I'm Going To Be Sick!

[Virgo10]

What on earth were they thinking?

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- 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.

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 rest of the story.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/16/shelter.outbreak.ap/index.html

How could you ever come to grips with destroying that many animals. My heart goes out to the people who had to carry out that order.

 

[helenabear]

makes you wish people were more willing to look into shelters and recuse groups for pets in the first place... I hate the thought of any animal destroyed (unless terminally ill)

 

[mamacatnv]

This has been going on for awhile, it was in our paper last week, they were trying to figure out if they could save them, but the numbers were just too great. Very sad event

 

[chager]

So NOW everyone gets upset!! Overcrowding is a huge problem. If I could save them all I would. I have 2 shelter babies(cat 12, Eskie 8), a stray baby(cat 2,was 3 weeks old, mama was dead and we took her and brother to raise. Brother now lives with my parents) , and a free baby(Aussie now 7months). Too many people just HAVE to have that perfect purebred puppy, or refuse to spay/nueter and have many unwanted babies (and can't figure out why ), get a "present" for someone, have life circumstances, decide their pet is "too old" and they don't want to be responsible for when they are close to the end, and many other excuses. This shelter thought they were doing something good according to the article and didn't realize they were really causing harm. My mom and I were just talking about the number of shelter and rescue babies out there. She suggested having to pay a fee for every baby your cat/dog has. Payable by the owner and not passable to anyone that buys/adopts the baby. If fees aren't paid then fines levied on top the fees. Since people tend to "sell" the offspring that would be a way to track most of them. Or when the pet is turned in to the shelter. It truely saddens me everytime I get the "Only 1 day" left message from one of the groups I belong to online. There is no way I can take anymore babies right now. To me it sounds as if this shelter may need some down time for workers to deal with this. Not only having to euth this number now, but the fact they will only be able to give 3 days to the babies from now on. Healthy or not. Unfortunately until people take more responsibility for their actions and their pets overcrowding in shelters will always be an issue. I wish more people would adopt instead of purchase at pet stores. Maybe that would cut down on some of this. Ok rant over. This is just a subject that is near and dear to me. (Along with unwanted children! That's another rant though )

 

[Luv'sTink]

This is why I HATE the so called "designer" dogs.....they are mutts people, dont keep breeding (and paying) when there are so many animals out there that need homes already

 

[Sherri]

I am with the OP, I felt such saddness and sickness over that. I don't get why a bigger orginazation can come in and tell a small org. what to do. The ones who suffer from all the politics is the poor innocent animals who deserved so much more from life then what they got.

 

[bjgrazi]

Unfortunately, so many shelters make it so hard to adopt. I know of 3 families in the past 4 months that went to adopt a dog. But, for really no good reasons they were either turned down or the shelters just wouldn't get back to them with an answer. So they go to pet shops and buy a dog.

They all said the same thing, they make adopting so hard it's just not worth the hassle.

 

[jenwolgey]

Unfortunately, so many shelters make it so hard to adopt. I know of 3 families in the past 4 months that went to adopt a dog. But, for really no good reasons they were either turned down or the shelters just wouldn't get back to them with an answer. So they go to pet shops and buy a dog.

They all said the same thing, they make adopting so hard it's just not worth the hassle.

You are so right. We adopted our doggy baby from a rescue shelter last year...I found her on Petfinder. It took several weeks...most of the organizations I contacted before we found her wouldn't even consider us because we don't have a fenced-in yard. We live on a quiet, dead-end street, and never let our dog out alone. She is always on a leash, unless we take her out to a local farm to run, or to my in-laws fenced yard. It was very frustrating.