There is currently a petition on Change.org aimed at ending the practice of gassing shelter pets to death in Oklahoma. Russell Frantz, chief of the Shawnee police department is among those being petitioned as he oversees the city’s animal control department. This is what Change.org has to say about Shawnee AC:
In one particular shelter in Oklahoma, the Shawnee Animal Control, stray animals are only held for 2 days! And they refuse to allow any pictures posted publicly.
Chief Frantz has been sending out replies to people who sign the petition. The first reply was about no kill, which is not what the petition addresses, but at least we know where Chief Frantz stands on the issue:
Thank you for your concerns. We would love to be a No Kill facility and save every animal but unfortunately we don’t have the funding or resources to do this at this time. Please remember that as you petition the different levels of government that you including funding and resources so that the end goal can be met. Laws and Mandates without funding and resources only make matters worse for communities.
We truly do hate to have to euthanize any animal but it takes funding and resources. How do you propose that we euthanize animals? Would you be willing to volunteer to hold an animal as it gets a lethal injection and have it die in your arms? Puppies have to be euthanized by lethal injection by law. Once again we hate to have to euthanize any animal. Please support your local rescue groups.
We work very closely with three 501 C (3) local rescue organizations to save as many animals as possible.
Please remember to spay and neuter your pets.
Got all that? It’s not good enough to ask that they stop gassing pets. You have to either send them money or volunteer to hold pets while they’re killed. Those are, of course, the only two options available on the planet Earth. Bankroll the facility yourself, participate in the killing or just shut up and let us stuff pets into the gas chamber you annoying taxpayers.
The second reply was in response to the specific issues addressed in the petition:
– The use of a gas chamber, as opposed to the more humane and cost effective injection method for euthanasia.
Response: Here in Shawnee we use a very efficient CO2 chamber that is cheaper than lethal injection. This system the animal simply goes to sleep and then passes away. Lethal injection is more costly to do here than CO2.
– Strays held for only two days.
Response: We often hold animals longer than this but when people realize they only have two days they pick them up quickly and don’t use us as a cheap boarding facility.
– Refusal to post pictures of stray/adoptable animals publicly.
Response: We had to stop doing this because people were fraudulently using these pictures to illegally collect money though internet scams. We are trying to protect people that honestly want to help and not be scammed or defrauded.
Well Chief Frantz, I have some good news. I think I can clear up some of these issues immediately, if not sooner.
Pets in gas chambers do not always drift off on a pink fluffy cloud while dreaming of getting their own Disney movie. I won’t be linking to any of the horribly disturbing material here but if you can use The Google, you can find evidence and eyewitness testimony documenting this. The Association of Shelter Veterinarians is against gassing and The National Animal Control Association condemns it – for good reason. As for cost, take a look at this study which shows gassing to be more expensive than lethal injection.
Newsflash: While you certainly may have some abusers of your “services” in Shawnee, the vast majority of people with measurable cognitive function are not going to use your GASSING POUND as a “cheap boarding facility”. See also: duh.
Finally, are you for real? Nigerian puppy scammers will use your Petfinder photos of mangy mutts to swindle people out of cash so it’s better not to post any pictures online at all?
OK Memphis Animal Services, you know how much I hate your failure to post all your pets online – and Imma let you finish but Shawnee Animal Control has the Lamest Excuse of All Time – Of All Time!!!
Bwhaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaaa….there’s milk coming out of my nose!@#$&!
Congratulations MAS, you’re not the best loser. Or would that be the worst *shelter*?
See also: duh?
Oh, thank you. I must go out and tend to the creatures. You have MADE my electronic day.
Sent an email to the Mayor of Shawnee…Basically told her to use her own brain. Oh and that she needed to deal with her uneducated Police of Chief, like take away the Shelter from this buffoon!
This is why it is generally not a good idea (at least from an animal welfare standpoint) for municipal animal control to fall under the responsibilities of law enforcement. I’m sure there are some examples where the arrangement works, but by and large the animals are not going to have much success when the police are in charge of the shelter. Police have not been trained in animal welfare and it’s probably not big on their priority list. Memphis’s approach would probably be easier to change.
By coincidence, No-Kill News posted today about a small town in Texas where the police department took over the shelter and it immediately went No Kill! One of the few instances where the arrangement has worked well.
http://www.no-killnews.com/
I love to be surprised! And when the human herd thinks outside the box. It elevates all of us.
