Opinion : MY PERSPECTIVE BY DR. O. R. CORBETT

Mid morning on July 4 Garrett Wittmer, the Animal Control Officer, called.  He had been called by the authorities to pick up an injured stray dog.  He brought the dog to my office where I examined it.  It was an older female Labrador.  It had labored breathing.  The eyes would not focus, and it was unable to move it's back legs.  The back legs did not have any feeling in them.  Upon manipulating the back legs the pelvis gave a crunching sound and movement indicating that it was broken.  There would not have been any movement nor  crunching sounds of bone scraping on bone if it were not broken. She had wounds on her back legs and one front leg.  It was obviously in dire respiratory distress and appeared to be in shock.  There was every indication that she had been hit by a car.  I think this is very likely since she was dragging herself in the street and around the neighborhood unsupervised.  It is impossible to know how long she had been there.  Obviously it was long enough for the authorities to be notified, the authorities call the ACO, the ACO to arrive, pick her up, contact me, and come to my office where I thoroughly examined her.  I believe this took considerably more than an hour.   The decision was made to euthanize her rather than let her continue to suffer.  The ACO took her to the shelter and cremated her. I do not make these decisions lightly.  She had no rabies vaccination tag or collar as required by law and was running at large.  Garrett and I were both putting ourselves at risk handling a severely injured undocumented dog that might have wandered there from anywhere.   Later both Mr. and Mrs. Powers came to my home, POUNDED on my door and shouted obscenities at me.  I tried to explain what happened and why.

 

The facts of the case are:

1.  The owner allowed the dog to leave his premises unattended.  If the

      owner had been truly responsible none of this would have happened.

2.  Garrett, the ACO, did his job by picking up the injured stray dog and

     seeking assistance on a holiday.

3.  I did my job as attending veterinarian after determining the animal was

     suffering  from painful injuries, acute respiratory distress and shock.  I  

     humanely euthanized the dog with an intravenous injection to end it's 

     suffering.

 

I am beginning to resent very much being called a "criminal" and accused of wrong doing because I relieved the suffering of an injured stray animal that was in great pain.  I also resent the attempt at blackmail by Mr. Powers saying he would NOT go public, insinuating I had done something wrong, if I paid his previous veterinary bills and bought him a new dog. 

 

To answer the question of "waiting" time, how long is one supposed to wait to give relief to a stray animal who is suffering and in great pain.  I do not believe taking it to the shelter and allowing it to suffer for many more hours or days is doing it a kindness.  There is a waiting period in force at the shelter for stray healthy animals.  Injured or sick animals are assessed on an individual basis as to whether the injuries are life threatening and the pain level or if sick if the contagion is a threat to healthy animals at the shelter.

 

If change is needed the best way to accomplish this is by supporting the Friends of the Shelter, the volunteer staff who manage the shelter.  They have a very tight budget and depend on your donations to continue their work.  Without adequate funds it is very difficult to accomplish their goals of improving animal welfare in the area.  The animal shelter has always been free to call any veterinarian it wants.  When needed they have used the services of other veterinarians.

 

O. R. Corbett, DVM