The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 22, 1978, Image 5
Research program uses local ‘strays’ THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1978 Page 5 By SUSAN WEBB Battalion Reporter In the past, the fate of a stray imal in College Station was not leasant. Even if the stray managed escape death from exposure to le elements, car injury, or starva- n, it still faced being captured by officer with the humane society. The city of College Station’s ani- |ial control policy used to be that a ftiay animal which was picked up taken to a holding pen at the 6ty dump. If the animal was not laimed within 72 hours it was shot. I The policy has been changed, liter being used in helpful experi- lents for research, the strays are illed in a more humane manner by ersonnel at the Texas A&M Uni- |iersity Laboratory Animal Re- purces and Research (LARR) facil- ■ President of the Humane Society, Aan Duffy, cited an example of the last policy’s inadequacy, which Jrompted citizens of College Station j ti do something about the problem. "About two years ago, a jighbor’s dog got loose and bit a gger. The jogger was only nipped ithe ankle but he called the police i have the dog picked up since it adn’t had its shots,” she said. Duffy recalled that the matter had bt been handled in a correct man- assistant dimer “The dog should have been im- lliary OiAunded for ten days for observa- xas A&M, A on ’ b ut they took him out to the for his *'Jb' dump to the pen where the )” recipe J" mal a PP arent, y g ot loose,” she sa.'. ■ “The animal started running and le (humane officer) shot him,” banquetsiJM)’ added. Duffy said that the raging aboilh 26115 °f College Station needed to With thatiA educated on what the problems (ford toiffiiAanimal control policies were, aid. I Duffy said the city of College Sta- e responsi! A™ needs an adequate facility that dies one m ou *d include a pet adoption pro- is A&M ti ram an< d spay and neutering serv- ilogy Depar es f°r the stray animals if enough ing and qu nds could ever be allocated. The College Station animal con trol policy now provides for the stray animal to be boarded at a local veterinary hospital. If the stray is boarded for 72 hours without being claimed, it is brought to the LARR facility by humane officer, Marc Hodges. Hodges, who became humane of ficer last summer, says that all dogs and cats are to be licensed with the city. “Anyone can come up to the clerk’s office and register their ani mal with the city,” he said. “If the animal has one of our tags, I can come up to the police station and identify where it belongs right away,” he added. But if the owner is not found or the stray animal is not claimed, it is then donated to the LARR facility for research. The LARR facility receives all of its research animals from pound facilities of some type. “We only go IW ghtly da: e me a n 1 the salesi y S20 more Animals put to sleep by ‘untrained’ staffs More than a third of the 44 animal shelters visitied this year by a Humane Society specialist had poorly trained personnel in charge of putting thousands of unowned and unwanted animals to sleep, said Phyllis Wright, society spokeswoman of Washignton, D.C. Wright, shelter director for 13 years, said at the Texas A&M University ani mal control conference that the people responsible for this less-than- enviable task must be prepared psychologically and technically. Only then, she said, will euthanasia truly be a peaceful death for dogs and cats — free from stress, fear, pain and apprehension. Irresponsible pet owners must bear their part of the blame for “littering” the streets with strays that endanger public health, Wright indicated. These same people are appalled when they find out their local shelter kills perfectly healthy animals, sometimes as many as 90 percent of them. “The public still thinks all animals are kept,” she told animal con trol officers at the College of Veterinary Medicine-hosted meeting. “Once the decision is made to euthanize, she explained, careful consideration must be given to making is as humane as possible for both the animal and the persons hired to do it. “It is morally wrong for a person who does the euthanizing not to know the current discussion on methods of death, ” said Wright. Four states have recently outlawed the pressure chamber as the prime instrument of death, and questions are being raised about carbon monoxide methods because of the safety hazards to shelter workers. Carbon dioxide and nitrogen methods, as well as drug injection, are among other methods tested and used, but so are such crude techniques as gunshot. The people surrounding the act of death often appear profoundly affected as the dying, so careful consideration must be made in select ing workers who will put animal to sleep so they will do it as humanely as possible for both of them. A Thanksgiving ministry: inner for 150 strangers United Press International SAN ANTONIO — Dorothy ■tty, described by a friend as a id you said Jerson “who does good by faith j went a lone,” has invited 150 strangers to now toolalf jer house for Thanksgiving dinner .gree. Youo bis year. haveaDea [As she has for the past 34 years, ive it. |e widow will cook and serve hanksgiving dinner for 50 basic legal advis ainees at Lackland Air Force Base, al andsboi [foreign students and 50 students stions for from San Antonio College who erwise would be having cafeteria Ian rt It’s amazing how the groups fit [dgether,” Perry said. “When re getting ready to come, I’m they’re thinking it couldn’t be y fan. But, once here, we have a J'etty unique Thanksgiving Inner.” Jin keeping with her work as a Christian missionary, Perry con flicts a non-denominational in^-anksgiving service before dinner ! l '‘"!j t |', fld later the guests present skits Veli j*! Ipresentative of their country or if the F®. , , . _ , . .j, (Although she insists on occasion- 1111 ly preaching Christianity to those ^ ejas ( [other faiths, the government of 'Vnventi* P 11 ^ 35 been so impressed with her rleans S' ire the pj nt Gerald weral pf a route, ig Texas •mphonic ion. I ( ^ 11 concerts es fro® I® vas feat®' stival a» [ j Texas > n convent* volunte eI ek. RESUME SERVICE ell yourself effectively. Have a rofessional resume prepared by BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION SERVICES )all 846-5794 for an appointment work with Iranian students in the area that it has invited her to visit the country. “Last year a young man told me that he was in a hurry to get back to his barracks, Perry recalls. “He thought the day was going to be bor ing. By the time he left, he hugged me and said it was one of the hap piest days of his life. ” Perry said her life is enriched by serving Thanksgiving dinner to per- sons who are away from their homes and their families during the holi day. “My late husband was a mis sionary and I helped him minister to the needs of servicemen and prison ers of war 34 years ago,” she said. “Every since that time. I’ve been try ing to help our young servicemen. “The cooking is good at the base, but these young people, away from their families for the first time, need the love and friendship of a homes- tyle Thanksgiving.” Perry is one of several San Anto nians taking part in an eight-year program to invite many of Lack land’s 10,000 trainees to private homes for Thanksgiving dinner. Chaplain Capt. Brian Talcott said the program, co-sponsored by the ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ £ HATE DOING * * LAUNDRY? £ ♦ Let Frannie's do it for you £ Aunt Frannies £ ■K Laundromat a* AHolleman at Anderson 693-6587fr San Antonio Council of Churches, placed 2,500 trainees in homes for the traditional family feast last year and estimates the number will rise to 5,000 this Thanksgiving. “Many civic organizations and church groups pool their efforts and invite 30 or 40 trainees to dinner,” Talcott said. “But most of the trainees go in pairs to homes.” Perry said she has little money, but somehow she manages to pre pare an adequate feast for her guests. “I’m a missionary and many churches support my efforts and help with my projects, but I don’t know who bought all the food I cooked last year for Thanksgiving,” she said. “Every home should have one of these young people for Thanksgiv ing dinner, especially those who don’t have children. 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College Ave. College Station ilj IHfiMlP ...for many good reasons International House of Pancakes* HM (g) through state or city operated pick up people, and primarily police de partments with their own humane officers, such as College Station,” said Jeff Sanford, manager of the LARR facility. “By going through these places we know that the animals they have been picked up and have been held at some central location as a stray for a set period of time, normally from three to five days,” Sanford said,“to give the owners a chance to claim. ” The stray animals that are brought to the LARR facility are used in research for the betterment of society. Before the animal is used in a chronic experiment, it is held for at least 30 days at the LARR facility. Sanford said the animals are checked to make sure they are in good physical condition, free of heart-worms, and appropriately vaccinated. “This is to make sure that they are good solid animals before they are placed under study,” he added. One experiment that is being worked on is called a flea bite sen sitivity test. This is done by working with different antigens (any sub stance that when introduced in the body, stimulates the production of an antibody) on dogs. “A lot of dogs will get a large number of fleas on the body that causes a skin rash and severe itch ing,” Sanford said, “and right now work is being done on an antigen to try to find something that could be injected into the dog to alleviate this type of problem.” Sanford said that the animals used in experiments are only subjected to a minimum amount of stress. “We, as a research unit, are governed by the US DA which puts out stringent guidelines concerning animal health and welfare,” Sanford said. Exam ples of those guidelines would be space requirements for each indi vidual animal, the amount of food given, and the type of food that can be used. “We adhere to those rules strictly, “ Sanford assured, “And on a day to day basis the animals are treated in a most humane way. Once an animal has completed an experiment, it is not turned back into the public domain. “Some of these animals may have had mini mal surgery, and it is just not a good practice to return any experimental animal back into a household situa tion,” Sanford said. “The USDA requires that at the end of procedure those animals be terminated humanely, and they are,” he added. The procedure that is used by the LARR facility to terminate the ani mals’ life is painless. “Depending on the animal and species, or if a dog is small enough it is put into a small carbon dioxide cylinder. The effect results in the animal going into a deep sleep. “The centers of the brain involved in conscious activity are depressed quickly to the point where the ani mal drifts off to sleep before death occurs, so there is no pain at all,” Sanford said. “Some groups of people make us (researchers) out to be monsters with knives that do nothing but slice animals,” Sanford said. “But, that is not the case at all,” he added. “We are here to provide the ut most that we possibly can in humane treatment for the animals, ” he said. College Station is fortunate in having a facility such as the LARR. “In some of the smaller outlying towns the police department usually does not have facilities for carbon dioxide euthanasia. . . we try to cor rect that problem by providing the service to the local animal control units in a humane manner,” Sanford said. 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