In my city of Lawrence, MA, AC is part of the police department, and they decided they could save money and reduce their hassle by going out and doing education in the neighborhoods with the largest numbers of stray animals. They promote licensing as a way of getting your dog back faster if it gets loose, they educate about the benefits of good confinement, obedience training, and keeping up with the core vaccines other than just the legally required rabies. They negotiated an even-lower-cost spay/neuter deal with the low-cost spay/neuter clinic and provide two-way transportation for those who want to speuter and don’t have their own transport. Dogs who are not reclaimed by their owners are transferred to the local shelter unless deemed dangerous.
In a city with a population of 76,000, with the lowest per capita income in the state, and a large immigrant population whose English language skills are, in many cases, dubious at best, they now have about 3-5 dogs in the pound in any given week, most of whom are just waiting for their owners to get off work and come pick them up.
So, yes, it can work well. But like anything else, it depends on the people involved. If someone gets “stuck” with the job rather than wanting it, the potential for it going bad is very high.
Good to see that there can be success stories with this situation.
Shirley…. you go Girl! you made my day also.
It’s a lack of leadership, a lack of integrity, a lack of will, and a big heaping pile of laziness, maintaining the status quo and power, all topped off with he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about saving lives or doing things differently.
Hahaaaahaaa!!! LOVE this article. You certainly got it right about Shawnee OK! And you put it so eloquently too! When pictures were posted on Facebook of the poor cats and dogs in there MANY got rescued. Now that they’re using their bogus excuse for keeping pictures off the internet, there’s no saying how many animals are being killed in there. Are we supposed to believe they care about strangers losing money from scams when they don’t care about the animals screaming for their lives right in their own town? And how stupid do they think we are….falling asleep with their “special” CO2….Hahaaaa! Those animals are gasping for air while scratching each other’s eyes out trying to get out of there like every other gassing facility victim. I guess CO2 is different in Shawnee? Magical perhaps? What a crock! And what an insult to animal lovers intelligence everywhere! Hope this article goes nation wide.
Sometimes I’m ashamed to live in this state. I would bet money that this Chief of Police has never been present when the gas chamber is used, or he would realize it’s more like DROWNING than falling asleep. They scream until the oxygen is so far diluted it isn’t possible any more. Great post.
If you think that’s something…wait! It gets better. I sent them ANSWERS to their problems, 23 of them!! And, their response was for the most part, we can’t do those here. Really, I gave them ways to make money…you know, REVENUE. They allowed the pit bulls out AFTER we informed them that it was ILLEGAL to invoke BSL in a NON-BSL state. So, they can do what they want, ILLEGALLY, but the rest of the state has to abide by their laws? Get this, they were GASSING PUPPIES ILLEGALLY! That’s right…according to their own statutes, they can’t gas puppies younger than 16 weeks, but they were not only doing it, so are MANY other animal control facilities, not only in that state, but in SEVERAL STATES. That’s right, YOUR GOVERNMENT believes that it’s ok to break their OWN LAWS, but you have to follow them. Something doesn’t sound right, eh? So, why is everyone paying them to do this?? Why are you purchasing things from this state?? You want it stopped?? We’re going after them LEGALLY! But, what it really takes is a complete boycott from everyone here..Stop purchasing from them…nothing exported by OK state.
Shawnee is a disgrace and the Ciity and County officials need to re-evaluate the total operation of the pound (cannot call it a shelter) so that there is a bigger emphasis on assisting these animals to return to their owners or be placed in rescues who will ensure a safe placement in a new lifetime home.
Well all this just breaks my heart. Animals are so kind and gentle, all they want is to love and be loved. I realize there aren’t enough homes for them and euthanasia is necessary, but why does it have to be in such a cruel way? Why can’t the law be lethal injection for all of the homeless ones so they just slip off to sleep? This cruelty has got to stop. And allowing them only 2 days to live before killing them is criminal. The police of Shawnee should be arresting their own animal control and chef of police.
