-I went to the shelter after (a person) came to my house to ask why 2 med. sized dogs were in a small cage by the gate w/no food or water. She saw it at noon time.  Someone from Lubb was also meeting me there to view dog for adoption.  The 2 dogs were in a dog trap w/no access to food/water.  I figured Zeek didn't have time to put them anywhere and would take care of it as soon as he came in Sun. morning.  I didn't have a catch pole since I was not on-duty and these were not friendly dogs. 

-most cages not hosed out at all and had caked feces from day before.  I knew this b/c I had moved one dog out of a cage and it was empty a day and a half and never hosed out, so it wasn't just new feces. 

-no food/water for a cat in a small cat trap laying on the ground when it could have been moved to an actual cage and given a food/water dish.

-other 4 cats in cat cages without food or water.

 

-I went to shelter (again on volunteer time) to show another person a dog to adopt.  The 2 med. sized dogs were still in the dog trap by the front gate w/out food or water or anywhere to use the bathroom.  It was in the 80's outside.  The trapped cat was still in the cat trap on the ground with no food or water.  Still no food or water in the cat cages.  I fed and watered them yesterday, but they were bone dry today so I know it wasn't done today.  I tried to remove the cat from the trap into a cage but I coultn't without a catch pole and it was feral.  I ended up being able to slide a dish into the trap but it still tried to attack me.  The dog cages were in the same condition but worse than yesterday.  The empty dirty cage was on day 3.  I called the Police Dept to see if Zeek called in sick and if I needed to get on the clock.  They said he came in at 9:00 am.  I pulled the extremely heavy metal dog trap out of the sun and into the shade.  I put 2 bowls of food in there and a large bowl of water.  They drank like they were desperate.  The people that came to adopt a dog (from Lubb) looked horrified at the conditions and said they would pass.  I was very embarrassed.  One dog was out of it's cage b/c of the rotting kennels and attacked Hercules (the guard dog).  Hercules had blood all on the side of his face.  I didn't have a catch pole and hoped this dog wasn't viscious.  I finally caught him and secured him in a pen.

 

Talked to Chief today about euthanization taking a very long time, cats not being cared for and putting euthanized animals in black bags while they are still breathing and taking them to the firing range to be put on the dead animal trailer while they are still breathing.  I have no doubt that they are covered in the trash hole at the landfill while they're still breathing.  I called the vet's office for advice and was told to put injection in large muscle instead of under the arm.  We did this and with a longer needle.  It still took over 2 hours for them to die.  Some flopped around for 20 minutes or so, some longer, then they would dream and act like they were running.  Gradually they would stop moving but their bellies still moved up and down like normal.  I refused to put them in a bag to get them to the truck if they were breathing and told Zeek if he wanted to, he'd have to do it himself b/c it was inhumane.  He did it himself.  The first time I helped with putting them down, they all went in bags breathing right away. 

-Zeek kicked 1 black dog in the head pretty hard with his steel-toed boot to see if it was alive still.  It was.  He jumped straight up out of his sleep.  We had done him first, 2 hours earlier.

-I went to get the Fatal-Plus for the cats while he got one in the catch pole for me to give the shot to.  He then told me, "I usually just choke these out."  I said, "what do you mean?" He said, "it's easier to choke them out with the catch pole and it doesn't take as long." I told him we weren't going to be doing that.  I hurried with the needle b/c the gray tabby he had was making horrible breathing noises from lack of oxygen.

-several of the dogs I refusede to bag were piled up on the tailgate with their bellies still moving.  One brown one not in a bag was breathing as Zeek dumped him onto the dead animal trailer.  Then we left for the landfill and they were thrown into the hole and the guy covered them up.

-Zeek told me he caught the cat from the trap on Fri and the 2 dogs on Fri.  If I hadn't gone up there on my time off they would have been there 3 days w/out food/water.

 

-I briefly told  Chief I need to schedule a time to talk to him.  He was busy (he had court).

-Zeek said he put dogs in trap b/c the pens were full.  Several only had 1 dog in them and can be doubled or tripled up.

