Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Cabarrus County NC makes a positive move to stop using the gas chamber




Monday, Jul. 29, 2013


Cabarrus County switches to euthanizing animals by injection

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/07/29/4192529/cabarrus-county-switches-to-euthanizing.html


Until July 1, Cabarrus County was one of only a few of North Carolina’s 100 counties that used a gas chamber to euthanize animals.

The county had practiced that method for several years. But now, thanks to a recent partnership between Cabarrus County Animal Control and the Humane Society of Concord & Greater Cabarrus County, a county veterinarian administers lethal injections.

The local Humane Society, with help from an inspector with the N.C. Department of Agriculture, pushed to change the method. Judy Sims, executive director of the area Humane Society, said it’s considered the preferred method because it’s more humane and less stressful on the animals, and it’s safer for the people handling the animals. Because of its outreach efforts and its partnership with animal control, the society recently was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Humane Society of the United States.

Sims said they will use the money to educate the public about the new injection method and to buy various items for the shelter, including pet beds, vaccines and brochures that promote responsible pet ownership.

The Humane Society and animal control celebrated their one-year partnership early in July, and Sims said working together has allowed them to significantly reduce the county’s euthanasia rate.“We have seen a steady decline, and the numbers speak for themselves,” said Sims.

In January 2010, more than 90 percent of the animals in animal control’s possession were euthanized, said Sims. In January of this year, that number dropped below 30 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2011, the euthanasia rate for all animals was 76 percent. The following year during the same quarter, that rate dropped to 28 percent. In the third quarter of 2011, the overall rate was 58 percent, compared to 44 percent in the third quarter of 2012.

“Moving from the gas chamber to injections is just the tip of the iceberg for what’s going on in Cabarrus County with regards to their animals,” said Sims. “It’s all about humane treatment of animals. And because we have a rescue coordinator and we’re using social media, we’re able to reach a larger audience.”Before the two groups partnered, Animal Control was in charge of day-to-day tasks and surrendered animals to the Humane Society, which also provided adoption services.

 About a year ago, the Humane Society was awarded a contract from the county to take over some operations at the Animal Control facility on N.C. 49 in Concord. A rescue coordinator position also was added.

“We’ve done a really nice job, and our partnership has been really effective,” said Sims.The gas chamber can hold multiple caged animals, depending on their size, said Sims. Because animals have different breathing rates, the gas may not work as quickly on some – and sometimes not fully on others.

The chamber is roughly 5 feet by 9 feet, with a small window on a door. A cage is rolled into the chamber, which is then sealed, and the gas is released. The gas used is mostly carbon monoxide, said Sims. After the animals have been in the chamber for several minutes, someone has to verify that they are dead. The injection method will eliminate that part of the process.

“When you’re using the gas chamber and you’re euthanizing large quantities, it’s more stressful. And the distribution of the gas is not always even,” said Sims. “When you’re using injections, it’s one at a time; the animals are by themselves … and they just drift off to sleep in a very peaceful manner.”


Johnson: 704-786-2185




Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/07/29/4192529/cabarrus-county-switches-to-euthanizing.html#storylink=cpy

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Many North Carolina Animal Shelters prefer to "paw" off their responsibility versus addressing these issues in their own respective counties


We have some wonderful animal shelters here in North Carolina where you will be meet with a friendly staff, open doors along with fully vetted and vaccinated animals up for adoption. However if you take a second look you will find many county animals shelters in North Carolina whose policy on animals welfare is they have no policy, or what they have changes by the hour.

In North Carolina you will find so many animals shelters that are not even open 12 hrs a week, you will find shelters that the staff does just about everything to discourage the public from coming into their shelter but what  should be a major concern for anyone else is that many of these animals are never vaccinated ( not even for rabies) let alone not spayed or neutered before they are adopted or taken in by a rescue group. So what are we doing in NC to reduce the number of unwanted animals that make their way into our county shelter system? We ship them off to other states for them to deal with.

I think it’s wonderful for those who have their heart in the right place and want to save a “ Southern Animal” from a high kill shelter. But at what point and after how many years are we going to tolerate the same process every day that never seems to address the issue at hand of reducing the number of unwanted animals and the health concerns of our state to help reduce the spread of rabies, parvo, distemper, heartworms and more?

How or why would North Carolina allow any animal to leave from their shelters with no vaccinations whatsoever? Let alone allowing these animals back out into the population without being altered? Why do we not see all of the counties in North Carolina signing up for the State Spay & Neuter Program? Why do we not see some local Vets in each county offer to aid in reducing the numbers of unwanted animals by allowing a lower cost spay and neuter program to the local residents of their county even if they choose to do” x”  number a year?

