The owners were crushed about their pet being "put down" by a North Battleford bylaw enforcement officer recently, says Supervisor Ross MacAngus, but once he'd had a chance to discuss the circumstances with them, he felt they were able to understand how events unfolded as they did.
MacAngus talked to the News-Optimist last week about the incident after this office received a letter from a neighbour of the pet's owners, expressing distress and disbelief that an animal would be destroyed so quickly after it was apprehended - a half hour, said the letter.
Normally, when an animal is picked up, said MacAngus, the protocol is for it to be impounded for three days for an owner to claim. If unclaimed after those three days it is considered to be the property of the shelter and it then becomes part of that system - which could mean euthanasia.
"At no time do we go out on a call with the intent to destroy an animal," said MacAngus.
"We all have animals," he said about his five-person department, which handles bylaw enforcement issues ranging from animal control to parking infringements. They all care about animals, he said, and are "out there for the betterment of animals."
Neither he nor any of his officers want to see any animal destroyed, he said, but he indicated it's a reality in the case of animals that are mortally injured or ill, or so feral as to be uncontrollable.
As one can imagine, he said, euthanizing a cat by injection takes more than one person, and his officers are sometimes required to assist with the procedure. But, he said, when a bylaw officer is on his own, as he would be on any evening or night animal control call, he may have to deal with the disposal of an animal himself.
In such a case, the animal would be destroyed by gunshot; the bylaw officers do carry long guns in their vehicle for purposes of animal control. It would almost always be carried out off-site; officers would not shoot an animal on site except in the event of an attack or other emergency situation, said MacAngus.
In the Friday, May 10 case referred to by the letter received by the News-Optimist, MacAngus explained the on-call bylaw officer responded to an evening call about a cat acting odd and wandering onto a street. In obvious distress, perhaps having been poisoned, appearing by its actions and lack of tag or collar to be feral, the cat did not seem to the officer to be anyone's pet, said MacAngus. Putting the cat down seemed unavoidable, considering its condition, he said.
So, the animal was removed and destroyed. Shortly after that, according to the letter, the owners contacted bylaw enforcement and received the news that the animal had been put down.
As it turns out, the cat was a pet after all, but had arthritis in its back and was blind, accounting for its behaviour.
MacAngus hopes the public understands his department, while dealing with many responsibilities, the foremost of which is animal control, has the best interests of the community in mind.
"We're out there to help," he said, "but sometimes things are unforeseeable, and we take the brunt."
MacAngus also said the cat was "chipped," meaning a small transponder with its identification information had been injected into the animal, but the department's scanner picked up no signal. As a result of his conversation with the cat's owner, the department has obtained a new scanner.
While he does not discourage the use of chips, MacAngus said they ask owners to make sure all their pets are licensed and tagged for quicker, easier identification as pets and, of course, as having received all their necessary shots.
Many pet owners don't tag and collar their "inside" pets, he said. Unfortunately they sometimes get out, and because of lack of identification many are not be reunited with their owners.
