Animal shelter workers 'killed dogs without sedatives leading to extreme pain before they died by injecting drugs into the heart or hitting them over their heads'

OHIO -- Three animal shelter employees in southeast Ohio have pleaded not guilty to charges of inhumanely killing dogs.

The Gallia County dog warden, his assistant and a former warden are accused of killing dogs by injecting a drug directly into their hearts without using a sedative, which veterinarians say causes extreme pain before death.

"At this point in our investigation, we believe these dogs suffered a horrifying and painful death. A past witness to the procedure has stated that the dogs are pinned against a wall with a wire gate and then a needle with the fatal solution is jabbed into the chest. No sedation was ever used and many times dogs were stabbed with a needle more than once. Dogs would often stagger about the room for up to 30 minutes until they died."

The misdemeanor animal cruelty charges were filed after necropsies done at Ohio State University's veterinary hospital showed that several of the dogs recovered from the county animal shelter were inhumanely euthanized.

An animal autopsy referred to as a necropsy, done at The Ohio State University's Veterinary Medical Center shows several of the 12 dogs recovered from the county animal shelter were killed by injecting a barbiturate into their heart or nearby organs.

The necropsy also shows one of the dogs sustained blunt force trauma, another trauma to the head.
'The necropsy showed evidence [that] shows the animals were euthanized by a method we call heart stick,' said John Bell, the Ohio Society for the Prevention and Cruelty to Animals' (Ohio SPCA) attorney.

The city solicitor and animal rights groups said shoving a needle into the dog's heart without first using a sedative causes the dogs excruciating pain and suffering some for least a half-hour before their death.

'Devastated that the animals had to go through something like that,' said Diane Amann, a shelter volunteer, to NBC 4.

According to the Friends of Gallia County’s Animals, a local rescue group, the dogs had been vaccinated and were in the process of being adopted when the deaths occurred.

The euthanizations occurred one day before a planned adoption event.

Ohio SPCA’s Executive Director Teresa Landon, the Grove City, Ohio-based animal group has a launched a “full-scale investigation” into the deaths of the 11 dogs

'We have received information that leads us to believe that the dogs were killed by intra-cardiac injection without sedation,' Landon said. 'If this is true, the dogs suffered a horrifying death.'

Intra-cardiac injection, otherwise known as a 'heart stick,' is only legal if a dog has been properly sedated and is unconscious, Landon said.

Dog warden Paul Simmer, his assistant, Jason Harris, and former warden Jean Daniels pleaded not guilty to the charges in Gallipolis Municipal Court on Tuesday. They are due back in court next week.

Simmers, the county’s dog warden, faces 32 counts of animal cruelty. His former assistant, Harris, faces 12 counts, while Daniels, a former county dog warden, faces 13 counts.

Each charge, is punishable by up to 90 days incarceration, a $750 fine, five years’ probation and 200 hours of community service, meaning Simmers could be facing eight years in jail with Harris and Daniels looking at three each.

It is alleged that the trio negligently caused unnecessary pain and suffering to dogs being euthanized at the animal shelter.

The case came to light shortly after Feb. 14 when the Grove City-based Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals said it planned to 'fully investigate' the deaths of the 11 dogs.

(Daily Mail - Mar 27, 2014)