We can all agree with North Carolina being such a high kill state, even with the heavy influx of out-of-state rescue groups and adoptions, clearly we have a problem and it’s staring us right in the face.

NC needs to address their lack of Spay and Neuter issues one county at a time, same with the lack of  vaccinations. If everyone would get on board and stop burying their head in the sand we could reduce our unwanted animal numbers in the first year alone just by spay and neuter.

 

a)      Enact an animal licensing fee in each county, even if it’s only $5.00. Start the process and grow from here.

b)      Establish a core group of local veterinarians in each county and ask them to help with a free spay and neuter clinic a few times a year. Even if each vet office only committed to 20-30 spay and neuters a quarter or year, could you image the impact it would have long term?

c)       Require every county animal shelter to ensure each animal is spayed or neutered prior to adoption. Raise your adoption fee to offset these requirements.

d)      Require every county to ensure each animal is vaccinated esp. for rabies prior to allowing them to be adopted. For those too young to be fully vaccinated, require the disposition paperwork to be returned to the shelter once that animal reaches the appropriate age. If the paperwork is not returned then that person or group is placed on a state-wide bolo alert as a do-not-adopt.

 
This is just a start, I’m sure with the large number of Animal Advocates and Animal Rescue Groups, we can devise a game plan to address these desperately needed changes. And of course for 2014 to be the year for a Commercial, Non Commercial Breeder Bill or Puppy Mill Bill to be signed into law.

North Carolina Shelters are overflowing with litter after litter of kittens and puppies slated to die in 72 hrs. Is this really the best North Carolina can do?  It might be the situation today but I feel confident if we all place our focus on the core issues at hand we can change this and be a much more humane and progressive state on domesticated animal related issues.

 


Friday, July 26, 2013

Update on the NC Wildlife Policy and our NC County Animal Shelters

                                 (click on picture for full view)

Update on NC Animal Shelter Events: In late April 2013, most is not all NC County Animal Shelters were sent a reminder to NOT be transporting or euthanizing our wildlife unless they show signs of rabies. And if they shows signs of rabies then other steps must take place, not just euthanasia. If your NC County Animal Shelter is still euthanizing our wildlife for lack of knowledge or for the “ thrill”, please step up, write down the events that took place and contact both the NC Wildlife Commission( POC is Gordon Myers)  Phone: 919-707-0010   email   wrccomments@ncwildlife.org or gordon.myers@ncwildlife.org  and the NC   Dept of Agra at  AGR.AWS@ncagr.gov                            

Opossums are not vicious creatures,  their only means to frighten you is to show their teeth and play dead. Please respect our wildlife in NC and let’s learn to co-exist. Same for foxes, skunks, bats, beavers and so on.

To read the PDF in full:
http://www.ncwildlife.org/Trapping.aspx\Go then go to the right of the page and click on the link for PDF for ACO and wild animals


 

Thursday, July 25, 2013

NC Animal Shelter Sanitation Rules

(click on picture to enlarge for view) 
My local animal shelter hose down and clean the kennels with the animals still in the cage, is this acceptable in a NC County Animal Shelter? The answer No.
 
The animals must be removed from the kennels during the cleaning process for a number of reasons to include the assurance that the animal is not coming into contact with the cleaners and disinfectants, to keep the animal dry esp. if it's a younger animal to ensure it stays clean and dry to better fend off the parvo or distemper virus, but mainly to be humane to these shelter animals who have found their way into a shelter environment that's unfamiliar and frightening to them. And last but not least as it's part of our NC Animal Welfare Act that these shelters must abide by.
 
What should you do if you see a NC County Shelter employee using cleaning products or a water hose in an kennel while the animal is still housed inside? Document the events. Write down the time, the employee's name, the kennel number or ID number of the animal, take a picture if possible and report this to the shelter manager immediately but also follow up with an email to the NC Department of Agriculture on these events to ensure this situation doesn't happen again.
Email address for the NC Dept. Of Agriculture: AGR.AWS@ncagr.gov
 
 

Pit Bull Spay & Neuter $20.00 August Special

Click on the link for more details:

Thursday, July 18, 2013

NC makes provisions thru the general statues for animals left unattended in vehicles

                                     click on picture to view larger text


A huge thanks to Pricey Harrision for her hard work to make sure this provision was included with SB 626. 



Saturday, July 13, 2013

NC Public Schools benefit from animal advocates, did you know that?


How does your child going to a NC public school have any connection to my volunteer work as an Animal Advocate?  I’m about to show you the direct connect and why I would welcome any support to help my cause which in turns helps your child’s education here in NC.

First of all please view the first screen shot from the NC School Board Association of NC. Pay close attention to the line that states “ North Carolina Constitution requires that public schools receive “the clear proceeds of all penalties and forfeitures and of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws of the State.”
 

