In 2010, 3,984 of the 4,133 cats taken in by the Davidson County, North Carolina shelter—96 percent—were put to death. While dogs fared a little better, eight out of 10 were still killed: 2,846 of the 3,625 they took in, including every dog they deemed a “Pit Bull” or “Pit Bull”-mix as a matter of policy. With an adoption rate of only six percent, they weren’t even trying to save lives, choosing to kill them instead. But it was even worse than that. Although the gas chamber is legal in North Carolina, it is illegal to use it for animals that appear to be 16 weeks or younger, pregnant or near death because it takes sick, younger or older animals longer to absorb the gas, resulting in a slower and more agonizing death. The state also prohibits animals of different species from being put in the gas chamber together. But the employees of the Davidson County shelter did not care. Davidson County has a history of killing kittens and puppies using the gas chamber in violation of North Carolina law. It has a history of killing elderly and sick animals in that manner, which is also illegal.
That same year, shelter employees put a raccoon in the gas chamber with a mother cat and her kitten in order to sadistically watch them fight before they died:
The gas chamber has two windows, one on either side. The raccoon and the adult cat started fighting. Then they turned the gas on. The adult cat got on one corner and the raccoon got on the other, and as soon as they turned on the gas, the kitten started shaking and going into convulsions.
A contractor who was working at the shelter told the County Board that he heard the employees laugh when they did it. He said he was sickened by the incident, as were animal lovers nationwide who condemned the shelter for its cruelty and barbarity. But it did not sicken the Humane Society of the United States. Instead, HSUS gave them an award at a public ceremony, calling the Davidson County facility “A Shelter We Love.”
When asked how that was possible, how HSUS could celebrate a sadistic shelter that tortured animals to death, HSUS claimed they did not take into account how many animals were killed or how they were killed. Instead, they indicated that they were looking to the future and they promised that, with their help, the pound in Davidson County would stop gassing and come into the 21st Century.
In 2014, Davidson County is still killing 6,000 animals every year. And it is still gassing animals. And this month, several of those animals ended up dumped in the middle of a road where people driving by saw them. When confronted by it at a public meeting, the pound director remained defiant: about the killing, about the gassing, about the dead animals littering the public street. She called it a “non-story.” And HSUS? They think it is a non-story, too. You won’t find a word about it on their North Carolina Facebook page.
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