WE MUST STOP THE GASSING!

From an Animal Control Officer who Gasses Dogs

Yes, I gas dogs and cats for a living.

I'm an Animal Control officer in a very small town in central North Carolina.

I'm in my mid thirties, and have been working for the town in different positions since high school.

There is not much work here, and working for the county provides good pay and benefits for a person like me without a higher education.

I'm the person you all write about how horrible I am.

I'm the one that gasses the dogs and cats and makes them suffer.

I'm the one that pulls their dead corpses out smelling of carbon monoxide and throws them into green plastic bags.

But I'm also the one that hates my job and hates what I have to do.

First off, all you people out there that judge me, don't.  God is judging me, and I know I'm going to Hell.  Yes, I'm going to hell. I wont lie.  It's despicable, cold, cruel and I feel like a serial killer. But I'm not all to blame.  If the law would mandate spay and neuter, lots of these dogs and cats wouldn't even be here for me to gas.  I'm the devil, I know it, but I want you people to see that there is another side to me the devil Gas Chamber man.

The shelter usually gasses on Friday morning.

Friday's are the day that most people look forward to, this is the day that I hate, and wish that time will stand still on Thursday night. Thursday night, late, after nobody's around, my friend and I go through a fast food line, and buy 50 dollars worth of cheeseburgers and fries, and chicken. I'm not allowed to feed the dogs on Thursday, for I'm told that they will make a mess in the gas chamber, and why waste the food.

So, Thursday night, with the lights still closed, I go into the saddest room that anyone can every imagine, and let all the doomed dogs out out their cages.

I have never been bit, and in all my years doing this, the dogs have never fought over the food. My buddy and I open each wrapper of cheeseburger and chicken sandwich, and feed them to the skinny, starving dogs.

They swallow the food so fast, that I don't believe they even taste it. Their tails are wagging, and some don't even go for the food, they roll on their backs wanting a scratch on their belly. They start running, jumping and kissing me and my buddy. They go back to their food, and come back to us. All their eyes are on us with such trust and hope, and their tails wag so fast, that I have come out with black and blues on my thighs. They devour the food, then it's time for them to devour some love and peace. My buddy and I sit down on the dirty, pee stained concrete floor, and we let the dogs jump on us. They lick us, they put their butts in the air to play, and they play with each other. Some lick each other, but most are glued on me and my buddy.

I look into the eyes of each dog. I give each dog a name.

They will not die without a name.

I give each dog 5 minutes of unconditional love and touch.

I talk to them, and tell them that I'm so sorry that tomorrow they will die a gruesome, long, torturous death at the hands of me in the gas chamber.

Some tilt their heads to try to understand.

I tell them, that they will be in a better place, and I beg them not to hate me.

I tell them that I know I'm going to hell, but they will all be playing with all the dogs and cats in heaven.

After about 30 minutes, I take each dog individually, into their feces filled concrete jail cell, and pet them and scratch them under their chins. Some give me their paw, and I just want to die. I just want to die. I close the jail cell on each dog, and ask them to forgive me. As my buddy and I are walking out, we watch as every dog is smiling at us and them don't even move their heads. They will sleep, with a full belly, and a false sense of security.

As we walk out of the doomed dog room, my buddy and I go to the cat room.

We take our box, and put the very friendly kittens and pregnant cats in our box.
The shelter doesn't keep tabs on the cats like they do the dogs.

As I hand pick which cats are going to make it out, I feel like I'm playing God, deciding whose going to live and die.

We take the cats into my truck, and put them on blankets in the back.

Usually, as soon as we start to drive away, there are purring cats sitting on our necks or rubbing against us.

My buddy and I take our one-way two hour trip to a county that is very wealthy and they use injection to kill animals.

We go to exclusive neighborhoods, and let one or two cats out at a time.

They don't want to run, they want to stay with us. We shoo them away, which makes me feel sad.

I tell them that these rich people will adopt them, and if worse comes to worst and they do get put down, they will be put down with a painless needle being cradled by a loving veterinarian. After the last cat is free, we drive back to our town.

It's about 5 in the morning now, about two hours until I have to gas my best friends.

I go home, take a shower, take my 4 anti-anxiety pills and drive to work... I don't eat, I can't eat. It's now time to put these animals in the gas chamber.  I put my ear plugs in, and when I go to the collect the dogs, the dogs are so excited to see me, that they jump up to kiss me and think they are going to play.

I put them in the rolling cage and take them to the gas chamber. They know. They just know. They can smell the death....They can smell the fear. They start whimpering the second I put them in the box. The boss tells me to squeeze in as many as I can to save on gas. He watches. He knows I hate him, he knows I hate my job. I do as I'm told. He watches until all the dogs, and cats (thrown in together) are fighting and screaming. The sounds is very muffled to me because of my ear plugs. He walks out, I turn the gas on, and walk out.

I walk out as fast as I can. I walk into the bathroom, and I take a pin and draw blood from my hand. The pain and blood takes my brain off of what I just did.

In 40 minutes, I have to go back and unload the dead animals. I pray that none survived, which happens when I overstuff the chamber. I pull them out with thick gloves, and the smell of carbon monoxide makes me sick. So does the vomit and blood, and all the bowel movements. I pull them out and put them in plastic bags.

They are in heaven now, I tell myself.

I then start cleaning up the mess, the mess, that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not spay or neutering your animals. The mess that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not demanding that a vet come in and do this humanely.

You ARE THE TAXPAYERS, DEMAND that this practice STOP!

So, don't call me the monster, the devil, the gasser, call the politicians, the shelter directors, and the county people the devil. Heck, call the governor, tell him to make it stop.

