Honey
Quick execution at pound infuriates pet owner
Julie Middlebrooks Whitten is infuriated with city officials and animal control personnel after a dog she rescued was euthanized just hours after slipping her collar and leaving her Thomaston Street home.
I am hoping that someone takes up this action and truly hope the paper keeps us informed on further info.
There are two layers of problems here.
First, the animal storage facility is a joke. Barnesville has a ton of money for projects, but the people actually making decisions (mainly Kenny Roberts, whom we all know is the person who sets policy) apparently don't care about people's pets.
Barnesville walked away with a big pile of money from the Ag Authority meltdown. The animal storage facility would be a good place to spend that "free money" back into the community, since all of Lamar uses it.
How about it Kenny? Making kindness to animals part of your legacy would endear you to many people. It would be a fitting use of mismanaged Ag money that never should have gone to Barnesville.
Second, pet owners need to be sure their animals are vaccinated and tagged. The county and city need to be sure pet owners comply. Milam needs to re-enforce laws by prosecuting people who harm or neglect animals, because those people generally repeat or expand their cruel or inhumane behavior.
It's time Lamar County and the City of Barnesville became a little more "advanced" when it comes to animals. I hope this is the last pet slaughtered because of a poor animal holding facility. Also, we have vaccination laws. They should be enforced, especially with the increase in rabies.
I'd like to here what Mr. Roberts or one of the people serving under him have to say about this.
What would you do if this had been your pet?
I had to go pick one of my dogs over there and I cried all the way home.
That place is so nasty a snake wouldn't even go there,not even a rat would stay there.
Julie I hope you can get something done about this.
I live in Barnesville and pay a heck of huge amount of property taxes and all I see it being used for is more and more stuff being built at the schools.
Did we really need a new BOE building that costs so much,did we really need that art building or whatever the heck it is?
I say take some of the tax money and build another animal control building and post pictures of all the animals in the paper so owners can see if one of them belong to them.
Julie God bless you and keep us posted on what happens with this.
You folks arrange a date to protest and call PETA and collar up your animals and lets show these idiots that these dogs are too a part of our family. If they want to euthanize something, there are plenty of little hooligan children all over barnesville that needs it first before an innocent dog.
Instead of disbanding the people running the defunct Ag Authority gave the assets and funds to Barnesville.
Why not take all that county money that the LAW says should go to things related to the original project and build a better shelter? That would be a better project than building new houses (that don't sell) by the railroad tracks on land that would have been best kept for commercial use. Why not use that cleared land by the RR tracks, and the Ag Authority windfall, to build a decent shelter?
If that land is still someone's misplaced dream of a hot selling housing development, at least take some of the funds that never should have went to Barnesville and do something good for the community with it. Take some of the money from the fire truck conversion and use it for a worthy cause.
Stop killing people's pets.
I hope channel 5 does come down here. Kenny Roberts and the people serving under him need to be roasted and toasted over this. You can tell the quality of a person by how he or she treats animals. The same goes for a city.
1) http://www.activistcash.com/biography_quotes.cfm/bid/456
2) http://www.virginia.gov/vdacs_ar/cgi-bin/Vdacs_search.cgi?link_select=facility&form=fac_select&fac_num=157&year=2006
3) http://www.nokillnow.com/PETA1000.htm
4) http://www.consumerfreedom.com/pressRelease_detail.cfm/release/2
5) http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm?headline=2343
Dolly Goodpuppy - where are u on this?
It is also amazing this dog was picked up so fast- what about the ones that run around everyday without a leash?
In the employee's Defense I would have to say it's not totally the Animal control personel fault that they are not properly trained. Dog catching is not dog catching anymore. This is a profession and not the dumb old person puting a dog on a truck and hauling it away like you see in the old cartoon's. And until the city or county start respecting that it's more than that things will never change.
Citizen's also have to be responsible in pet ownership. We all want to blame everyone other than ourselves. I understand that animals get loose from time to time, but more often than not this is not the case. This is the excuse that is given. So to combat that there should be strict fines in place. None of this goody two shoe mess. Fine everyone the same rich or poor and you will have better success. It's sad that this happened to this animal because the owner's were neglectful if it didn't have a collar with current rabies identification or some other identification. And if the dog did and the staff didn't try and contact the owner if known then they were neglectful. Hopefully this will help get some education classes to Animal Care personel.
Most dogs at the pound are "owner surrenders", that is, brought to the pound by the public. The shelter workers go out when a call is made reporting a stray or an injured animal. They do not patrol the streets. The Agriculture Department inspected the pound this week.
Parvovirus is highly contagious and deadly in young and unhealthy dogs, but can also kill adult, healthy dogs as well. It is a bad illness, signs are bloody diraherra, vomiting, and dehydration. Death comes in a matter of hours. Incubation of the virus is 4 days to 2 weeks. It is especially bad in the hot, humid months of summer in Georgia. In fact, you could safely say that we are in a Parovirus epidemic in Lamar County right now. Another litter of sick puppies just this week was brought to the pound, resulting in euthanasia of all the dogs there, again. These puppies did not catch the virus in the pound, they were already sick when the owner brought them in. They were brought in late in the afternoon, and were sick the next morning.
DollyGoodPuppy does rescue dogs from the pound, and we quarantine them all for two weeks. We have very limited resources and are completely full at the moment. We cannot rescue them all, but we're doing the best we can. We have many wonderful dogs rescued from the pound that are waiting for new homes. Watch our website and flyers for more information.
Yes, we do need a new pound! We all know that.
Call your commissioners and let them know how you feel. There is power in numbers, and one person or group cannot get it done alone.
