REMOVE GAS BOX. PROPOSAL TO STOP KILLING CATS & DOGS IN SHAWNEE, OKLAHOMA

Overview with Proposal and Petition to the City of Shawnee Elected Officials:
Three Prongs of Animal Control in Shawnee:
1) Animal Control with Gas Box, Chris Thomas, Administrator.
2) “Animal Rescue Center”, Chris Thomas, President.
3) SPAR –Saving Pets At Risk – One of the Actual Rescues that pull from gas pound.

I. Animal Control Gas Kill Pound:

1) Animal Control is allotted $260,000 in city budget dollars which most likely completely comprises salaries and benefits of FIVE ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICERS in city of population 30,000 (11/24/15 notation is that Chris Thomas is an administrator and not an ACO included in one of the five).

2) The threat of killing animals begins at 48 hours with empty kennels.

3) None of the animals receive veterinary care.
a. No evaluation of sickly, infected or injured animals.
b. No rabies vaccinations administered.
c. Animals released to the public and rescue without veterinary evaluation and care.
d. Animals killed in a gas box so that there is no handling of animals or expense of veterinary.
e. Going from the gas box to “heartstick” or “intraperitoneal stick” (stomach) or intravenous injections (usually without anesthesia) by “euth techs” is unacceptable due to the cruelty involved.
f. The adoption process is cumbersome involving the adoption of animals without any veterinary evaluation and care (no rabies or spay neuter) and the process involves going back and forth to a veterinarian with paperwork so many times that it is bizarre. It is not conducive to fostering a relationship with the public to adopt animals.

4) It is noteworthy that the last six months there has been improved rescue/ACO relations resulting in less, almost none, animals killed (apparently “only” a cat and her kittens – which it is illegal to even kill kittens and puppies and pregnant animals by gas box standards).  (11/24/15 notation that ARC and Chris Thomas have apparently attempted to take credit for the drop in killing with "programs" that have not been produced and there is no evidence of anyone that works at the pound has been making outgoing calls to any rescue entity and that in fact it is RESCUES BEGGING THE POUND to release animals to them).

II. “Animal Rescue Center” nonprofit in Shawnee raising donations to build a shelter by none other than Mr. Chris gas box Thomas himself.

1) This is obviously a conflict of interest in that apparently the $19,000 allotted in the budget is contracted to the administrator of the gas pound to his nonprofit to facilitate this $19,000 to the public for spay neuter (11/24/15 notation - it has become extremely confusing as to whether or not the $19,000 which was a one time "gift" bestowed upon the city for spay neuter and that ARC has NOT indeed maybe administered these funds and that the $19,000 has NOT been allotted to ANY citizens to date that we can discern.)

2) Members of the public have stated that they proceeded to the gas pound and were refused certificates for spay neuter.  (11/24/15 notation: It has been circulated that one need to have rabies and a license BEFORE they can take part in the spay neuter program but we can find NO ONE that has partaken in this free spay neuter program.

3) The $20 spay neuter that “ARC” offers is only six times per year and involves a drive to Oklahoma City to “Spay Way” which charges $20. So the only expense is the gas to drive to Oklahoma City apparently.  (11/24/15 notation:  There are conflicting reports as to how this program proceeds.  Ms. Worthham on the board at ARC has stated that they do spay neuter trips to OKC twice a month but another individual has stated that she has wrong info on her own program and that ARC ONLY PICKS UP ONCE A MONTH FROM THE EXPO CENTER (but that is more than the six times a year originally supposed.  Additionally ARC charges $30 for cats and $40 for dogs which is what the Humane Society charges in OKC.  So again, ARC is ONLY PAYING FOR TRANSPORT.  However, we are grateful that this even exists.)

4) It is offered as a query that if Mr. Thomas is incapable and incompetent in his role to care for animals even for wounds and infection and oversees the heinous procedure of gassing that he should not oversee the contract or oversee the dispersal of monies for spay neuter.  (11/24/15 notation: We do NOT wish to see ARC oversee this $19,000 so if they are or have intentions of doing so, they should not.  A third party should oversee the dispersal of those funds for spay neuter).

5) Mr. Thomas’ nonprofit has been collecting monies to build a shelter apparently that never gets built and has a pull-down on his website that states “shelter” which either leads one to believe that ARC has a shelter or that they pull from the gas pound, neither of which is true.  (11/24/15 notation: Apparently Mr. Thomas has been collecting funds to build a "no kill shelter" for five years about and has raised $15,000.  Clearly the individuals who donated funds to them should ask for their donation back as he is a GAS POUND ADMINISTRATOR and this "no kill shelter" will never be built.)

6) However, ARC does state on their website that they “will” be rescuing animals, therefore they are NOT rescuing animals now, certainly not from the gas pound where Mr. Thomas is the administrator.

