WSU Won’t Get Shelter’s Strays Vet School Will Neuter Humane Society Animals Free Anyway

Dogs and cats marked for death at the Kootenai Humane Society will not be handed over to Washington State University to be used as teaching tools for veterinary students.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the shelter’s board of directors turned down WSU’s offer to take abandoned animals scheduled for euthanasia.

The university hoped to use the animals to teach students surgical procedures, among other things, before euthanizing them.

A group of about 40 people turned out at the board’s monthly meeting to take a stand against the proposal.

“We are adamantly against you taking the animals over there. It’s really upsetting,” said Joan Sestak, who volunteers at the shelter’s thrift shop.

“I think it is just unethical,” said Burt Koentopp, a board member from Post Falls. “(The animals) are already frightened and helpless. I think they deserve to have their lives terminated in a dignified manner.”

The WSU proposal, first put to the board in February, came in two parts.

First, the veterinary school offered to have students spay and neuter some of the shelter animals and return them for adoption.

Second, the school asked to be given some of the animals already selected for euthanasia. Students would practice surgical procedures and physical exams, give X-rays and administer anesthesia.

WSU officials said the animals would undergo only one operation. They would be killed before waking.

Few took issue with the first part of the offer. But the second part stirred a fiery debate.

Opponents said it was not the place of a “humane society” to be passing off its animals. They feared that hauling dogs and cats to Pullman for more manhandling would just frighten and upset animals that had already been through too much.

But proponents contended that having students work on real animals would be invaluable in helping them become competent veterinarians.

They said it would give meaning to the deaths of the animals already scheduled for euthanasia, and would lessen the emotional impact on shelter workers by reducing the number of animals they had to kill.

The offer came at a time when the nonprofit shelter is struggling with mounting financial troubles. It ended last year $13,000 in the red. Already this year it is another $4,500 in the hole.

The spaying and neutering portion of the deal would save the shelter a lot of money since it was offered as a free service. The shelter must sterilize its animals before sending them out the door.

At Tuesday’s meeting, board president George Braden Jr. said WSU implied that if the second part of its offer was rejected, the university would drop its free-spaying offer.

But Braden read a letter sent by veterinary school chairwoman Shirley D. Johnston agreeing to do the spaying even if the shelter decided not to send the other animals.

A cheer echoed through the shelter Tuesday as board members cast their votes.

“I just feel this is the wrong way to dispose of them - like they were a piece of merchandise,” Koentopp said of sheltered animals.

Volunteers will begin taking the animals down for spaying and neutering and bring them back for adoption.

Board members urged those who attended the meeting to help the shelter raise the money it needs to stay afloat.

An increasing number of animals are being brought to the shelter - about 4,000 last year. Meanwhile, income from licensing, donations and adoptions continues to decrease.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: How to help People interested in helping the Kootenai Humane Society can send donations to P.O. Box 1005, Hayden, Idaho 83835-1005, or call (208) 772-4019. To serve as foster parents to shelter animals, call Carol Kinsey at (208) 687-2276.