We can only hope that through public outcry and education this situation will get better.
In other words thank you for your info, but I am sorry if I feel like I would not want to be associated with this place at all, in any form, what so ever if I had a chance.
This situation is appalling and outragious and If this was my animal I would do what ever and for how ever long it takes to see that this place has closed doors comepletely and serious legal consequences taken against all involved.
And not allow it to stop there until proper facilities and employees were in their places.
If they had just been inspected than something is seriously wrong here, if you read some of the others here, you will hear what a horrible place this POS "shack" is. And the conditions sound pretty bad.
I am sure that they were not out to get this lady's dog. I am sure they were trying to do what they thought was right. But look at the conditions where they work. A friend of mine once worked there, so I got to see the facility. He cared about the animals and did his best. He kept the place clean, treated the animals well, socialized them as he was able. He had minimal training, though. You can't blame that on him.
A person reading this thread might think that Barnesville is full of responsible animal lovers. But the facts do not bear out. What percentage of dogs and cats here are spayed or neutered? Very few, it seems to me. How many of you can name an address where there is at least one under-nourished animal? (I can, sadly).
I imagine that working in a place where half the population treat animals like that, and the other half want to slay you because of one tragic event would make for pretty low morale.
As for the reference to rabid foxes - come one. Be realistic. Do you think they aren't trying? I've trapped foxes before - it is challenging. To even say this is related is absurd.
I have had dogs my whole life, and love them. I try to take good care of the 2 I have now. On occasion one of them gets out, and she likes to run. I get nervous that someone will pick her up, or that she'll be shot at the hunting lands across the street. I hope that if she is ever picked up, someone will read the phone number that is embroidered on her collar and let us know - and not take her to any shelter.
and why is our county allowing this facility to operate in these conditions.
It is totally Inhumane.
Look at Spaulding County a web site and 7 days to find a home or owner. I know that in this county we must have a webber who could build a site and folks who would gladly take the photo's to be posted. The community needs to come together on this one. "Animal Lovers" need to stand up and SHOUT LOUD until someone listens.
2. Recently a litter of puppies was rescued by a group, they were healthy when released, but the next day they were sick and taken to a vet and tested and parvovirus was discovered. They were euthanized and as State Law requires the Lamar Co. Animal Control was contacted and as State Law/ Department of Ag require all animals that are at the contaminated facility must be destroyed and the facility cleaned.
3. Since this incident another litter of puppies was dropped off at the shelter. The owner had been to the vet and knew they were contaminated with parvovirus before entering the facility. They dropped them off anyway and did not inform the staff. The following day they were indeed sick and confirmed to have parvovirus by a vet and destroyed as well as all the animals at the shelter.
4. Parvovirus acts very quickly on an animal, by the time symptoms are present it is too late. In warm and hot weather it is worse and therefore action must be taken before it spreads outside the shelter. If an animal is released from the shelter infected and contacts other animals it could spread.
5. Companion animals need to have identification tags. Rabies vaccinations are required in the State of Georgia, given by a vet and are verified with a metal tag. Microchips are also available and the shelter does have a reader.
6. We are all responsible for what happens at OUR animal control office, not just Kenny. I visit the facility several times a week and am trying to help make changes. Jason knows the people that help at the shelter and if you want to volunteer, contact him and we would all love to see the community pitch in and change. How about we challenge the county and we “Pitch In Our Change for Change” We as a community donate and challenge the government to beat our donations?
7. Firing someone would make you feel better but accomplish nothing. The system is broken not the people. We need a new facility and the suggestion of the old fire station is wonderful, let’s get r done. We can build something better later but for today the fire station would be great.
8. It is sad for what happened to her beloved pet. It is also sad that we have people knowingly getting rid of their problems on all of us. Dropping off animals that are sick effects us all. If it is sick, just let them know so that one animal can be euthanized humanly.
Spalding County pound policy gives seven days unless it's owner surrender, Parvo in the pound, or overcrowding conditions. I did shelter rescue in Spalding County for 16 years. It's a big facility, and I've seen it emptied more than a few times a summer due to Parvo. The State mandates it. It's heartbreaking.
You are an angel! Thanks for adopting a stray, it's the most rewarding, loving thing you can do!
Your comments are very correct and well stated. I agree.
I challenge everybody on this blog to visit the pound in person. Get proactive about change. We can all get hysterical, get blue in the face, point fingers, and want everybody but themselves to do something, but very few have the courage to actually act in the animal's behalf.
"Within the heart of every stray,
Lies the singular desire to be loved"
We speak of parvo. A person in this area has a dog pen that has been just full of diareha. He was charged with starving one or two dogs to death (two died but I'm not sure if he was charged for both) and Milam dropped the felony charges down. Now this guy is still allowed to have dogs. His relatives dumped three dogs that were a problem in other areas of the county. I know this because those very same uncared for dogs showed up at the pound. They were picked up in other remote areas of the county. Those same dogs that live in filth without shots come over on my property.
We really have a multiple level problem.
No one at the City or County seems to think animals and animal control is all that important.
There is no enforcement of animal vaccination or enforcement of health rules.
We don't fully prosecute problem people when we catch them.
If all of us that are concerned would unite we could force a solution to all of this. I'd bet there are enough people who care to make a difference. Maybe we can make something good come from this pet's murder.
Just because a dog has a collar on doesn't show identification. A collar with out Rabies vaccination or some other form of I.D with owners name Address or phone Number or microchip doesn't show that someone or who owns the Animal. It only shows that someone placed a collar on it.
Thanks for explaining that to us. I understand it now.