If wish the powers that be would think outside the small box they apparently are limited to. . . like Austin, TX. and K-State, KS. Austin opened an adoption center (clean, modern) right down town and displayed groomed pets up for adoption. Then they opened a low cost vet facility right next door. Every dog, cat is neutered, spayed and vet checked before being released. These services are offered to public and encouraged by a massive ad program all over the area. The first year the ctr. all animals adopted and the neutering/spaying rate up. The animal population went down and the kill rate was no existent. K-State in Kansas has a “pet taxi” (modern, air conditioned, cage bus) that will pick up your pet for any medical problem and take it in for spaying, neutering and a check up at low cost to the owner. In Hot Springs , Ar. they once had a program where the one vet per month in the area would take turns offer low cost spaying and neutering once a month for a week. Unfortunately some vets would not participate because they wanted all the money all the time and it has fallen off to the wayside and it is now known as not such an educated public on animal issue or animal care. Also my vet out there worked with the University of Arkansas to bring student over and work in this area at lower cost. They got experience and guidance and the public got low cost care. I do wish they would let the chief be slowly choked to death and experience the joy of slowly dying while gasping for non-existent air while flailing and limbs going into seizures. And there are too many cases of the animal NOT being killed and buried alive; just brain denied. Hasn’t this public official worked any asphyxiation suicide cases lately. Gently drifting off to sleep does not describe what the animal goes through. Shows the lack of education. I wish Oklahoma could get progressive instead of the back woods, backward hillbilly mentality we have out there. It is embarrassing
A mouth full of excellent words with brains attached. Good work Kathy. Informational, too bad he isn’t listening. If you are listening Oklahoma Police Chief, there is a place for you to check for help & information on No Kill. 1. Mike Fry @ Animal Ark Rescue, and Nathan Winogard, a lawyer, DD and very informed on No Kill. Has written several books outlining how to. Both run and invented No Kill. Kathy & Wolf the cat.
Amen
If wishes could make it so…but they don’t. While I howled at your dazzling repartee Shirley (as always) I think readers from and around Shawnee OK should get their butts out of their lazyboys and get to work on that ‘shelter’! Dear God/Goddess!
Could any one give me this man’s email address please?
actually the Mayors & Police Chiefs email would be good?
Holding animals for only 2 days before owners can even find them is horrible. And cruelly gassing them to death is unconscionable. How do you sleep at night after looking into these innocent faces that are facing more of a penalty than humans who kill others. These dogs, cats, etc do not deserve this. How would you feel if you were the one being gassed?
I WONDER IF CHEIF FRANTZ IS RELATED TO HITLER IN ANY WAY? FRANTZ IS A GERMAN SURNAME.I ALSO WONDER IF THIS CHEIF FRANTZ IS RELATED TO ANY OF HITLERS HENCHMEN????? SOUNDS LIKE OLE FRANTZ IS A DESCENDANT OF HITLER.
This is so embarrassing that this happens here in out great state of Oklahoma! Shawnee, Altus, backwoods and sick! Norman? Seriously? Again, so embarrassing that this happens in Oklahoma, where we just built a beautiful Okc humane society and have a the wonderful Free to Live also!! News channels need to know about the inhumane treatment at Shawnee, Altus, and Norman!! I feel pretty sure the media will jump on this. To fill a living creatures lungs with burning gas is horrible! Their eyes burn, they cry until they can’t, and sometimes you even think they are dead when they are not, because they can’t make a noise and you toss them in a pile to suffer even longer before they die. Oh and have you seen these gas chambers? How many animals do you cram in together at one time? Oh but the more you cram together the more you justify as cost savings. Sick! And for the workers who have the job of doing this…bern to the dr lately? Mask or no mask, you should have your lungs checked out. Do you honestly think you escape the vapors? Hope these cities have good liability insurance. Ever gone into the room of death? You can’t escape the gas. Ever taken a co2 detector near the room? Oh yes, it’s there. Our former govenor and current govenor, both have children I doubt either families would explain gas chambers as humane treament to animals, if their children asked. Shawnee, Altus, norman…wake up or should I say, step away from the room! I think the gas has damaged your brains. We won’t give up! We won’t go away! We won’t stop being the voice of those without one! We won’t forget their unconditional love they tried to give…even to you.
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP. There is a new threat at Shawnee, OK Gas Chamber in the form of Parvovirus. If you don’t already know Parvo is a mostly fatal virus for dogs and HIGHLY contagious. My friend rescued 2 dogs from chamber within the last week and they had parvo but were otherwise healthy before coming to Gas Chamber. The facility is harboring this deadly virus and any and all dogs in the shelter are now more than likely infected and will die. His own dogs who were UTD on vaccines have contracted the virus showing a stronger strain that is immune to vaccines. Someone please help me in shutting this disease harboring facility down NOW! Call the mayor of Shawnee or the department of infectious Canine disease if there is one. something needs to be done, I know firsthand what parvo can do and it is 98.9% fatal in Canines. If anyone can give me an E-mail for Mayor of Shawnee I’d appreciate it. Thank you. Again this is URGENT! Time is of the essence!!
This is inhumane and needs to stop!!! These are gods innocent creatures and need to be properly treated just like you would treat yourself or kids. People need to be educated on spay and neuter so the pet population decreases as well as offering spay/neuter programs for low income families that have pets. Please stop the mass killing of pets and start educating!