Tag Archives: Animal Shelters

Dr. Laura makes some unfortunate comments about pit bulls

Posted on by
No Gravatar

During a recent segment of her national radio show, Dr. Laura Schlessinger suggested bluntly that all pit bulls in shelters should be “put down.”

She claimed that 95 percent of the dogs at a shelter she visited recently were pit bulls or pit bull mixes and nobody wants them.

A Huffington Post article notes Schlessinger chuckled before sayings, “people are grinding out pit bulls and dumping them… So don’t walk around with a pit bull because no one will talk to you.”

There’s so much wrong with her comments. Where do I start? First – her comments are irresponsible in terms of claiming 95 percent of the dogs in the shelter she visited were pit bulls or pit mixes. She is obviously far from being an expert on dogs. So how is she able to identify a mix-breed dog?

I’ve seen a lot dogs identified as a pit bull mixes that just look a little bit like maybe the physical characteristics slightly match a pit bull.

Purebred dogs of nearly all varieties are becoming homeless every day. The countless breed-specific rescue groups for all of these breeds, all over the nation, are evidence of this fact. Rescue groups don’t form to merely sit around with nothing at all to do.

The reason she allegedly found so many pit bulls and mixes in that shelter, was probably the fact that the purebred homeless dogs in the area are being cared for by rescue groups.

And of course, not all pit bulls are dangerous at all. You don’t see animal lovers claiming all talk-radio shows should be banned because some hosts make uneducated remarks on a regular basis. We don’t do that to her; why should she make a similarly-broad statement about dogs?

And then there is the key element of how misguided Dr. Laura is on this topic. Why not speak out strongly against the people responsible for the number of homeless dogs she saw that day?

Why blame the dogs with a death sentence and let the guilty wander around free to produce more homelessness and death?

PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and Logic

North Carolina officially drops the use of shelter gas chambers

Posted on by
No Gravatar

There’s some very good news out of my home state of North Carolina. The Department of Agriculture has served notice to county municipal animal shelters that the use of gas chambers is no longer acceptable.

A vast majority of the state’s shelters had already stopped using gas chambers of horror to euthanized homeless pets. A WUNC article from December 9 reports the new standards in North Carolina match recommendations from the American Veterinary Medical Association, Humane Society of the United States and American Humane Association.

The AVMA changed its stance on gas chambers in 2013.

Because we know animals experience emotional as well as physical suffering, it makes the use of gas chambers particularly cruel. The animals certainly experience fear when they are stuffed into the dark chambers and then experience respiratory distress once the gas is turned on, until the end finally comes.

Too often, a group of animals are stuffed inside for a mass killing.

It is a horrible way to die. The only acceptable method to euthanize an animal is through injection. I long for the day when shelters no long euthanize animals. If only more more people understood the importance of sterilization and the importance of caring for their pets as a lifelong commitment.

The policy in North Carolina goes into effect on February 15 of 2015.

Wayne Pacelle of Humane Society of the wrote about the news on his Humane Nation blog.

The HSUS produced this map showing the current map of where gas chambers are used or have been banned:

HSUS-gas-chamber-map

PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and Logic

Injured dog shot and killed at NC animal shelter

Posted on by
No Gravatar

An injured basset hound was recently shot and killed at the Franklin County Animal Shelter in North Carolina.

WRAL quoted Sheriff Jerry Jones as saying, “The animal director decided to shoot the dog at the kennel at the animal shelter instead of waiting for someone to euthanize it medically.”

The report indicates the basset hound was placed in a kennel with a pit bull and two got into a fight. At first, the staff believed the basset’s injuries were not severe. It was reportedly TWO DAYS later when the director shot the dog, when he felt it was in pain.

The individual who placed the basset in with the pit bull has been let go, but the director and the rest of the staff will undergo training.

Nowhere is it reported that anyone considered taking the basset to a veterinarian, over the two-day span. A lack of understanding about animal self-awareness and capacity for suffering is unfortunately still prevalent in our society. This is clear in reading over a number of the comments under the WRAL story.

Some people still feel dogs are only dogs and cats are only cats – and these people can’t comprehend anything more.

 

PACK MENTALITY BLOG: Compassion - teamed with Science and Logic