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Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 18:27:02 -0400
From: fantasia (Fantasia)
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To: ashley.mclure@jasmine.oit.gatech.edu
Subject: Re: Gwinnett Animal Control (GA)
Newsgroups: git.general,ga.general,atl.general,rec.pets.dogs.rescue
In-Reply-To: <51jjje$crt@mordred.gatech.edu>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Cc: 

In article <51jjje$crt@mordred.gatech.edu> you write:
>
>                       Gwinnett Animal Control Shelter
>
>                            Gwinnett County, GA
>
>These are animals that are viewed as the "most adoptable" 

Meaning, according to shelter employees, less than one year old.

that are in the
>Gwinnett County Animal Control Shelter. This listing will be updated once a
>week. There are more animals in the shelter than this, some of which are
>simply older. 

Implying aninals over one year old are unadoptable, hence, disposable.

>Spaying/Neutering:
>
>All animals adopted from the shelter are required to be spayed and neutered
>per House Bill #1181 Mandatory State Sterilization Law. Not
>spaying/neutering these animals makes the adopter subject to a fine of up to
>$200.

I challenge you to post the State title and section of this law, readily
available from any Georgia Law Enforcement Handbook (The code book used by
police enforcement agencies) readily available at libraries and/or police
stations/agencies. This is a local CITY ordinance, not a state law. If this
has become a State law, it happened sometime after May, 1996.

I adopted, unknown at the time, an impregnated animal, and was unable to
find a vet that would spay the animal. I was cited for failing to spay the
animal, (after being told by the shelter that they would waive the
requirement until 6 weeks after the birth if I had the pregnancy validated
by my own vet, which was done and noted on my file, as well as a fax from
the vet) and the citation stated it was a State Law, the code was 
misrepresented on the citation as a State Law, not to mention the local city
ordinance code was wrong as well. When we returned to the shelter to
question the citation, the employee wrote over, and altered, the ordinance
that was written on the citation. 

I was cited on the fifth week after the birth, for failure to spay. (Even 
though this agreement to waive the citation for 6 weeks was noted on the 
file by the shelter employees themselves.) The animal could not be spayed 
before 6 weeks after birth, due to the time needed to wean the babies.) 
Upon discovery of the pregnancy, I attempted to return the animal to the 
shelter within the 30 day limit, and was denied this right, and told to 
take the animal back home and exhaust all avenues before I brought it 
back again. I was told there was a 7 day grace period after the 30 day
spay/neuter limit.

When I went to court to challenge this citation for failure to spay, 
it was dismissed on the basis of the citation being marked a violation of 
State Law, when it was indeed a local city ordinance, not to mention the 
inability to subpoena the relevant parties to the agreement, because the 
citing officer failed to sign the citation. I was willing to fully pursue
this citation by trial, based on the professional witness of my personal vet
who had spoken with the shelter and complied with their requests, as well as
the information being on file. The mere fact that it was dismissed before
reaching that stage speaks for itself. 

>Rescue Groups:
>
>It is Animal Control's policy to try to adopt purebred animals at the
>shelter level first. As a last resort Purebred Rescue groups will be called.
>If you are interested in an animal and do not want to wait for the shelter
>to contact you, you are welcome to come and adopt the animal for the $55
>adoption fee (and you will be liable for spaying and neutering). There is no
>set time for an animals stay once they are placed up for adoption.

Based on my exerience, this is not the case. I wished to adopt an animal,
and was told there was a quarantine period, and I had to put my name on a
waiting list below 11 other names. The people on the list would then be
phoned one at a time, until the animal was adopted out. I was there, cash in
hand, after the quarantine period was over, and not allowed to adopt the
animal. If an animal was not adopted after a certain time period, I was told
it would be destroyed. This time period varied, depending on which employee
you spoke to, from 7-11 days.

Not being able to adopt the animal of first choice, I inquired about another
animal, which I did indeed adopt, and was flatly told it was the animals'
last day in the shelter, and would not be there the next day. When I asked
why, I was told animals that do not have people on a waiting list did indeed
have a limited time in the shelter, and if not adopted by that time, were to
be destroyed.

I did end up returning the animal to the shelter some time later, as it was
a problem animal, and being over the age of one year, it was aparently 
mishandled by it's previous owners, and untrainable. It also had a habit of
trying to bite people. 

After considerable expenses incurred during the unwanted pregnancy and 
birth, (and ending up with 10 animals when I only wanted one, yes, a litter
of nine!), I had to make the heartwrenching decision to bring the animal 
back. This was a personal and difficult decision, and one I did not reach
lightly. 

I phoned the shelter to inquire about the animal I returned, and was met
with vehemence, told flatly "The animal is dead, thanks to you." When I
inquired as to why, after 5 days, "Because it was older and unadoptable."
Then I was hung up on. Regardless of why the animal was returned, it was my
decision, and in my opinion, this was a wretched way to be treated, and
irresponsible on the shelters' part. Is this how they treat people bringing
animals in to be adopted in the first place? I did attempt to take the
animal to the humane society, which had no room for incoming animals.

It is my opinion that the shelter feared that I would sue them for the
considerable expenses I incurred after the adoption, so the tactic seemed to
be "the best defense is a good offense." This however, was not my intent.

>From all appearances, the shelter was clean, well staffed, and the animals
were mostly purebreds. On the other hand, it seemed the staff themselves had
a bad case of "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing." My
experience was a nightmare, and I will never again pursue an adoption of an
animal through a shelter.

>--
>M. Ashley McLure				SE Newfoundland Club Rescue
>ashley.mclure@oit.gatech.edu			Metro-Atlanta Collie Rescue
>http://jasmine.oit.gatech.edu/~ashley		Friend of the Shelter volunteer
>		All opinions unless otherwise stated, are my own.