THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230524
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MAPLE LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
A couple wanted to adopt the litter of black and tan Labrador puppies they'd seen advertised on a Humane Society sign at a Currituck County country store.
But when Humane Society member Bill Neff went to the county shelter Wednesday to get the four pups ready for their new owners, the animals were gone.
All 12 dogs and cats at the Maple facility had been put to sleep the day before.
Currituck County officials say the time was up for the animals at the shelter.
But Neff and other Humane Society members believe the animals were killed as part of a power struggle over control of the shelter.
The incident happened the day after County Manager Bill Richardson publicly suggested the Currituck humane society take over the shelter.
On Monday, county commissioners learned a Moyock man had donated money needed to heat the cinderblock animal shelter. The gift put the humane society in a better position to take over shelter operations from county control, eventually.
Frank Bray, the director of public works who oversees the animal shelter, said miscommunication between him and the animal shelter staff led to Tuesday's killings. He was home sick this week.
A county ordinance allows shelter animals to be put to death by carbon monoxide poisoning after a 14-day stay. But the Currituck County Board of Commissioners have said healthy animals can remain if space is available.
The 24-by-42-foot shelter contains cages for at least seven dogs and 12 cats caught by animal control officers or, as in the case of the Lab pups and their mother, brought in by citizens.
``There's no reason to have the pound empty,'' Bray said. But, he added, animal control officers may not have been aware of the county-approved extensions.
``From now on, there will be no animals put to sleep at the pound unless I tell them to do it,'' Bray said.
The Humane Society president will help decide which animals are euthanized. Bray said he will notify animal control officers immediately of the rule requiring his permission to put animals to sleep.
``That letter will be out today,'' he said.
Until now, animal control officers determined when animals died based on length of stay and disease.
The Labrador litter still had a day to go before they could be officially euthanized, said animal-rights activist Jan Smith.
She'd videotaped all the animals at the Humane Society's Open House last weekend. ``And they were all fine and healthy,'' she said.
This week's incident is not the first in which animals have been killed shortly after being advertised for adoption, Smith added.
``I'd take a picture and put in it the paper and, lo and behold, they'd be gassed the next day for `a limp' or because it was sick - when it was perfectly well when I took the picture,'' Smith said.
Animal Control Officer Joann Snowden was at the shelter Tuesday, although she is on medical leave, but denies being involved in the mass euthanization, according to Bray.
``Every time we get something good going, she pulls down the boot leg on us somehow,'' Neff said Thursday, referring to Snowden.
Contacted at her home,Snowden said, ``I can't make any statements because I'm on sick leave.'' Earlier this month, the telephone cord to the Humane Society's animal adoption hot line was severed, Neff and Smith said. The Currituck County Sheriff's Department is investigating possible vandalism of the telephone line, which is inside the animal shelter office. by CNB