Please keep this article for future reference and show it to anyone who is
considering dumping his or her companion animal at Hi-Tor shelter….
"Think twice before you bring your pet to a shelter," Kelly said. "They
might not make it to the next day. And you might regret it."

Cat euthanized before owner changes mind

By KHURRAM SAEED

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: May 19, 2004)

Copyright 2004 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving

Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/051904/b0119catstail.html

Reprinted for educational purposes only

 
 Joe Kelly was angry the day he took his cat, Alli, to the Hi-Tor Animal Care
Center in Pomona. Countless times, Alli had urinated on the just-washed
laundry.

 It seemed the stray kitten Kelly had found in his car's tire well nine years
earlier simply wasn't getting along with Kelly's 2-year-old son.

 So Kelly, 37, dropped off Alli at the animal shelter last Thursday
afternoon, thinking maybe Hi-Tor staff could find the gray tabby with black stripes a
new home. But that night, Kelly and his wife, Linda, who live in Garnerville,
began feeling guilty.

 Kelly returned to Hi-Tor the next afternoon to collect Alli, but he was too
late: the shelter had euthanized the cat that morning.

 "I was completely shocked," said Kelly, who had tried to give Alli to his
eight siblings, several friends and co-workers but found no takers. "I never
expected in a million years that they wouldn't give it a day. I figured they
would wait at least a week for adoption."

 But the shelter has no policy regarding how long it keeps pets that their
owners surrender to them. Understaffed and overcrowded with animals — 27
dogs and puppies and 20 cats and kittens as of yesterday — Hi-Tor officials said that
their decision, while upsetting, was sensible.

 Donald Fives, Hi-Tor's assistant director and the person who took in Alli
from Kelly last week, said the cat was older, had trouble with children,
wasn't housebroken, hadn't had its shots since 1999 and tried to bite a Hi-Tor
employee.
It was, in short, unadoptable.
"A 9-year-old cat with a temperament and a training problem is not a cat
that I'm going to be able find a home for," Fives said.

 Kelly's story serves as a cautionary tale for pet owners uncertain about
what to do with animals that no longer take first priority.

 People who bring their dogs or cats to the shelter should know that if their
pet is not adopted, it may be euthanized, sometimes hours or days after its
arrival.

 It is a cruel reality, one that pet owners do not want to confront, and one
that shelter officials do not publicize.

 Ken Hy, Hi-Tor's executive director, said the shelter used to post a sign on
its walls informing people that once they turned over their pet, it could
result in the animal being put to death if a suitable owner could not be
found.

 "People really objected to it," Hy said, adding they told him they were
aware of the consequences.

 The sign came down last year.

 Fives said he doesn't directly bring up the subject of euthanizing an
animal.

However, he does give people the option of being called if their pet cannot
be placed.

 "I don't think people want to be reminded of it. They don't want to know,"
Fives said. "They would rather go home blissful."

 
He estimated only 5 percent of people ask to be notified if an animal is
unadoptable, and even those who do, rarely come back to get the pet before
it is killed.

 The shelter euthanized 1,574 animals last year, 971 of them at their owners'
request. It also placed 741 animals in new homes.

 Kelly said Hi-Tor might have been within its rights to euthanize Alli, but
said the shelter should create a policy giving people a few days to
reconsider their decision.

 "I'm sure I'm not the first person who brought in a pet and changed their
mind later," he said.
Fives said the shelter was in a no-win position, and still would have been
blamed for its actions.

 "If I held the cat for five days and he showed up on the sixth day, it would
have been the same" complaint, Fives said. "People would say why didn't he
wait six days?"

 Brigid Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman with the American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said there are uniform policies governing how long
shelters must wait to euthanize.
After being told of the circumstances of Kelly's case by a reporter,
Fitzgerald said Hi-Tor's actions were not "terribly unusual."

 
The ASPCA, which operates a privately funded shelter in New York City, has a
no-kill policy. But government-supported shelters often must make calls one cage space and employee safety due to their limited resources, she said.

 "They have to make decisions a lot quicker than we do," she said.

 Kelly said he wished he hadn't been so emotional when he decided to give up
Alli for adoption. He was hopeful others in his position might learn from
his choices.

 
"Think twice before you bring your pet to a shelter," Kelly said. "They
might not make it to the next day. And you might regret it."