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Residents Bark at Pound Chiefs

11/24/2004

Text by © Lisa Sandberg/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press

     Packing an auditorium for a town hall meeting Tuesday night, about 500 animal lovers took their outrage at conditions at the city pound directly to the men who run it.

     Health Director Dr. Fernando Guerra and pound director Dr. William Lammers sat stoically as an overflow audience called for radical reform at the city Animal Care and Control facility, which this year will gas to death nearly 50,000 cats and dogs, more per capita than any other major city in the nation.

     "Our current system is a disgrace, sir, and it brings shame to our city," said Laura Standford, an animal rescuer, in comments she directed to Lammers, the pound's longtime veterinary services manager. "Shame on you for allowing this to go on for so long, and shame on us for allowing you to."

     "Lammers needs to go!" another woman shouted in the first minutes of the overflow meeting at the SBC Technology Center at St. Mary's University.

     The emotional meeting was called in response to widespread condemnation over the city's failure to reduce its high euthanasia rate and the outdated practices in place at the pound. The outrage was prompted by an expose in last week's San Antonio Express-News focusing on the facility, where nearly nine in 10 cats and dogs are put to death.

     Many of those in the crowd said they had tried for years to bring change to an agency that Mayor Ed Garza last week said was trapped in the Dark Ages, but to no avail.

     In Lammers' first public comments since the series ran, the veterinarian reversed course and said his department would begin euthanizing animals by injection if the City Council provided him with the funds.

     San Antonio's city pound remains the only animal control facility of its size in the nation that still uses carbon monoxide gas to euthanize cats and dogs — a practice many find unacceptable.

     Lammers also announced his office would hire a new volunteer coordinator.

     Both comments drew sustained applause. The two issues have been a source of much contention in recent years.

     The tone of the meeting grew increasingly emotional as the town hall meeting wore on into the night and speakers took to the microphone.

     "We have to make the community own the city shelter, take responsibility for it and help it change. We cannot keep our 'dirty little secret' anymore," said Kathleen McGowan, executive director of the Animal Defense League, in a letter she wrote that was read at the meeting.

     Kathryn Bice, executive director of the local Humane Society, said, "Sometimes it's not the building, it's the people and the programs," she said, a not-so-subtle jab at the pound's administrators.

     "No More Gas!" several in the crowd shouted in unison.

     Many in the audience demanded that the public be allowed to see all animals at the facility, not just the few in the adoption room. They also demanded immediate action in correcting outdated handling practices at the pound, including the gassing of kittens and puppies under 4 months of age. <

     Earlier in the day, at a morning news conference, Councilman and mayoral candidate Julián Castro called for an immediate review of employee performance at the pound, "from the director on down."

     He also called for the pound director to report directly to Interim City Manager Rolando Bono instead of to the health director, Dr. Guerra.

     Dr. Guerra on Monday faulted employees, not management, for substandard practices cited in the newspaper series. Some of the euthanasia practices observed by an Express-News team violate laws established in the Texas Department of Health Administrative Code.

     Guerra has said he had been unaware of the state law requiring that euthanized animals be checked for "cessation of vital signs" before being dumped.

     Employees, he said, "probably base it more on observation and experience than checking pulses," Guerra said.

     Castro said there were "serious accountability issues" at the pound, though he was one of the few at the town hall meeting who said it was premature to discuss management changes.

     This text may not be edited or altered, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. For editorial licensing of the pictures or text, please contact ZUMA Press at (949) 494.7704 or e-mail Info@zReportage.com.

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