page 6
Wednesday, September 12, 1979
daily nebraskan
1 ! I I i !
11
It can be a happy story.
A young boy's pet dog is lost. His
family searches the neighborhood for
the family pet only to come up empty,
handed. With nothing to lose they drive
out to the Humane Society to see if the
missing dog might be there. An ecstatic
snile flashes across the young boy's face
as the missing dog is found .
It can be a happy story, but it
doesn't always work out that way.
Hie Capitol Humane Society of Ne
braska, 2320 Park Blvd., sees a lot of
happy stories and unfortunately, some
sad ones. While people can adopt dogs
and claim lost ones, a large number of
the animals that the Humane Society
receives must be killed, according to
Greg Thomas, Operations Supervisor.
According to Thomas, about 1,000
dogs come through their kennels each
month. Fifty percent of them are strays
that are picked up by the city and the
other half are turn-ins-dogs that are
turned in because the owners can no
longer take care of them.
We encourage everyone to bring in
their pet to us rather than just dumping
it (the pet) someplace," Thomas said.
"Because of the regulations that exist
today , a turned -in pet has a good chance
of being adopted, but a stray dog that is
picked up doesn't have nearly as good
of a chance."
THOMAS SAID that, according to
city regulations, before a stray dog can
be adopted it must be spayed or neuter
ed, given shots and licensed, which adds
up to about $ 100 per animal.
We don't have enough funds to pay
for all of that and people won't pay
$100 for a stray, while turn4n dogs can
be sold for anywhere between $8 and
$35," Thomas said.
Nevertheless, no matter how inex
pensive adopting a dog may be, every
day the Humane Society is forced to kill
a number of animals.
According to Thomas, rough
estimates are that 35 percent of the
dogs they receive are adopted by new
owners, 40 percent are claimed by their
original owner and 25 percent must be
killed.
A stray dog has only 72 hours after
it is brought in to be claimed or we have
to kill it," Thomas said. Tumed4n
puppies have 14 or more days while
they are being adminstiTed their shots
and turned -in dogs have four to five
months depending on their type and
temperament."
Bernard L. Patton, director of the
Humane Society, explained how the
animals are killed.
"The animals are killed through
t
Death often only answer
decompression, a very
method," Patton said.
humane
THE MACHINE used is similar to
ones used by the Navy and the Air
Force where pilots are in the machine
to see how long it is before they black
out, but are then quickly revived with
oxygen, Patton said.
'The difference is that the animals
are not revived and then-their bodies are
cremated," Patton said. "They feel no
pain and it is easier for the people oper
ating the machine because they have no
direct contact with the killing of
animals."
"People have misconceptions that
when their dog is spayed or neutered
they lose all their energy, become leth
argic and that it's bad for them, but
that's not' at all true," Thomas said,
"animal welfare isn't an animal pro
blem, it's a people problem ."
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Photos by M. Billingslej
and Tom .Gessncr
Story by Kent Warnckc