Then view the second screen shot from the NC General Statues Articles 31 A  115C-457.1  Creation of Funds
 
 
Now please view the 3rd screen shot from the NC Dept of Agriculture site for civil penalties and fines accessed. When you view this screen shot or link for full view, you will find very few civil penalties placed and even less collected by the NC dept of Agriculture due to their lack of due diligence to uphold the current NC General Statues 130A-192 or the NC Animal Welfare Act. This shows a lesser amount of money going to your kids education here in North Carolina that what should be and therefore shows the connect of my work as and Animal Advocate and your child’s future education in the State of North Carolina.

Whether you have an animal or even care about animals in general my hopes are with me explaining how our NC School System could be awarded more money to keep the classrooms with teachers, with the much needed supplies or even the security to keep them safe while at school, I might be able to get you to view the issues and concerns some of us have with our County Animal Shelters in a different light.

I understand many people want to label all animal advocates as extremists, but if you look past those extremists you will find a large amount of caring individuals who work for the animals and their better care from their hearts and their own wallets. With any concern or issue in our world you will always find extremists, people who only scream and yell profanity’s and run without correct facts. However there are those of us that work only with facts, we work to help change the inhumane conditions that many of our homeless animals find themselves in even those that make their way into some of our failing county animal shelters.

We do understand that some wonderful shelters exists in NC along with a caring and humane staff, and this is not to taint those and their efforts. But sadly we do have a high number of county animal shelters that refuse to be humane to the animals in their care, who refuse to follow the current Animal Welfare Act as it’s written, and we do have a high number of shelter employees that need to be re-trained or possible be moved over to a different county positions.

We have county animal shelters that are feeding animals mouldy food, not removing the fecal matter from their water bowls, not going in on their weekend shift to care for the animals locked inside those cages, we have county animal shelter employee’s refusing to take pictures of the animals  in their care, those who refuse vet care to sick and injured animals along with a high number of shelters who are euthanizing animals every day with no weigh scales prior to injecting them with fatal plus or another narcotic which you can view in the below screen shot needs to be followed.

We are more than halfway into 2013 and still the NC General Assembly still has been unable to move forward in correcting their own mistake with SB 467 (  GS 130 A-192 ) signed into law by then Governor Bev Purdue on July 7, 17, 2009.

4 years later, with many major agencies and overseeing offices being made aware on this issue, they have sat by and allowed a law to remain on the books under the incorrect enforcement office and done little to nothing to correct their own original mistakes. My question is how many other laws are on the books in NC just as this one under the incorrect enforcement office and basically making them null and void?

 

Sunday, July 7, 2013

NC's AG GAG BILL wants to cover up what's in your meat

click on image for larger view
                                        

Just about all of us no matter where you live should be very concerned if NC approves the NC SB 648 better known as the” AG GAG Bill”. Why? NC is the primary state that ships your local grocery store their Butterball Turkeys, Bacon, Jimmy Dean Sausage, Perdue Chicken and more. Next time you sit down to bite into any form of meat you need to ask yourself, how safe is it for you to eat? How sanitary are the factory farms and slaughter houses now that NC wants to make it illegal for anyone to obtain the truth behind those closed doors on any of the conditions that take place. Speaking of all those food recalls, those came from a whistle blower that now NC wants to place in jail for speaking the truth. We need more transparency in today’s world, esp. with our food supply, not more cover ups. Step up, Speak out and tell NC that this is unacceptable and to withdraw this bill.



 

Saturday, July 6, 2013

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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Stop the Puppy Mills of NC, H.B. 930 needs your voice

To view this email as a web page, go here.



ASPCA Lobby for Animals
Time Is Running Out
As State Senate Stalls
Join North Carolina's First Lady in Supporting H.B. 930!
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Dear North Carolina Advocates:

At a recent press conference held in support of North Carolina House Bill 930 and hosted by First Lady Ann McCrory, two puppy mill survivors helped us lobby legislators on the importance of saving our state’s dogs from the inhumane conditions that they were lucky to survive.

H.B. 930, which will require large-scale dog breeders (those with more than 10 breeding dogs) to meet humane standards of care, passed the House of Representatives by a landslide in May, but the Senate has yet to act.

Because neighboring states Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee have enacted strong laws to protect commercially bred dogs and North Carolina has not, our state now finds itself with an enormous puppy mill problem. It’s time to step up, improve our law, and prevent future suffering.
What You Can Do

Visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center to email your state senator in Raleigh and urge him or her to support this critical puppy mill bill. North Carolina’s session ends in a few weeks—we have no time to lose.

Thank you for speaking up for puppy mill dogs, North Carolina!

Take Action Now »


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