Shelter shoots, runs over pets to euthanize them
Sandy Phillips FOX 5 San Diego Staff
4:04 PM PDT, March 26, 2010

SAN DIEGO - A San Diego animal center rescues a puppy from a Utah shelter that shoots or runs-over pets as a means of euthanasia

Jed, six-month-old puppy, escaped death at a Utah animal control facility that keeps orphaned pets for 72 hours. At the facility, animals that haven't found a home after the 72 hour period, the shelter shoots the pets. If they run out of bullets, they drive over the animals with their trucks. The dead animals are then thrown into a sewage pit.

According to the Helen Woodward Animal Center in San Diego County, the mayor of the community that does this believes it's efficient and cost-effective.

"We're still trying to wrap our heads around this," says Helen Woodward Animal Center (HWAC) spokesman John Van Zante. "How does an animal control facility call itself a, 'shelter' then take such inhumane actions to deal with orphaned pets?

The community claims that some of the pets are not always dead when they are thrown into the pit.

Adoptions Manager LaBeth Thompson works with animal welfare groups across the country to help find families for pets.

"Never during my 28 years at Helen Woodward Animal Center have I heard of any animal welfare organization that uses such cruel and antiquated methods to deal with an animal entrusted to their care!" Thompson said about the Utah shelter that shoots or runs-over pets as a means of euthanasia.

An article on www.henryslaw.com says that residents of Hinckley, Utah are speaking out on the city's animal control policy.

One resident says, "They had collars on them. They were people's pets." She adds that some of the wounded crawl onto her property and die.

Jed is available for adoption at Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe. Van Zante says that Jed is a sweet, healthy puppy in spite of his background.

"He seems to be a German Short-haired Pointer mix," VanZante described. "Right now he's around 40 pounds. He'll grow up to be a medium-to-large dog with lots of energy."

For more information about Helen Woodward Animal Center, click here. http://www.animalcenter.org/

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-dog-rescue-shoot,0,6036194.story

Video at the above link.