- A worker for the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals holds 7-year-old mixed breed Lexie, as a veterinarian
gives the dog a shot of sodium pentobarbital at an animal shelter in Norfolk,
Va., Dec. 16, 1998. Lexie was euthanized after her owners brought her to
the SPCA because they could no longer care for her. Shelter workers who
euthanize animals must deal with emotions of grief and anger.
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- RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Nancy Hill cradles the small tan dog against her
body for several moments, then tenderly places him on the stainless steel
table.
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- The three-year-old animal looks quizzically
around the strange grey room.
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- "I love you," Heather McKee
whispers as she inserts a syringe into his right leg. Hill cries as she
strokes the nameless terrier-Labrador's back and speaks to him tenderly.
A moment later, the dog's head flops to the side, eyes frozen open.
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- For the two women at the Richmond Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the cycle of suffering is only
beginning.
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- "There is an underlying sadness
that is constantly with you," says Hill, whose task is to decide which
animals must die.
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- "You have to force yourself to do
it," adds McKee. "It makes you real sad."
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- The American Humane Association estimates
that seven million pets and strays are put to death in shelters each year,
almost all of them killed by people who love them.
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- And it has its consequences. Dealing
in death can produce nightmares, flashbacks, sleep disorders, obsessive
thinking and depression, says Teresa Wagner of Osterville, Mass., a mental
health counsellor who conducts workshops for shelter workers across the
country.
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- Shelter employees who euthanize animals
"take the brunt of everybody's guilt and blame," Wagner says.
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- Geraldine Thornton of the Richmond SPCA
stopped euthanizing animals seven months ago, after 21 years. "I couldn't
take it anymore," she says. "You hold the animal to your chest
and you can feel their heart beating, and then you can feel the life leaving
their bodies. Sometimes they look into your eyes."
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- Diane Getz of Norfolk, Va., who has been
euthanizing animals for 13 years, says, "You know it has to be done,
but it never quits hurting."
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- Shelter workers would be miserable if
they weren't involved in "good and happy things," such as finding
homes for animals and restoring their health, Hill says. "If this
was the only thing we did, I don't think anybody would last in it very
long."
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- Muriel Ducloy, executive director of
the Norfolk branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
pets 7-year-old Lexie prior to the dog being put to sleep at the animal
shelter in Norfolk, Va., Dec. 16, 1998. Lexie had a bad skin disorder and
her owners could not care for her so they brought the dog to the SPCA to
be euthanized. Shelter workers who euthanize animals must deal with emotions
of grief and anger.
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- Workers who inject or gas pets and strays
"are so heroic to continue doing this work despite the trauma,"
Wagner says. "They are doing the most emotionally complex and morally
challenging work of any animal workers on the planet."
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- People take on the job of euthanizing
animals because they love them and want to provide as much comfort as possible,
says Stephanie LaFarge, director of counselling services for the American
SPCA in New York City.
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- LaFarge says society places little value
on the job, and those who kill animals often become pariahs at their own
shelter.
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- "Everyone at some level feels an
anger at those who do euthanasia," she says, adding that it would
be unnecessary if pet owners would spay or neuter their animals.
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- About half of the 8,000 animals received
at the Richmond SPCA each year are adopted. The rest die from an injection
of pentobarbital sodium.
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- The animals die quickly and apparently
without pain, but director Robin Starr is striving to make the Richmond
SPCA a no-kill shelter, which some SPCAs have achieved through strong community
awareness and co-operation.
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- "I don't believe that controlling
the animal population through killing them is morally acceptable,"
she says. "This is not euthanasia. Euthanasia is mercy killing. We're
killing them because we have too many animals."
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- Grief is only one emotion shelter workers
face, Starr says. There's also their anger at "incredibly unconcerned"
pet owners who nonchalantly turn over their animals knowing full well they
may die.
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- "The deepest anger for me are people
who bring in a sweet and faithful pet who has become aged and is not fun
anymore."
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- The owner of the dog euthanized by Hill
and McKee told the SPCA he had too many animals. The dog was doomed because
he wasn't housebroken.
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- Weeping, Hill places his body in a black
plastic bag, seals it and carries it to a storage freezer for later disposal.
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- "I prefer to do this," she
says, "because it's like last rites."
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