Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL. LXII - NO. 93 University of South Carolina, Columbia, S. C. 29208 Thursday, August 3, 1972 Inadequa t By MIKE HEMBREE Ten thousand animals are brought to Richland County's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter each year. Eight thousand of those die in the shelter's gas chamber. The reasons for such destruction are varied. Sickness is a key factor. Old age is also a good excuse to end an animal life. But the main reason appears to be a lack of space in the ramshackle group of buildings politely called a 'shelter" by the SPCA. "Builders have told us that the shelter buildings will not last another winter," explains SPCA president Mrs. Robert Greenlee. "The roof leaks and the staff now has to prop up some of the beams to keep parts of the buildings from falling. "Putting so many animals to sleep is of course a dreadful thing," she continued. "But it is really better for the animals in the long run. Most of them would live a life of misery running around the streets." Choosing which animals get the gas is the job of Anna Hoffman, the manager of the shelter. According to Greenlee, Hoffman takes the animal's disposition as well as its health into consideration when it is brought to the shelter. If an animal has a habit of chasing cars or climbing fences, it stands little chance of living. Those in bad health are also high on the gas chamber list. "No sick animals come through this door," Hoffman proclaimed, pointing out the inside door to the kennel area. "We put the sick ones to sleep. We can't afford to gamble with a sick animal. We could start an epidemic here." The shelter was built to house approximately 75 dogs. According to Hoffman, about 200 animals are brought to the shelter each week. The SPCA operates mainly on membership fees and donations received from people who adopt animals or bring animals to the shelter. The SPCA also receives $3,000 per year from AI r t t funds hurn I i l IV 1 py.;^~ Nit he county and $300 from the city. k The group has been conducting a mem- si )ership drive since April which has boosted the e PCA's number from 200 to almost 1,000. The b irive has brought in an additional $10,000 in c -evenue. The SPCA's main concern, according to d 3reenlee, is the explosion in the animal w opulation of the county. Animals which run b oose tend to breed more often, thus producing w nore and more stray animals. k "People just don't want to get their females k payed," Hoffman said. "They just don't give a w iamn one way or the other. Ninety per cent of hose we put to sleep are females." ti The SPCA doctrine encourages the spaying of c emales and the altering of males. "This is our w oap box plea," Greenlee said. "It is the only vay we can control the animal population here. t is simply impossible to find homes for the b lumber of animals we receive every year. Fhere is no alternative to putting most of them p o sleep.''" Ute Huckabee of Columbia recounts ao omewhat unpleasant experience she and herc amily had with the shelter's gas chamber it ituat ion. "We had five kittens we wanted to find homes g or, so we called the SPCA and they told us to e Iring them on in, that they would find a home or them. We asked if they might be put to g leep, and the woman said absolutely not- a ''We were unable to catch one of the kittens, t4 >ut we put the other four in a box and took them k o the shelter. Our kids had fallen in love with h he kittens, so they went with us to see them for fi he last time. ''A man took the box into the back of the a shelter and we followed him. He dumped the e tittens into a wire cage that alreard, held a SPCA ast 100 kittens. They didn't even have room to and side by side. They were rolling all over 3ch other. And some of them were really aautiful, not just alley cats. It really upset the iildren. "Anyway, we caught the other kitten the next 3y and my husband took it to the shelter. He ent to the rear to check on the other kittens, it the cage was empty. He asked the man hat had happened, and he said 'One of the ittens in the cage got distemper so we had to ill them all.' My husband came out of there ith tears in his eyes. "I think what they do at that shelter is worse ian what the Germans did to the Jews in the ncentration camps. I don't have one good ord to say about them." Although Greenlee mentions what a horrible thing" the gas chamber is, she stands her contention that there is no alternative. ''It an animal in a cage gets sick, we have to it all the animals in that cage to sleep,'' she id. ''We can't take a chance on any of the ther animals catching the disease. A child )uld take the animal home and fall in love with and it might die in a few days. ''The chamber is bad. It took me five years to et myself to watch it. But there Is just nothing se to do. We cannot adopt so many animals.'' Veterinarians around the county are enerally not overly excited about the situation I the shelter. ''They crowd all the animals igether there," one said, "and there are all inds of diseases floating around. We don't ave too much luck with animals we examine *om there.'' The vets agreed seven years ago to give any nimal adopted from the shelter a free Kamination within three days after its (Continued next page)