately funded "animal shelters" ARE NOT STATE-OF-THE-ART VETERINARY HOSPITALS. Nor should they be. That's not their job. They all came about as a public health measure, to protect people from animals roaming at large (animal attacks DO happen) and spreading deadly diseases (like rabies).

Our shelters are still overwhelmed. TOO MANY dogs and cats are reproducing. Too many "breeders" are MANUFACTURING status symbols for sale, displacing the already-born from potential homes in favor of the "new" and "cute" and "trendy". Too few pet owners REALLY understand what a serious responsibility pet ownership is, and are financially unprepared to uphold their end of the deal, instead expecting free or cheap care from veterinarians who in many cases barely make ends meet.

Euthanasia is a necessary evil.

[progressivebydesign]

6. deleted by poster n/t

[achtung_circus]

3. New York Times

"By Wednesday night, the shelter chairwoman, Janie Greenspun Gale, tearfully faced critics at a hastily called public meeting and said that the center’s policy was “misguided.”

Ms. Gale said her organization had been operating the shelter like a rescue operation and had not been euthanizing enough animals to keep the space safe and sanitary for the adoptable ones. From now on, she said, unadoptable animals will be euthanized after 72 hours at the shelter, as the Humane Society recommends."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/16/us/16animals.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[kestrel91316]

4. Why weren't they euthanizing UNADOPTABLE animals in a

timely manner before????

This is why I oppose "No-kill" policies. WAAAAYYYYYYY too much suffering by the chronically ill and dying........................

As for why this happened in the first place: Most of these poor animals were probably not vaccinated until they came into the facility. LISTEN UP, PEOPLE! This is like closing the barn door after tha horse has gotten out. Vaccination upon entry/exposure to disease conveys NO PROTECTION. This is the very nature of the beast when you are dealing with shelters. Good immunity requires a SERIES of vaccinations given over the course of time, relying on the body's immune system to respond to immune stimuli. We cannot alter the body's own timetable for these biological processes.

I have caught all kinds of hell for many years for being strict about vaccinations prior to (NOT at the same time as) entry to my hospital for elective procedures like spay/neuter, dentistry, lumpectomies, etc. But guess what? NOBODY, and I mean absolutely NOBODY has ever caught panleuk at my hospital, and only once did a patient catch a respiratory infection while here.

Unless WE THE TAXPAYERS are willing to PAY MORE TAXES to build bigger shelters with appropriate quarantine facilities for animals entering (who presumably have little or no immunity to these plagues) this is going to happen. We also need facilities to either provide isolation facilities for contagious animals or EUTHANIZE THEM to save the rest.

I really hate hearing the animal rights crowd screaming about this disaster because they bear part of the blame for their insistence on no-kill policies, which completely overload and overwhelm city and county animal services departments.

Sometimes we have to think about QUALITY OF LIFE rather than mere quantity.

The worst case of animal cruelty I ever saw, IMHO, was a poor dog at the hands of a "rescue" person. The dog had SEVERE brain damage from canine distemper (incurable, folks - INCURABLE - and she refused to permit euthanasia) who spent his days seizuring and wasting away without hope. He of course was UNABLE TO EAT because of the seizures, and was eventually skeletal. I put an end to it one night, being unable to watch such NEEDLESS, CRUEL suffering anymore, and as far as anybody knew the wretched thing just finally died. No-kill policies are not necessarily kind. This dog's "owner", BTW, was PROUD of keeping the dog alive in its misery. She thought she was heroic. I thought she was completely deranged.

End rant

[catgirl]

8. wow

I consider myself part of the "animal rights crowd". You have
portrayed everyone in that crowd as uncaring towards the
animals needs and health. No one who cares about animals
wants them to suffer. What this shelter did was criminal. They
didn't euthanize untreatable sick animals and aggressive
animals because they were inept at running this shelter, not
because they are a no-kill shelter.

No-kill shelters try to adopt or foster animals in their care.
As far as your comment about "rescuers", I'm assuming you're
referring to scam artists who run faux shelters just to make
money. Please don't lump us real rescuers together with these vile
people.

The bottom line is- shelters, kill or no-kill, need to be inspected
on a regular basis. There should be a strong adoption program,
as well as a spay/neuter program. Every city should have strict
laws in order to protect animals.

[achtung_circus]

9. As an SPCA enforcement officer

I have personally shut down 2 "rescues" and convinced several others they needed to be in another line of work. Rescues tend to be either very good or very bad. The bad ones aren't necessarily in it for the money, the worst ones genuinely believe they are helping.

The good ones have my wholehearted admiration.

[youngdem]

10. Well intended tragedy

They were keeping them all alive in a misguided attempt to save them all through adoption, and instead created a public health nuisance that had to be dealt with.

In all honesty, this is only news because they did a month's worth of euthanizing in one day. Nothing more.

That said, a national spay/neuter program should be created. There are cities that have successful no-kill policies that incorporate a capture/spay/release aspect as well.

[progressivebydesign]

7. That word "unadoptable" was left out the stories I read today! Thanks!!!

That makes much more sense!

[Sadie5]

11. I have two from rescue

and the folks I adopted the dogs from were very careful where they were placed. I adopted a Min Pin in September after mine died of Diabetes/Seizures and the Jack Russell was un-placeable with anyone. The rescuer worked with him before adoption, and he still has the aggressiveness he always had but we are working with him, he is getting better. The Min Pin is great but older, no problems with her. If not for caring rescuers they would both be euthanized by now.