Mo. AG wants Humane Society disbanded

[Ban Hammer 13,109]

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. AP) — Missouri's attorney general is seeking a court order to oust the director of the Carthage Humane Society and disband its board over allegations of missing money and poor animal care, including euthanizing kittens and cats by putting them in a freezer.

Attorney General Jay Nixon alleged in his petition, filed Monday, that the director and the chairman of the board took at least $41,570 from the group's accounts since 2002, either for personal use or without accounting for how the money was spent.

Nixon also listed claims of animal abuse at the group's shelter.

"On multiple occasions CHS (Carthage Humane Society) employees were ordered to place kittens and cats in the freezer to euthanize them," the petition says, without providing more detail.

Other abuse allegations include that animals in distress were not euthanized in a timely fashion, animals taken in from municipalities were immediately euthanized rather than being placed for adoption and that animals were overloaded into the group's gas chamber when euthanized.

The filing does not accuse individual officers or board members of animal abuse. But Nixon's spokesman, John Fougere, said the alleged abuses support the attorney general's argument that the current board should be dissolved for not providing adequate supervision.

In the petition, Nixon asks the court to remove executive director David Butler and board president Charles Miller for allegedly misappropriating funds and board treasurer William Johnson for not stopping them.

James Spradling, a Carthage lawyer representing the board, said the shelter does euthanize day-old kittens by freezing them, but not older animals. He said freezing very young kittens was more humane than the gas chamber, which is used for grown animals.

"It's a humane way to do it, not an evil way," Spradling said.

Spradling called the remaining allegations "fictitious" and said the board and its directors were ready to challenge them.

link

they'll be hearing from me!

Address:

13860 Dog Kennel Rd

Carthage, MO 64836

Phone: (417) 358-6402

[Ban Hammer 13,109]

what no cat lovers around here early in the morning? 12 views and not one reply?

[Dawny&Tommy 0]

Wow, that's horrible

Dawn.

[DARUMA07 25]

I hope Nixon throws the Book at them! Corruption, Greed and Wrongdoing seems to be the norm anymore! Sad, but True!

[deemabrouk 0]

that IS horrible !!!!!! :o :o

[PaulineA 1]

Someone should freeze them, and see how humane they think it is then. Terrible!

Edited June 10, 2007 by Pauline123

[Reba 2]

so much for animal protection! They should be stuffed in the freezer, see how they feel

[Mags 112]

They should be stuffed in the freezer, see how they feel

I volunteer to carry that out.

[mawilson 2,133]

Sleeping pills (or alcohol) + freezing to death would be my preferred way to die. As far as deaths go,

I can't think of anything better.

Not defending the inhumane society, just sayin'.

[Mags 112]

Sleeping pills (or alcohol) + freezing to death would be my preferred way to die. As far as deaths go,

I can't think of anything better.

Not defending the inhumane society, just sayin'.

But they are not giving them sleeping pills first...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well Humane societies (which are basically charities -relying on individual volunteers and donations) tend vary greatly in quality & cleanliness. The Pasadena one where we adopted our cats keeps its animals clean separate clean cages, they have a nice well-run operation. Another one we visitied (Glendora if I remember correctly) wasn't so good - all the cats were kept together in a common enclosure that reeked of piss.

Can't really comment on the freezing thing - not knowing enough about how euthanasia is commonly handled in Humane societies. It's possible that its just been thrown in to add weight to the misappropriation charges and that this is a common practice... I really don't know.