Not long ago we could not have agreed with Lori Cumiskey that there were many front line SPCA workers who cared about anything but the paycheque, at least where the SPCA had a dogcatching contract. They were time-servers and the animals and volunteers were a pain in the butt to them. They did not know or care what dogs were in the back, knew nothing about animal welfare and didn't intend to learn, killed a dozen cats a day by stuffing them in gas boxes, whistled while they did this, and sometimes killed a dozen dogs a day too.

Disposing of animals one way or another is what they were hired for, and from hundreds of accounts, killing was the preferred method of disposal for many employees because it was a lot less work. We have many accounts of people who came before adoption time and were told to come back, or who came without cash and when they got back with the cash, the animal they were going to save had been killed. Too many stories of "I'm all right Jack, it's not my job" employees smoking and drinking coffee while dogs go mad from cell-isolation and puppies wallow in their feces and cats sit in dirty litter boxes in tiny cells.

That was what management hired them for and so it defended them even when complained to over and over that the employees were nasty, rude, callous, indifferent and a discredit to the Society. Management deflected any media curiosity about reports of too much easy killing by surrounding these thugs with an aura of saintliness, saying they are doing a hard job that the rest of us haven't the nobility or courage to do. Being paid to kill unwanted innocents for society isn't and can't ever be noble. There are other solutions, but they take money, time, creativity, and a conscience that does not forget the eyes of the innocent.