III. SAVING PETS AT RISK (SPAR) and other rescues that pull from gas pound.

1) SPAR has decades of experience rescuing animals from death row and from surrenders. Rescue entails years of experience to do the right thing by animals to include professional adoption and foster contracts, excellent vet care, good adoption processes, thorough home visits and forever follow-up and support.(11/24/15 notation:  It has come to light that SPAR would NOT be interested in this contract due to the overwhelming responsibility, however, we hope they have not ruled it out entirely.  We hope for the contract to be awarded to a rescue with at least five years experience pulling from death row.)

2) Other rescues include “Do Over Dogs” and “OK” rescue and other rescues.

DISCUSSION OF THE BUDGET

1) In the budget only $10,000 is allotted to “capital improvement” of the animal control building and services.
2) Other capital improvement costs which seem to way out shadow the animal control amount include $400,000 to the Fire Department which included $15,000 to blankets and a treadmill; $850 to a chair for the EM Director; $500,000 to the Municipal Auditorium; $100,000 to the Expo; and 1.5 million to “debt services.”
3) Street improvement including expense of sidewalks is allotted 7 million (a necessary expenditure as it improves morale of the community, safety and increased real estate values).
4) The good news is that my proposal does NOT include siphoning ANY monies from any other part of the budget.

PROPOSAL:

I. ON AN IMMEDIATE BASIS:

1) Remove the gas box and install a veterinarian to oversee the animals that enter into your animal control facility. No non-veterinary professional should ever handle an animal medically either to care for them or to kill them or to euthanize for severe sickness or severe injury.
2) Repeal the burden of the 48 hour hold on the ACOs and the rescues. This is completely unnecessary as the threat of killing has occurred with empty cages on a consistent basis.
3) Ban the sale of cats and dogs (litters) at flea markets. Enlist the help of the Department of Agriculture to issue violations to those breeding without a license in the city of Shawnee.
4) Repeal the pet limit imposed upon the citizens of Shawnee and get the ACOs off people’s properties to count their animals. Why is it anybody’s business if someone has five cats, four yorkies three pit/lab/shep mixes? This is “big government” and is not fiscally sound. It also opens the door to civil rights violations when ACO s go on properties to count animals without a criminal search warrant (which cannot be issued for an ordinance). If there are nonoise or sanitary condition violations, then it should not be the business of government to babysit the number of animals on one’s property.
5) Re-direct the facilitation of the $19,000 out of the hands of ARC and into the hands of the citizens of Shawnee. Either have the city clerk distribute certificates or a real rescue such as SPAR. This alone will result in an immediate effect on the number of surrenders to the animal control facility. (11/24/15 notation: We have not at this time been able to discern the exact disposition of this one-time $19,000 gift to the city for spay neuter.  Certainly we petition the city to NOT allow this fund to be in the hands of ARC i.e. Mr. Thomas to dispense.)

II. LONG/SHORT TERM:

1) Give SPAR the contract for animal care in the city of Shawnee and consequently immediately save $100,000 from the budget by allotting only one full-time and one half-time ACO to the city of Shawnee. An ACO’s job should be to only check rabies tags, help with dogs at large and dog bites and most importantly their job is education. SPAR will institute a vibrant volunteer program with the wonderful community of animal lovers right there in Shawnee. SPAR will foster amazing rescue relationships new and old to oversee the rescue of animals out of what will become a “shelter” instead of “animal control.” (11/24/15 notation:  If not SPAR any rescue that has at least five years rescue experience with "death row" animals.

2) Mr. Chris Thomas should be removed from his position completely. Terminated for incompetence and negligence of animal conditions and lack of infection control. Immediately assign a special investigation into possible misappropriation of funds regarding the $19,000 for spay neuter and the raising of donations for a shelter of individuals that lack rescue experience at the ARC nonprofit and seem to have no intention of ever building a shelter for animals.

3) Re-assign two ACOs to another department where you have available positions (such as Parks & Recreation).

4) With the at least $100,000 extra that the city will have in their coffers every year, I would suggest ideas such as a new facility, a new website design, a new and robust spay neuter program and crack-down on animal cruelty and breeding in Shawnee.

5) Lastly, please consider removal of the licensing of dogs. I know this is a new idea but the citizens/taxpayers deserve to know that licensing of dogs is an extra hidden tax. Don’t citizens spend enough on their property and sales tax? Why make it even more difficult to adopt a dog or cat, requiring more than the rabies tag (which already registers them with the state), by requiring a license which is an additional burden to adopting.

In summary, it is a felony to kill a cat or dog in the state of Oklahoma, for a citizen and government alike. Just because government is not arrested for their crimes does not mean it should not be considered illegal. It is time for society to consider dogs and cats as members of our families and as individuals who deserve to have rights in a court of law to their best interest. The host/writer of this petition will hold a demonstration on December 18th and will sleep outside in front of the kill pound in protest.

I am signing this petition because I support the above proposal to end the killing of cats and dogs in Shawnee, Oklahoma. (A hard copy version of Shawnee-Residents-Only will also be provided to city officials.  This on-line version is for animal lovers world-wide.)