Wednesday, May 29, 2013

What simple required item is missing from many North Carolina Animal Shelters?

You guessed it, scales. In North Carolina we have many county animal shelters euthanizing animals daily and not following the AVMA, AHA or HSUS Guidelines of weighing an animal prior to euthanasia. Why is such an essential item missing from our NC high kill shelters? And why is this marked acceptable on the NC Department of Agriculture State Inspection Forms?

We can not rely on the euthanasia staff to state they can view any animal and guess it's weight, therefore they don't see the need for a set of scales, as many of these sames shelters list animals via the wrong sex. So if you can not tell the difference of a male versus a female animal why should we be comfortable that you can size up the weight of an animal prior to euthanasia?


Taken straight from the American Humane Handbook on Euthanasia for animals, why is this not being adhered to in many North Carolina County Animals Shelters?

I urge you to please reach out to the NC Department of Agriculture and press them to require the state inspectors to account for how many county animals shelters have scales on site, what brand and if they are properly working at the time of Inspection.

Link to contact the NC Department of Agriculture:
Other supporting links:  http://www.ncagr.gov/
http://www.americanhumane.org



And while your requesting the accounting of scales for euthanasia ask them to account for the stock supply for all the gauge needles and if they are properly being administered for each weight and size of the animals they euthanize as recommended. Due to current complaints we already know we have an issue with some North Carolina County Animals Shelters using the wrong gauge of needles during euthanasia.

It's heartbreaking enough that NC kills as many animals in their shelters as they do but if it's going to be performed should it not be preformed as humanely as possible?

And maybe in the not so distant future we can make it mandatory for all county shelters to also submit their shelter stats to the state for a for accurate accounting of animals euthanized, returned to owner, adopted and so forth. With 9 current counties refusing to report their shelter stats it makes one's mind wonder what they are hiding. The below list the NC Counties that failed to report their 2012 Shelter Stats.

Duplin                 Hoke

Edgecombe        Hyde

Forsyth              Lee

Franklin             Sampson

Stokes



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