The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Letter to the editor

Reported reason for majority of euthanizations at animal shelter 'statistically impossible'
Posted Dec. 17, 2010

I'm sorry, but it's statistically impossible for all but a few of these animals to have been put down for medical reasons.

Get any other shelters statistics, and you'll see. Today's article (cumberland Times-News, Dec. 17, "Shelter euthanized 1,253 animals since January") would mean that four animals a day came into the shelter so sick or injured that Camille had to put them down. That's impossible, almost all are strays with no obvious problems.

A few times a week you get one hit by a car, or such, not four times a day. She's not a vet, and it's quite clear that she does not have medical qualifications to judge what animals should be euthanized. She has put down all cats that have URIs, which is a very easy thing to cure. Only this week have these cats been saved, quarantined, and medicated. Until then, she euthanized all of them. I was asked what they should do with these cats, and I had to tell them to go buy Clavamox. I've talked to several employees who didn't even know URIs were treatable. Are you kidding me? So while she may have said they were sick, it wasn't a life threatening illness, and these animals shouldn't have died.

Did Camille keep paperwork anywhere that showed what was wrong with each animal? Did all those feral cats make this body count? I am so sick of the Times-News kissing her butt. What in God's name is wrong with these reporters? It's like Good Morning Vietnam- "hey folks we're going to print a story that won't cause an uprising, everything is just fine." The paper has been taking her word for the truth and then printing it, never once considering that it could be total BS to save herself. Her own relatives and employees told me what she's done in that shelter, why do you think I've been so angry? It's too hard to believe that conveniently every pitbull was sick or injured, and every pug or chihuahua wasn't. Give me a freakin' break.

If you want a call to action, get folks to ask the paper to get its heads out of its ass and actually investigate something. Start with why I was told that ALL THAT MONEY THAT THE ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY TAKES IN IS "INVESTED" SOMEWHERE. Invested where? Surely not in helping the county care for their animals. Surely not in helping save the lives of these poor souls who come through the doors of the shelter. People pass away and leave them thousands of dollars, businesses donate even more, and I'm told they use it to fund 149 first grade classrooms to teach kids about pets. Seriously?

Meanwhile the county has an overwhelming feral problem, animals are dying of simple things in the shelter, and there's no regular program to help the citizens of the county care for their animals. I was told that it's not the shelter or the AWS's responsibility to help these people out, and that if they want help with their pets then "they can stop eating at McDonald's and put $20 towards their care." So much for community, huh?

There's a giant problem in Allegany County, and there's a huge effort to fix it underway. It doesn't help these folks who are busting their butts for donations and volunteers to have something ridiculous printed in the paper like that article this morning. I find it offensive that the Times-News thinks people are this stupid.

Michelle Ingrodi lived in Allegany County from 1975 to 2005. She now lives near Baltimore and heads the Charm City Animal Rescue.