Category: Animal Shelter Operations

Traumatic times occur in our lives that we forever remember where we were and what we were doing. I’m old enough to remember I was on the school grounds when I learned that Kennedy was assassinated, and I was a few blocks away from the Pentagon on 9/11. You might have attended the same American Humane Conference as I did. Of course, the conference shut down and the smell of burning fuel filled the air. Most of the attendees watched, as all America did, the footage of the airplanes hitting the Twin Towers. A few of us walked the few blocks to see what was happening at the Pentagon.

As the day progressed, the events hit home: what should we do? Flying home was not an immediate solution. I attended the conference with my co-workers from the ASPCA. One of our group managed to rent a van, I think the last one available. It was nuts.

On the way back to Illinois, I invented the Adventures of the Roadkill Hunter. It was a long drive. I proceeded to entertain my fellow riders with episodes of The Roadkill Hunter using my Aussie voice. As our hunter carefully approached the roadkill waiting to see if the flattened piece of fur was either dead or playing possum. After a few hundred miles, my fellow riders gave me an option to either shut up or be left on the side of the road.

When we approached the Champaign Airport, we were stopped by a police car. Clearly, an early morning encounter had not prepared the office for a van full of tire conference goers. It became obvious that the officer didn’t know what to do. Clearly, airport security was stepped up after 9/11, but the plan didn’t include how the police would handle would-be terrorists. The officer didn’t let us approach the airport, nor would he allow us to leave.

The stress in the van was high. I was smart enough not to regale my comrades with another episode of The Roadkill Hunter.

Eventually, the officer allowed us to approach the airport. I suspect that his need for a coffee break outweighed his need to hold us hostage.

Today, our State announced that they may not be able to perform the killing of an inmate due to a drug shortage.  We don’t do a lot of lethal injections, so experiencing a drug shortage seems silly.  The drug, or drugs of choice are ketamine, fentanyl, and potassium chloride.  We all like our special cocktails.

I bring up this issue because animal shelters experienced a shortage of sodium pentobarbital many years ago.  The shortage lasted over six months.  I have always required that we have a six-month supply on hand at all times.  After the storage, I changed that requirement to a year’s supply.

Although animal shelters are euthanizing fewer animals now, you can imagine the problem of shelter overcrowding should you stop euthanizing altogether.  I was trained early in the Boy Scouts to be prepared.  You should take inventory of your supplies and ensure you can meet a supply shortage.  Carrying a six-month supply might seem excessive until you are hit with a supply shortage.  Be prepared.

UPDATE

It seems that the guy’s attorneys sued the State against their cocktail Du Jour claiming that it was an untested concoction.  That is the problem with fad concoctions.  I’ve seen plenty in our business for remote chemical capture.  They are asking the State to kill their client using the tried and true sodium pentobarbital that we have used in our business for years.  I suspect the one downside of sodium pentobarbital is that it might burn upon administration, but I can’t say for sure because I’ve never used it on myself.  But to be clear, I always anesthetized animals first before administering sodium pentobarbital.

Although, personally, since people are killing themselves every day with fentanyl, I think the State could find someone on the street to test drive this new cocktail.  In the animal welfare business we seem to have a thing for using Acepromazine.  With the fast reversal when using Acepromazine, I always thought that you get the same results using water in the cocktail.  And who would be stupid enough to do that? That’s a hint for the State to not consider adding Acepromazine to their new fancy kill juice.  And using Ketamine… whose idea was that?  It’s like they got this recipe from their local drug pusher.  But to be honest, I used Ketamine in my anesthesia cocktail.

7/26/24 Update:

Prison officials are reporting that the cost of obtaining sodium pentobarbital is going to cost our prison system $200k for the upcoming execution.   Having overseen animal shelter budgets for years,  someone desperately needs to audit our prison system.  It is no wonder that government has become so expensive.  A $20 bottle of sodium pentobarbital is enough to execute a dozen inmates; where is the rest of the money going?

8/23/24 Update:

According to the news, the total cost of the execution is over $288k.  As mentioned above, the prison system is claiming that it costs $200k for sodium pentobarbital.  It would be so much cheaper if we just farmed out the euthanasia to our local veterinarians.  I just couldn’t let this drop, so I suggested to our State Officials that maybe an audit was in order.  I didn’t hear back from either of my State representatives.  Maybe this is just normal business in my State.

In our business, we depend on other corporate organizations to meet our software needs.  For many years, I used Adobe products to assist me in designing marketing material.  If you spend any time on YouTube, you’ll find Adobe being criticized over their corporate greed.  It has been a long time in coming.  Unfortunately for Adobe, there are other comparable products.  I stopped using Adobe when they first started their subscription service.  I like to be able to buy a product and not have to keep paying ransom to continue using the product.

I recently opened a spreadsheet file and got a notice from Microsoft that my Excel registration was lost.  I could probably search for it, but why bother?  Microsoft is following in Adobe’s footsteps by demanding that I switch to their ransom (subscription) service.  Like Adobe, Microsoft thinks it has the only products out there.  I knew this day was coming, so several years ago I bought a license to the bundle offered by WordPerfect.  The Excel file opened perfectly in Quattro Pro.

Budgets are tight.  If you believe you are being held hostage to your software, start looking for alternatives.  You might be shocked to find a number of open-source (free) business software that is available to you.  These companies are not holding the gun against your head as they think they are doing.  Put them in their place.

I use Corel products for most of my graphic needs.  Affinity is the suggested replacement for Adobe Photoshop.  Although I have Affinity, I usually turn to Corel’s Painter or Paintshop Pro.  I only mention this because I recall that I got the WordPerfect suite through the Corel software.  If you decide to switch to WordPerfect, order the upgrade version if you are using another business suite.  Most companies recognize that your switch from (say) Word to WordPerfect is considered an upgrade in their eyes and you can get the software at half price, around $150.

