Todd Leuthold wrote:
>It would appear that in Canada (well, that province, at least) and maybe
>elsewhere, it is OK to decide that you want your pet killed and you will
>find plenty of support to do so.
 
This is no different from what happens here in the USA.
 
When I was in college studying horse husbandry, I took some of the vet tech
classes.  In one of the labs the vet who ran the department had us watch as
a healthy male cat was put down.  He explained that there was nothing wrong
with the cat per se, but it was unneutered and sprayed the owners house in
a manner which she found unacceptable.  ('So', we all said, 'neuter the
cat!!')  He told us he had discussed that option with the owner (who was
not there for the euthenasia-she had dropped the cat off.) She felt the
cat wouldn't be happy if she had it neutered.  She prefered to have it put
down.  (Yes, *our* mouths were hanging open too!!)
 
The vet explained, somewhat sadly that in situations like this, once they
had accepted the animal to be euthanized they HAD to, by law, put the
animal down.  They could not dispose of the animal in a manner contrary to
the owners wishes.  He could have refused to do the euthanasia, but she
would have eventually found someone else to do it.
 
Adoption contract issues aside, the owner of a ferret (or any other pet),
can put it down because they don't want to pay for medical care the ferret
would need to maintain it's health, because they don't want to keep it
anymore (or can't) and don't think it would be happy in anyone elses care,
or because they decide they don't like the color of it's fur.
 
The bottom line is that an owner can have their pet put down for any reason
whatsoever.  Or for no reason whatsoever.  It stinks but it happens.  I
guess it's no *worse* than animals being put down due to pure
overpopulation/not being able to place the shelter animals, but that
stinks too.
 
I should note here that shelters don't necessarily attempt to place animals
with a history of biting.  When my friend Jane (Jane Wright of the TIckles
incident) had a neighbor that adopted an adult chow (dog) with an attitude
as their first dog.  In less than a month it bit several kids in the
neighborhood, including Jane's son.  Jane made several phone calls to
shelters and breed rescues and was told the same thing by all of them-if
surrendered the dog would be put down, no attempt to rehabilitate it and
place it would be done.  The dog had his rabies shots, but the owner didn't
want to pay for boarding for a quarantine.  (There was pressure being put
on the owner to get rid of the dog; Jane wanted to see the dog in a home
with a handler who was more capable of dealing with an aggressive animal.)
The dog was put down.  (And its head sent to the state rabies lab for
testing since the dog had bitten yet another kid and wasn't going through
a quarantine.)
 
Ferret shelters seem to be an exception to this "if it bites, euthaninze
it" attitude-we have had subscribers here who specialize in rehabbing bad
biters (which isn't necessarily the situation with the Ontario Ferret).
But keep in mind that most animal shelters handling dogs and cats have
animals that are big enough to do a lot of damage when they bite; rehabbing
them can be quite dangerous.  So it makes sense for them to make it a
policy to put those animals down that are high risk to handle and low
chance for placement and spend their limited dollars on those which can
be saved and placed.
 
If you are willing to take on ferrets that bite and rehab them, let the
regular animal shelter know and maybe they'll work with you to get you the
ones they recieve.  But that is their decision, and they may say 'no' too.
 
-Ilena Ayala
[Posted in FML issue 2744]