Section Ten: The ugly reality

This is the part no one ever wants to talk about.  The death, the abuse, the neglect, the torture.  It's all the ugly stuff, but it's something you've got to deal with in rescue.

We have some REALLY bad people in the rural parts of Tennessee.  I'm not sure why there are so many and why they seem to be concentrated in one state.  Maybe it's something in the way they were raised; who knows.

We have hoarders and breeders that call themselves rescues.  We have people who enjoy torturing and killing pets that call themselves loving pet owners.  We have counties that support these kinds of people and refuse to prosecute violations of the law that pertain to animals, and yet they'll threaten to throw a true rescue in jail in a heartbeat if they can spin anything to make you look guilty.

As a former member of a wonderful law enforcement agency in SW FL with co-workers that adored animals and fought for their safety and well being on a daily basis, it's hard for me to see such sickness and corruption in the agencies here.  But it exists.

The point to this is to let you know that while no one that loves animals ever wants to see one die, there are much worse things than an animal being humanely euthanized.  While you'll hear a lot of groups having hissy fits over heart sticking euthanasia, what they don't tell you, because they probably don't know themselves, is that when it's done according to state law it's actually VERY humane.  I'll explain...........

There are two commonly used forms of euthanasia; IV and heartstick.

IV involves finding a vein in the animal, putting in the needle and then pushing the medications that stop the heart.

Heartstick requires the pet to be completely sedated and while unconscious, a needle with euthanasia drugs is inserted into the heart and injected.

Both forms are done humanely with very little trauma to the animal.  The trauma and stress that an animal goes through during euthanasia comes from the fear of the unknown, the fear of the people restraining it, and picking up on any stress the humans are under.  The death is quick and generally uneventful and peaceful.

The reason heartstick gets a bad name is there are some people that choose to inject the medication into the heart without sedating the pet first.  We had one shelter in TN shut down and a vet's license taken because he was doing this.  So, heartstick itself isn't an evil or cruel practice if done properly.

The other ugly part of rescue here is you're going to see the abuse, the neglect, the torture and you're going to see the rural counties in most areas not only refuse to do anything about it, but refuse to acknowledge that it exists and flat out lie about it, even when it's done by their own employees.  This video will probably be one of the most difficult things you'll ever watch, but if you want to save lives, you need to see the other ugly, dirty side too.  If you need to pause it and walk away, do so, but come back and finish watching it.  If you can't handle the terrible things that happen on film, you'll never be able to change them in real life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQyAY-cWvLU