 

-Talked to Chief about choking the cats out and all that happened on Monday.  I told him about it being in the state statutes that they can't be disposed of if they have vital signs.  Told him it still took too long-2 hours and that I read on the Internet that if sodium pentobarbital is administered in the muscle it should be in a dose 3 to 4 times the dose as intraveneous.  Told him about it being in the statutes that an animal shelter should not go w/out food/water for over 12 hours, etc.  Told him that Zeek says we can't feed an animal we pick up until the next day, etc.  I told him I couldn't be a part of anything unethical, or

illegal, or immoral. 

-That dog I had to catch who attacked Hercules WAS viscious and was there to be put down for killing goats.  Zeek told me to be careful w/it when I began euthanizing it.  I told him I already caught it by hand and carried it back to the cage the day before.

 

-Zeek and I took the dead animal trailer to town (after emptying it) and he hosed it off at the car wash leaving a chunk of Great Pyrenese fur and tissue (and some blood) in the drain.  He didn't even hose down the area on the ground before leaving.  Nasty, and not good for the next person coming through.  There is a hose at the firing range where we keep the trailer.

-(before dropping the trailer off we answered a call for animal at large), we spotted the white mother pit-bull that always gets out.  I went on foot to the front of a property to try to herd it towards Zeek who was in the alley.  Zeek got it with a lure of food and had it at the back of the truck when I made the corner around the house.  I saw him look around to see if anyone was looking and punch the dog because it was not wanting to go into the truck cage.  He doesn't know I saw him.  I said, "was she giving you trouble?" He said, "she didn't want to go in."

 

Euthanizations went better b/c I doubled the dosage for the weight of each dog.  1 dog went down in about 10 minutes.  The others in around 20.  Then on the last dog Zeek told me that Lieut Sillers told him that we can't use any more Fatal-Plus than it said on the directions.  I told him the directions are for intraveneous injections and if we don't it's going to be 2 hours before they die.  He told me that that was what Lieut said b/c of the cost of it.  I told Zeek if that was the way it was going to be I wouldn't be working here.  I gave less to the last dog b/c of what Zeek told me to do.  He wouldn't die.  We waited and waited and Zeek said we should give him more.  I gave 3 ml more.  He still wouldn't die.  Zeek said we should just go out there to the range and put a bullet in him if it was going to take that long.  We left.  It died by the time we got to the trailer.  It might actually be more humane to shoot them than the way it happens up here.  State statutes only allow for euthanization to be Sodium Pentobarbital in the vein, muscle or body cavity, or gassing them, though.

 

-Zeek knew I could only work 1 hour tonight because he wanted me to stay extra and help him with a skunk on Mon.  I wrote him a note last night in the truck saying there wasn't enough dog food to feed them the next day.  When I came in at 5:15 pm I asked Zeek if he got dog food.  He said no.  He told me to find Lieut Sillers to ask him for the WalMart card so I could buy some.  That was going to take longer than an hour (they're strict about me not going over my allowed p/t hours) and I was mildly irritated that I saw him driving around a lot today and he certainly had time to take care of getting 150 lbs of dog food during his 8 hour shift.  But it was fine and I was going to get it done.  I looked around for Lieut and never found him.  Finally I discovered he was gone.  I asked Zeek if had any suggestions.  (He and I were in the dispatch room in front of Mary the 911 dispatcher).  He said, "Just don't feed them today and go clean out the cages." I told him, "they've got to eat."  He said, "No they don't.  They can eat tomorrow."  (I feed them so that means waiting until tomorrow evening).  I kept saying they had to eat and he kept saying no they didn't.  Finally I just told the dispatcher to clock me out and I left.  I left my police radio, pepper spray and a note in Chief's door at his house telling him I quit and that I'd like him to call me so I could tell him why.  I can't work with someone who shouldn't even be allowed to be around animals much less in charge of them.  We have puppies (about 2 months) who really should be eating more than 1 time a day and they didn't get to eat at all today