December 26, 2024, Letters to the Editor

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Category: Letters to the Editor

Created on Thursday, 26 December 2024 14:27

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Sitka Animal Shelter
Dear Editor: We are a group of concerned Sitkans writing to express our frustration, disappointment, and outrage at the current state of the Sitka Animal Shelter under the management of the Sitka Police Department. While we recognize the efforts of the city to resolve these issues, community members have been waiting six long months for a return to humane shelter operations. We are done waiting: both the city animal control ordinances and the shelter management must be changed.
Since January 2024, the SPD has failed to provide basic medical care for shelter animals, including rabies vaccines for animals that were adopted out to the community. In July, the SPD abruptly barred volunteers from entering the shelter to provide care to animals. These dedicated volunteers were all background checked, trained, and supervised by the SPD.
In September, a few adoptions of cats took place but most were euthanized in addition to two dogs. Police records state that the dogs were at “end of life,” incontinent, and thus “unfit for adoption.” They were then killed, most likely by gunshot. No vet in town was consulted on their condition or how to humanely euthanize them. Additionally, there were people who knew the dogs and were willing to adopt had their phone calls been answered. They were not.
A formal Request for Information on the dogs was filed and letters to the SPD, city administration, and the Assembly were sent. The SPD has refused to answer a simple question: how were the dogs killed? They have refused to answer whether the dogs were shot, simply replying via email: “We follow both ethical and legal means to accomplish our job, including euthanasia.” Notably, they did not deny shooting the dogs. The SPD are wrong in one major respect: shooting shelter animals is very much against the American Veterinary Medical Association Standards of Care, which states, “Gunshot should not be used for routine euthanasia of animals in … pounds or shelters.”
The city and SPD have been notable for their lack of transparency around shelter operations and the euthanasia of these two dogs. We demand that the city work with volunteers and local veterinarians to overhaul shelter operations and re-establish basic standards of care, including timely medical care and humane euthanasia.
We demand that all previously approved shelter volunteers be immediately reinstated to the level of access and responsibility they had before they were barred from the shelter in July.
We demand that the city work with community members and veterinarians to overhaul animal control ordinances.  We strongly urge the city to separate animal control functions from the welfare and care of shelter animals. We urge the city to adopt a model in which shelter operations are contracted to a non-profit entity similar to models seen in Juneau, Ketchikan and Kodiak.
The city has asked for patience as it works on a “short term” plan to reintegrate volunteers and develop a new memorandum of understanding with Friends of Sitka Animal Shelter (an MOU that would not be enforceable). However, six months have now passed since volunteers were barred, and the operations and policies of the shelter remain unacceptable. Immediate reforms to ensure the humane treatment of all shelter animals and to restore public trust in the shelter’s operations are overdue. We are done being patient: Sitka deserves a shelter that operates with integrity, transparency, and compassion for the animals and citizens it serves. Signed,
Galen Paine, Julia Bovee,
Shaleena Bott, James O.L. Bennett,
Charles Bingham,
Austin W. Cranford,
Bradley T. Russell, Codi Plourde,
Gretchen Clarke, Liz Zacher,
Trenton Harrell, Malory Harrell,
Sophia West, Kathy Ingallinera,
Kimberly Peacocke, Erin Weekly,
Mel Beadle, Laura Tirman,
Callie Simmons, Jim Michener,
Darcy Michener, Alison Brazel,
Aaron Wambach, Lloyd P. Parsly,
Sarah Allison, Chaynee-Raven Hill,
Christopher Cordobes, Ellen Daly,
Susan J. McFadden, Stephen Lawrie,
Melody Peacocke,
Stefania Potrzuski, Laurie Hood