Pennsylvania SPCA

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Does EVERYONE believe that the PSPCA acts in the BEST INTEREST of ANIMALS??? DID YOU KNOW THIS?



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The Pennsylvania SPCA in Philadelphia.David Kidwell/Pocono Record



By Beth Brelje
Pocono Record Writer
December 21, 2008

It hurts if it's not done right.
A poison-filled syringe is jabbed through an animal's chest wall. The needle punctures layers of nerves on the way to the heart. If the syringe pulsates, it is in the heart.
Related Stories

• PSPCA director Howard Nelson addresses allegations

Links

• Special Report: Pennsylvania SPCA, Animal Abuse or Abuse of Power

Multimedia

• Document: PSPCA Statement to Pocono Record regarding criticisms (PDF File)
• Chart: Animls Adopted vs. Put to Sleep at PSPCA Branches, 2007-08 (PDF File)

If not, the animal gets another sharp stab. Once on target, a press of the plunger injects "blue juice" (sodium pentobarbital) into the heart of an unadoptable animal.
The dead animal is thrown into a garbage barrel with others and put in the freezer. Later, cast-off cats and discarded dogs are taken to the dump.
This is how the heart stick procedure works when a trained veterinarian technician euthanizes an anesthetized animal.
At the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Philadelphia, the procedure is sometimes done, according to former employees, with two horrific differences.
They say the animals are awake.
And they say the people injecting the blue juice are not properly trained.
Not so, according to the PSPCA.
"Any PSPCA employee using a heart stick on a nonsedated or conscious animals is doing so without approval from the PSPCA," the nonprofit group wrote in statement.
Most animal advocates consider the heart stick a cruel procedure.
"No one in their right mind uses heart stick on animals that are awake. It's lay people who don't have medical credentials who are doing something that is extremely stupid and extremely cruel," said Lise Lund, a veterinarian who contracted work with PSPCA for five years.
She quit in disgust last year after noticing "very disturbing changes that made me question what was going on," at the agency.
Former construction worker Will Delgado was as a kennel attendant in the Philadelphia PSPCA adoption center for a just a few months when a manager showed him how to euthanize through a leg vein on a pit bull, said Delgado in an interview with the Pocono Record. The manager apparently got it wrong. Instead of first sedating the dog, he shot blue juice in its leg, missing the vein. The solution burns like acid in tissues but is not direct enough to stop the heart.
He had Delgado try the second jab — more blue juice, still without sedation.
"It was pretty ugly. I think I did not do it the right way. The dog was still breathing, kind of shallow. He (the supervisor) said 'OK, put him in the freezer. If he doesn't die from the blue juice, he'll die from the freezer,'" Delgado said.
Soon Delgado was asked to euthanize more animals, this time with the heart stick procedure.
Less than half of the animals Delgado killed were sedated before getting a painful shot to the heart.
"If they were not sedated, we would muzzle them or someone would hold them. The sedated ones were the ones that were too aggressive. They was fighters," Delgado said.
He also saw others using heart sticks on animals that were awake.
"I don't want this to bring me problems because I was following directions from management. I regret it so much not reporting him," said Delgado, who is no longer with the PSPCA.
Without a medical background, it can be difficult to find the heart of a live animal on the first try.
PSPCA former staff reported seeing novices stick cats on the wrong side of the body, nowhere near the heart. A near miss often ends up puncturing a lung, causing searing pain.
"I witnessed heart tapping. Some animals were sedated, some were not. I was told everybody was going to be trained to do this," said Kathy Krause, a former vet tech at the PSPCA. She worked the night shift.
Krause said she held down a sick cat during a heart stick procedure administered by her supervisor, an unlicensed vet tech.
"I said 'Look at the cat. It is suffering. Why don't we give it a painkiller?' He said 'Oh, he doesn't feel anything.' I had to look away. I didn't believe in half the stuff they did. I tried to dodge it every time they did it." Krause said. "I was trying to look out for the health and welfare of the animals only."
Euthanasia has come under scrutiny at the PSPCA and detailed numbers have been difficult to obtain.
After being asked repeatedly for the agency's exact statistics for euthanasia, intake and adoptions, PSPCA chief executive Howard Nelson gave numbers for Philadelphia only. Last week, a complete report was finally provided to the Pocono Record. A chart comparing 2007 numbers to 2008 (up to Nov. 30), shows a drop in the percentage of animals euthanized in Stroudsburg, from 58 percent to 44 percent.
In her resignation letter, former PSPCA board member Sue Super said she "had asked at a board meeting for a simple report of euthanasia numbers and hires/terminations with our minutes and reports. We have had that info for years. It caused a stir. What was the problem? If there is nothing to hide, why not show it?"
PSPCA vet Dr. Ravi Murarka says there is nothing to hide.
"We are not using heart stick. That is not of my knowledge. I never ever approved that. If I noticed it, I would stop it," Murarka said. He says only vets and vet technicians euthanize animals and that the PSPCA uses an intravenous method through the leg.
The American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines on euthanasia advise against heart stick, known medically as ntracardiac injection, on animals that are awake.
The AVMA says "Intracardiac injection is acceptable only when performed on heavily sedated, anesthetized or comatose animals, owing to the difficulty and unpredictability of performing the injection accurately.":h elp:


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