Corel has a slick plan in which you have the choice of buying the product or renting it.  You can buy Corel Painter for $150 or you can rent it for $100 per year.  The notion is that if you always buy the newest version of a product, then renting it is cheaper because the software is usually updated every year.  With Corel, I find that buying aound Christmas seems to offer the sweetest deals.  But, in my old age, I seem to be fine using a version that is one or two years out of date.  And don’t become like me and feel the need of buying every brush that is available.  They just take up too much diskspace and slow up the loading of the software.  Take if from me, having all of the available brushes will never make you an artist.

The most important priority in government service is to protect the public.  Yet this priority is forgotten with today’s public policies.  Even today, we still encounter folks who want to defund those hired to watch our backs.  Opening our borders was such a mistake at a time when we have diminished police protection.

We are experiencing the same thing in our profession: saving animals’ lives overrides keeping people safe.   The worst of this, I experienced in Virginia.  Animal rescue groups would lie to potential adopters about aggressive traits in the dogs they had for adoption.

I was constantly battling staff, volunteers, and even my board of directors about adopting potentially dangerous dogs.  The problem became so widespread that the Commonwealth of Virginia was forced to write laws making it illegal for animal rescue groups to hide past behavior problems with dogs for adoption.  It is a sad day when you are safer buying an animal from the newspaper than getting it from your local animal shelter.

Today’s politics lead to anxiousness.  I was fortunate, I have always felt that God had my back.  Looking back, I realize how difficult it would have been to do the right thing without my faith.  The world does not have the answers, but the solution is only a whisper away.

I was recently reading an article in which a woman surrendered her dog to her local animal shelter expecting the shelter to euthanize her dog. She later discovered that her dog was still alive and had been adopted into another home. Feeling cheated, she demanded the return of her dog.

Animals are considered property, so an owner has the right to kill their pet, as long as it is done humanely. Over the years, I encountered so many lame excuses from owner deciding to euthanize their pet that I changed our policies. I got tired of hearing those lame reasons and decided someone had to act on behalf of the animals.  I decided that I could not allow pet owners to make that decision.  I won’t euthanize an animal based on their reasoning skills but felt I must use my own.  As such, I changed our policies to require any animal up for euthanasia should be the property of the animal shelter.

Sometimes it is just obvious when an animal comes through our doors that the animal needs to be euthanized. I have seen many animals that were kept long after when it should have been done and more than once I considered charging the owner with animal cruelty. If the owner has asked to be present when the animal is euthanized, I consider the animal’s condition and the competency of the person performing the euthanasia.

I make it very clear that my organization doesn’t do owner-requested euthanasia. When an owner surrenders their pet to me, it becomes mine. I decide its final fate. If I decide that the animal has been well cared for and is now in need of euthanasia; I will see that it is performed as soon as possible. If the owner wants to be present, I’ll remind them that we are euthanizing my animal and not theirs. They can always go to their own veterinarian to have “their” animal killed. But, again, if they have been good owners and I have competent staff working in the euthanasia room, I may consider allowing them to be with the animal during its’ last moment.

Let’s face it, I have had outstanding people who were a wiz at performing euthanasia, but I would never allow them to EVER talk to an owner during this sensitive time. Hell, I’ve had staff that I tried to keep from ever talking to anyone. Some people are good with animals but fail horribly being around people.

Some of the feedback on this article had many people feeling that the shelter was wrong to not euthanize the dog and even demanded that the dog be returned back to the previous owner. My response, if it had happened in my shelter, when she surrendered her dog to me, that it isn’t her dog anymore. She signed the dog over to me. I’m now the owner. I will make the decision that I think is best for the animal and if she ever came into my shelter to adopt, I would probably turn her down. I know, I know, I am a public employee whose job is to serve the people. So….. fire me!

For the most part, we public servants have to serve people, but there is a balance that must be kept and we sometimes have to stand up for the animals when they fall into the hands of stupid people. As they say, “I’m sorry if my commonsense has offended you!”

After writing the last blog, it dawned on me that researching the impact of transgender animals in animal shelters might be another source of alternative income. Hey, don’t laugh. Google it! Others are writing articles as to transgenderism isn’t just a human thing. Just think about the confusion we would experience in regendering all of the animals in our animal shelters. This notion is so stupid that it deserves further research. This is your chance to be on the cutting edge of Woke Research. The idea is so stupid that you’ll probably find people begging to fund your study. Hell, they might even fund your entire budget.

Let’s face it, animal sheltering budgets are among the lowest priorities for government funding. It is incumbent upon animal shelters to seek other funding sources. One funding source that seems to be unlimited is research on climate change. A smart animal shelter director would approach government sources to explore the impact of pet food intake on methane production. The idea is to test various pet foods to see which ones would give pets the least amount of gas. Granted, you and I know that the results would be inconclusive, but that is basically the same results that other climate researchers find anyway. If money is going to be wasted, it might as well be wasted on feeding your shelter’s animals.

One word of caution, stay away from pet sterilization research. If the Woke learned that we are sterilizing animals without their consent, we would be in a sh*t storm of outrage. People would claim that we are attacking an animal’s reproductive rights. So let’s keep that a secret because if we were forced to allow animals to maintain their reproductive state, we would only be forced into killing more animals after they are born.

I know, I know, I should have thought up this stuff years ago and not waited until after I retired; but, I suppose if I had broached this years ago, I would have been forced to retire much earlier. The world has become a much crazier place and I think now is the time to allow one crazy idea to take its place with the rest of the crazy ideas out there.