Muskegon Chronicle

Labor of Love

Sunday, September 02, 2007

By Eric Gaertner

egaertner@muskegonchronicle.com

Connie Karry led the small German shepherd mix by a leash into a small room away from the barking dogs in cages at Muskegon County's animal shelter.

Once inside the room, a blue muzzle was fitted over the dog's mouth and Liz Schaub held the dog, Coby, in her lap. She told the dog, "I'm sorry, buddy," as she gently patted and rubbed his fur.

Melody Cassady inserted a syringe into the dog's front leg and depressed the plunger, releasing lethal medication as Schaub cradled the dog. The first shot caused a vein to burst and a second dose was injected. The dog did not fight the process.      

"I'm so sorry, honey," Cassady told the dog as she looked into its eyes. "We had a good time in the backyard, didn't we?"

The dog's eyes slowly closed and seconds later his heart stopped.

Coby was dead.    

Melody Cassady holds onto the leg of "Coby" a mixed-breed dog that she just injected with Euthasol. Volunteer Liz Schaub, right, keeps a firm hold on him. Cassady, of Muskegon, is a volunteer for Bound Buddies Rescue, located inside of Vector Control, 1300 E. Keating, where she frequently has to euthanize animals that are unadoptable.	Volunteer Liz Schaub hugs "Coby" while Melody Cassady prepares another injection of Euthasol after the first one failed to work.

And the people who played with him, fed him and worked tirelessly to get him adopted during his final days were the ones who killed him.

That's the dilemma faced each week by the volunteer workers who perform one of the toughest and most stressful jobs in Muskegon County -- euthanizing dogs. While other jobs in the area require more physical strength or put people in more hazardous situations, the laborers from Pound Buddies Rescue arguably have one of the toughest jobs of all.

"It's the only occupation where we're asked to kill the things we take care of," said Cassady, a Muskegon resident who has been involved in the euthanizing of dogs for eight years. "We have to do it."

The volunteers mostly blame "irresponsible" pet owners for putting them in that position. While Vector Control is charged with protecting the public from dangerous animals, the Muskegon County agency also must accept unwanted dogs that are strays or people don't want anymore.

Because the shelter has only so much room, dogs that aren't adopted are destroyed.

"Nobody likes to do it, but someone has to do it," said Karry, a Fruitport Township resident and president of Pound Buddies Rescue. "You get a little tougher, but you still feel for them. You try to concentrate on the need for them to go peacefully."

Pound Buddies Rescue, a private animal friends group in Muskegon, handles animal adoptions and euthanizations for Muskegon County. Vector Control -- which is responsible for enforcing domestic animal laws, including dog licensing, animal cruelty charges and bite investigations -- has contracted with Pound Buddies for adoptions since 2004 and euthanizations since 2005.

After the dogs are killed, they are disposed of by a private company, R & R Research.

The three Pound Buddies volunteers put down four dogs Tuesday afternoon. In addition to Coby, a pit bull, a Rottweiler and a beagle received lethal injections.

Through August an average of 25 dogs a month have been euthanized this year, but Karry said that number would be about 96 a month if volunteers didn't find space at rescues, other shelters or foster homes.

A group of seven Pound Buddies volunteers, who spend many hours socializing with the dogs at the animal shelter, determine which will be put on "death row."

Karry said the group usually selects dogs that are sick, injured, display signs of aggression or are considered unadoptable. She said pit bulls, beagles, black labs and shepherd mixes are often euthanized, while small, lap dogs and puppies are most likely to be adopted.

On Tuesday, the pit bull's dangerous reputation, Coby's food aggression, the Rottweiler's aggressive tendencies and the beagle's obesity and old age were the reasons they were selected to be put down.

"Someone told me once that it wasn't right, that I was playing God," said Karry. "I told him, 'I play God every week. Somebody has to.' "

Which means volunteers must live with the tough decisions they make.

Of Coby, Karry said: "Given enough time, we could probably work with him, but that's what we don't have -- enough time, enough people, enough homes."

Knowing that the shelter needed the room to house dogs that might have better chances of being adopted, the volunteers began the heart-wrenching process of euthanization.

For Cassady, the beagle held a special place in her heart. Fearing she might become too emotional, Cassady performed the procedure behind closed doors.

"He's just a sweety," Cassady said. "Beagles are a great dog and I love beagles."

Cassady, a former animal control officer in Florida, is one of three Pound Buddies volunteers -- one is taking a break because of burnout -- who are certified to perform lethal injections. She also fosters dogs and runs the organization's spay and neuter program, a coordinated effort with an initiative in Kentwood that provides reduced-cost spaying and neutering for those who can't afford it.

"There are a lot of sad stories out here, but there are happy endings, too," Cassady said. "That's what keeps us going."

One of the happy endings stems from her fostering. She fosters dogs from the "last-day list," those scheduled to be euthanized.

Cassady was set to put down a black lab mix and had the tranquilizer in her hand.

"I said, 'I'm not going to kill you. I can't,' " said Cassady, who fostered the dog while searching for a family to take him. "I ended up finding him a home."

When asked why she volunteers as a lethal injector, Cassady pointed to a room in the back of the Muskegon County Vector Control building. She said many dogs used to be killed in the gas chamber, a euthanization technique she called less humane than the lethal injection.

"It's not if these dogs are going to die, it's how they're going to die," she said.

Schaub, a Muskegon resident, has been training for two months as a holder in the euthanization process. She also fosters five dogs through Pound Buddies.

"I started doing it because we had a lack of people," Schaub said of the euthanizations. "There's a lot of effort on everybody's part. This is very exhaustive volunteer work."

Karry said Pound Buddies is searching for more people to assist with the euthanizations, requesting that anyone in the community who is already certified through veterinarian work consider volunteering.

"It takes its toll, doing this over and over again," Karry said. "We feel this is the most humane way. It helps if you can spread the euthanizing out among many people."

However, it takes a special temperament to be able to kill animals that these people obviously love.

"It is tremendously stressful on the volunteers," Karry said. "A lot of times these are really nice dogs that are wagging their tails as they are being put to death. We're not putting down just mean and ugly dogs. Some of these dogs are very nice and would make good pets."

Those who are involved with the euthanizations call it a driving force to work even harder on adoptions and push for pet population controls such as convincing pet owners not to breed their animals and have them altered by spaying or neutering.

By many indications, the governmental-private partnership between Muskegon County Vector Control and Pound Buddies has worked well. The number of dogs euthanized each year has steadily decreased since volunteers began playing an unofficial role in 1998.

"I don't like euthanizing 800 dogs, but it's better than the 5,000 they were doing previously," said Ted Sietsma, environmental health protection coordinator who oversees Muskegon County Vector Control. "Pound Buddies is certainly making a difference."

The county pays Pound Buddies $2 an animal for euthanization supplies and medications and Pound Buddies covers the remainder of the cost, an average of $5 an animal, through donations. Vector Control, which can house a maximum of 88 animals, provides two wards and spots for 36 animals for Pound Buddies.

Animals that come in as strays are held in Vector Control wards for the mandatory four to seven days and then can be transferred over to Pound Buddies for possible adoption.

Vector Control also euthanizes other dangerous animals, like feral cats, but does not accept stray felines.