As usual, I will take sleeping pills tonight to drown out the screams I heard in the past, before I discovered the ear plugs. I will jump and twitch in my sleep, and I believe I'm starting to hallucinate.

This is my life. Don't judge me. Believe me, I judge myself enough.

I do not know who wrote this.

Someone sent it to me in an email and it haunts me.

                     My hope in reprinting it here is that everyone who reads it, will remember it always.

         Lets all work relentlessly to get the laws changed in this country to give homeless animals a HUMANE DEATH

     if they must be euthanized. 


We owe them at least that much


 

 Better yet, SPAY AND NEUTER!!!! It WORKS! Let's be a NO KILL NATION!

RURAL ANIMAL SHELTERS NEED YOUR HELP

Last weekend my husband Mike and I drove about an hour east of Cincinnati to take supplies to the Highland county dog pound in Hillsboro, Ohio. All the profits from the sales of my book go to buy supplies for very needy shelters such as this one. They are blessed with wonderful, caring volunteers and foster homes and that is slowly helping to reduce their euthanasia rate. It is still too high. They are trying so hard, but they need help from the general public. So many dogs are just getting dumped there because of this horrible economy when people lose their jobs or homes and can no longer afford to care for their pets.





When we arrived the lot had many cars and it was adoption day. There were also some foster families there to pick up a new dog to care for until it gets adopted. A sad sight in the first outdoor cage was a very pregnant momma dog who was about to give birth at any moment. Volunteers were working quickly to get her into a foster home so she would not have to give birth on the cold hard concrete floor of the shelter.


There are no windows, no heating or air conditioning in the old pole barn building. That morning another rescuer showed up with a window a/c unit to donate and they are going to try to install it in a wall to help cool the dogs on hot summer days. Thankfully, this past summer we only had a few unbearable days. The dogs in the outdoor pens have little protection from the elements. Inside we met the dogs and they were so happy to have visitors. Their cages were clean but sparse. Toys and snacks are much appreciated as donations.



There was a beautiful sable German shepherd, a pit bull being held for a court case who was not allowed out to walk, and a pitiful dog with a deformed leg who had probably been hit be a car and left untreated. They all were so eager to please and I wanted to take them all.






















The volunteer coordinator that I spoke to is Lori Roush and you can email her at lroush@timesgazette.com and she will tell you just what they need, besides lots of cash and a new building.


The address to mail donations is :

Highland County Dog Pound
9357 State Route 124
Hillsboro, Ohio 45133

Lori's phone number is 937-393-3456

If you send a donation, you know it will be so appreciated and it will go to help so many dogs in this rural area.

This sweet guy says "THANKS!"

SAVING SNOOPY

This is Snoopy, not yet a year old and on death row in a Georgia dog pound.

He has done nothing wrong, and neither did his owners who had to surrender him. They had both lost their jobs and had no choice but to take him to a local shelter. Snoopy was loved and well taken care of. He was all up to date with his shots, neutered and well-behaved. Another victim of the poor economy, Snoopy was set to be put up for adoption. But shortly after being put in a cold dark kennel, his personality changed for the worse.


After being used to a family environment, he quickly became frightened and snapped at the shelter workers. So instead of being given 3 days to be adopted, they moved up his euthanasia date to the next day!

Then, dog rescuers from every part of the country saw his story on FACEBOOK, posted by Terrie Scott of M.A.R.S. Safe Haven Rescue in Ohio, and quickly went into action. Terrie was determined not to let this little life be snuffed out. Because she was an 8 hour drive away and could not get there in time to adopt him, she begged on the internet for others who were closer to PLEASE go to the shelter, or CALL the shelter and ask them to put a hold on Snoopy because someone was coming for him. The shelter said they could not hold him. Terrie was up all night with Snoopy's last hours drawing to a close. Everyone who got her urgent emails, including me, forwarding them to anyone we might know who could physically get to the shelter in time to save Snoopy. Just under the wire someone was found to claim him and get him out of there. RuffusRescue of Cobb County went to the shelter to get Snoopy. Terrie's husband, just returning from a business trip overseas, got in his car in Ohio and drove 8 hours each way to bring him to safety at Terrie's rescue. No longer scared, Snoopy was all wiggles and licks in the car with the 81 year old woman who dog sat for him until his ride to Ohio arrived. SNOOPY IS SAFE.

That is the good news.

30 other dogs died that morning in the Clayton County Georgia dog pound by heartstick. It is just what it sounds like. No last minute rescue came for them. They were just as scared at the end as Snoopy was in that cold dark place, but no one spoke for them.

We try. Every single person I know in dog rescue goes to bed close to tears every night thinking of the ones we could NOT save, their pictures haunt us, their sad eyes, and the thought of a life that will never be. Sometimes it is just too much and we do not look at our emails for a while. We think "what good are we doing?" There are always MORE that are being dumped everyday, maybe for financial reasons, maybe for stupid reasons...it doesn't matter. Are we even making a difference?

The heroes of this story include Terrie Scott and her husband for above and beyond caring for this dog, Capt. Mark Thompson and Officer Terry Bartlett of the Clayton County Police Department for helping save Snoopy, as well as a HUGE thank you for RUFFUSRESCUE.ORG for going to the shelter for Snoopy. And the HUNDREDS of responses I saw on FACEBOOK desperately trying to find a solution. That is social networking at it's BEST!

The villains in this story are all those people who consider their pets as "disposable" or "just a dog", and all those pet owners who do not spay and neuter their pets. In the city of Atlanta, Georgia, more than 200 dogs are put to death EVERY SINGLE DAY. They are just as cute as Snoopy and their lives matter just as much as his does.

There are just not enough homes or last minutes rescues for them all.



PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!!!!