Animals deemed unadoptable to be euthanized
The Gilmer County Animal Shelter recently decided to euthanize three dogs that, after being at the shelter for more than a year, have been deemed unfit for adoption due to public safety risks.
The decision to put the dogs down has raised questions from some of the shelter’s supporters, who were surprised to learn this happens at an animal shelter that’s branded a no-kill facility.
“These three dogs have been at the shelter for over a year, and there are a lot of volunteers who’ve gotten attached to them, but we still had to make that decision,” said Daniel Laukka, animal shelter director. “People are upset and thinking that, since we made this decision on these three dogs, we’re not a no-kill shelter anymore. We are not going to start euthanizing safe, adoptable dogs.”
An animal shelter can call itself “no-kill” if it has at least a 90 percent placement rate and the euthanization rate is 10 percent or less. This covers animals that are euthanized due to sickness or aggressive behavior that threatens public safety, said Laukka.
“We still have a 99 percent success rate. To be considered no-kill, you only have to have 90. We’re way above that,” he added. “This is not the first time we’ve had to make this decision, and we’re not the only shelter that has to make this decision.”
Laukka said the three dogs that will be put down -— a pit bull mix, a “Heinz 57” mixed breed and a bulldog mix — came to the shelter as strays or surrenders. They have bitten shelter volunteers and staff and/or been continually aggressive to people and other dogs, he noted.
“The shelter is a tough environment for a lot of dogs. If a bite happens, we try to get to the source of the bite. Is the dog injured or stressed? What are the factors? If a dog is biting, we don’t want to adopt it out and somebody get hurt, so we do our best to assess the behavior and why the dog is biting,” Laukka said. “We work with dogs to try and get them over some of their behavior issues, but it just doesn’t work out sometimes.”
Charlie Paris, Gilmer County Commission Chairman, said the animal shelter takes euthanizing as little as possible very seriously, but, unfortunately, sometimes it has to be done.
“I’m a dog guy. I love them. It’s not something I take lightly,” said Paris. “Before they made the decision for this, they did come and talk to me about it. The fact that they had to come get my OK before they put down three dogs is an indication of how seriously we take not euthanizing these animals. I listened to what the behavior of the dogs have been, and I agreed with them. These are dogs that could be dangerous and represent a threat to people and other animals.”
Laukka said the shelter has been in talks with some of its volunteers to see if any of them are willing to take in any of these three dogs. If that happens, the adopters will have to sign a liability waiver.
“These are volunteers who’ve worked with these dogs. They know the dogs’ behavior and have handled them,” he said.
It’s almost impossible to get aggressive dogs transferred to a pet rescue, Laukka noted.
“We’ve exhausted all of the rescue options. Every rescue is getting hammered by multiple shelters, and every shelter probably has dogs similar to these that they can’t find homes for,” he added. “There’s no magic way to find somebody who will take them.”
Heather Campbell, former president and current board member of local pet rescue Homeward Bound, said the rescue organization usually can’t help when a dog has been deemed unfit to adopt.
“If that’s the reason they’re putting them down, we would not be able to take them. We are volunteer run, and most of our volunteers are retirees or older. We have to be careful (about) dogs and their temperament,” she said. “Years ago, we had a dog that we tried everything under the sun to get adopted. He was adopted three times and returned three times. He started to get more aggressive and started biting our volunteers. The animal shelter took him, but he progressively got worse (to where) you couldn’t get near him. They eventually had to put him down. When they can’t do it anymore (at the shelter), there’s nothing you can do. Who’s going to take a dog that’s a danger to the public and their families? Nobody wants to do it, but it gets to a point.”
According to the American Humane Society, no organization or governing body officially determines the meaning of “no-kill” when it’s used by an animal shelter or organization.
The 90 percent standard is “simply a generally agreed upon rate, and a moving target. At one time it was 80 percent, then 85 percent. One day, it could move again,” states the Humane Society on its website.