Activists say inhumane method of killing dogs used at Trumbull pound despite promise


By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Four local animal activists attended Wednesday’s Trumbull County commissioners meeting to sound off about the method used Friday in a failed attempt to euthanize a dog at the county dog pound.

Diane King of Animal Pawtectors said she was assured months ago that a method of euthanasia involving a shot into a muscle would not be used anymore, but a worker used it anyway.

“We tried to follow the chain of command. We were told it wouldn’t happen again,” King told county commissioners.

Jim Keating, county human-resources director, said the worker called him Friday because Gwen Logan, executive dog warden, was out of town, and the employee wanted some direction on what to do.

Keating said he told the worker to take the dog to a veterinarian, which the worker did, and the dog recovered.

King said the worker and/or supervisor should be disciplined because that method can cause tremendous pain and is inhumane because of the length of time it can take for that method to kill the dog. A dog treated in a similar way several months ago took several hours to die, King said.

Logan said the adoption rate at the dog pound is 97 percent, and there were 22 euthanizations in 2015 and two so far this year. Because the dog pound was busy Friday and workers don’t perform many euthanasias, a mistake was made, Logan said.

“We’ve agreed we will take them to a veterinarian in the future,” Logan said of dogs that they can’t euthanize with a shot into a vein. Veterinarians have access to other drugs that are more effective that the dog pound is not allowed to use, Logan said.

But Katie Costello, a licensed veterinary technician, said putting the drug into the dog’s muscle is “never allowed.”

In other business, the commissioners concurred with county Engineer Randy Smith’s purchase of four compressed natural-gas dump/snowplow trucks. All but 20 percent of the cost will be paid through a federal transportation Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality grant.

Smith said eventually all 30 of the department’s trucks will be CNG because they burn cleaner and extend the life of the engines.

At first, the department will fuel them at Mr. Fuel on Salt Springs Road in Weathersfield Township. But the department has applied for money in the state capital budget to build a CNG fueling station.

Commissioner Frank Fuda announced at the meeting that he will not allow department heads to forbid employees from contacting him when they are unhappy about work-related issues. “I’ve had an open-door policy for 25 years,” Fuda said.

Fuda said he was dismayed when a county employee told him recently he or she was in trouble with a supervisor for working during lunch. “We’re allowed to have dedicated employees,” Fuda said.

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