| Shelters routinely forced to kill healthy animals | ||
| By Jackie Sheckler, Sunday Herald-Times |
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| MARTINSVILLE — The black and white pup perks up his ears as soon as he | ||
| hears the jangling of the leash. Putting his front paws on the cage door, the | ||
| friendly hound sticks his head out of the cage and tries to lick the hand | ||
| unlocking the pen. | ||
| Clamoring and falling over his own feet, the large puppy skids out of the cage | ||
| and jumps up on the door opener. "Good dog," Paul Miller says, slipping the | ||
| leash around the happy pup and stroking his head. | ||
| With the dog pulling ahead on the leash, Miller is led out of the room to the | ||
| loud barking of the other caged dogs. In an adjoining concrete block room, | ||
| Alice Amos sits down on the cold floor and the puppy tumbles into her lap. | ||
| "You're a pretty one, aren't you," Amos says, scratching the dog behind the | ||
| ears. While the animal is reveling in all the attention, Amos gently slides a | ||
| hypodermic needle into the back of the puppy's neck. The | ||
| dog seems not to notice, licking Amos' face and trotting off to lick Miller's | ||
| shoe. "Come over here and sit down with me," Amos coaxes and the hound | ||
| obliges, his tail thumping the floor. | ||
| All the time talking to the dog and petting his head, ears and stomach, Amos | ||
| soon has the animal sitting in her lap. His head rests on Amos' shoulder, | ||
| licking her neck and face. | ||
| Easing the dog down against her chest, Amos continues talking in a soothing | ||
| tone, sometimes holding the puppy's head to look into his eyes. | ||
| "Such a good dog," she repeats almost hypnotically. | ||
| The tail wags, the tongue slowly licks Amos' arm and the dog settles down, | ||
| moving less and less. Now almost in slow motion, the | ||
| puppy licks Amos' fingers and his tail curls over her leg. | ||
| Four minutes have passed. The puppy is still. Amos softly squeezes his paw | ||
| — no reaction. The dog's eyes are fixed and unblinking. | ||
| His tongue hangs limply from his mouth. | ||
| While Amos continues talking and stroking, Miller moves closer with a larger | ||
| hypodermic needle. Positioning the puppy on his side, | ||
| Miller feels for the heartbeat. | ||
| Making sure his hand rests over the puppy's heart, Miller slides the needle | ||
| into the dog's chest. Almost as quickly as the liquid is | ||
| released from the needle into the dog's heart, the animal stops breathing and | ||
| his heart ceases beating. | ||
| Gently smoothing the puppy's coat one last time, Amos goes into the other | ||
| room and returns with a black plastic bag. The dog's | ||
| body is loaded into the plastic bag and deposited in a nearby white freezer to | ||
| await disposal. | ||
| Then Amos and Miller step outside into the cool summer night. | ||
| "It never gets any easier," Miller says, shaking his head. "This was a good | ||
| dog. There was nothing wrong with it — it just didn't have a home." | ||
| As director of the Morgan County Humane Society, Miller has helped | ||
| "euthanize" hundreds of animals since the shelter opened Jan. 1. | ||
| "No matter what you call it, it is still destroying perfectly good animals," | ||
| Miller says. "If people could just see what happens to | ||
| these animals, they might be more responsible pet owners." | ||
| As animal control officer, Amos says the Morgan County Humane Society is | ||
| trying to educate people that spaying and neutering | ||
| their pets is the best way to stop producing unwanted animals. | ||
| "If people could just see what we see," Amos says. "I remember the first | ||
| animal in our euthanasia class. It was a white German | ||
| shepherd, so friendly, and she had an after-shock when they gave the | ||
| injection. She gasped for air and it just broke my heart. | ||
| I cried and cried and cried." | ||
| But still she goes to work every day and does what she has to do, Amos | ||
| says. | ||
| "I went into this because I wanted to make a difference," she says. "We try | ||
| to be as humane as possible. I am the last person this dog is going to see | ||
| and smell and hear. I want to make it as pleasant as possible for the dog." | ||
| When it comes time to pick the dogs and cats that must be destroyed, Miller | ||
| says he tries not to look at the animal. | ||
| "I just look at the card on their cage and pick the ones that have been here | ||
| longest," he says. "That's the only way I can do it. The time was up for this | ||
| dog and we're going to have to go back in and do its sister, too." |
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