BrandyBlue
12-21-03, 01:15 PM
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Dog Survives Euthanization
Sat Dec 20,11:01 PM ET Add Strange News - AP to My Yahoo!
PERTH AMBOY, N.J. - The animal control officer accused in the botched euthanization of a dog that survived a garbage truck ride to a landfill has been suspended and charged with animal cruelty.
Michael Iovine, an animal cruelty investigator with the Middlesex County SPCA, said William Paul apparently has not properly followed euthanasia procedures for years. The organization on Friday charged Paul, 45, an animal control officer in Perth Amboy for 18 years, with criminal and civil charges of torturing and inflicting cruelty on a living creature.
City officials on Friday said they have suspended Paul from his $38,652-a-year job and plan to dismiss him.
The criminal charges carry a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine; the civil have a maximum fine of $250.
"It's evident that he didn't use sufficient drugs to put the animal down, and it's evident that he did not properly listen for a heartbeat in a quiet environment," Joseph Biermann of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick.
Biermann also said that before an animal is euthanized, it must be weighed to determine the needed dosage of a lethal drug, yet there is no scale in the Perth Amboy animal shelter.
"He has estimated the weight of any animal he put down," Biermann said
Attempts by the newspaper to contact Paul were unsuccessful, and no telephone listing for him could be found.
Biermann said Paul tranquilized the dog, injected a lethal drug, then listened for a heartbeat — in a noisy room with other animals present. Investigators plan to check whether Paul's stethoscope worked properly, as well as the strength of the drug used.
The dog, a 5-year-old shepherd-Labrador mix, was brought to the shelter Dec. 3 by a woman wanting it euthanized because she was moving to a place that did not allow pets, according to Iovine.
Paul, believing he had killed the dog, dumped it in garbage at the city trash transfer station, where it was compacted with other trash on a garbage truck. As it was being dumped at the county landfill in East Brunswick the next day, the dog poked its head out at the truck's rear just before it would have fallen into the landfill.
A worker spotted it and an East Brunswick animal control officer rescued the dog and took it to a local kennel. Dozens of people have already called there hoping to adopt the dog.
Dog Survives Euthanization
Sat Dec 20,11:01 PM ET Add Strange News - AP to My Yahoo!
PERTH AMBOY, N.J. - The animal control officer accused in the botched euthanization of a dog that survived a garbage truck ride to a landfill has been suspended and charged with animal cruelty.
Michael Iovine, an animal cruelty investigator with the Middlesex County SPCA, said William Paul apparently has not properly followed euthanasia procedures for years. The organization on Friday charged Paul, 45, an animal control officer in Perth Amboy for 18 years, with criminal and civil charges of torturing and inflicting cruelty on a living creature.
City officials on Friday said they have suspended Paul from his $38,652-a-year job and plan to dismiss him.
The criminal charges carry a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine; the civil have a maximum fine of $250.
"It's evident that he didn't use sufficient drugs to put the animal down, and it's evident that he did not properly listen for a heartbeat in a quiet environment," Joseph Biermann of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick.
Biermann also said that before an animal is euthanized, it must be weighed to determine the needed dosage of a lethal drug, yet there is no scale in the Perth Amboy animal shelter.
"He has estimated the weight of any animal he put down," Biermann said
Attempts by the newspaper to contact Paul were unsuccessful, and no telephone listing for him could be found.
Biermann said Paul tranquilized the dog, injected a lethal drug, then listened for a heartbeat — in a noisy room with other animals present. Investigators plan to check whether Paul's stethoscope worked properly, as well as the strength of the drug used.
The dog, a 5-year-old shepherd-Labrador mix, was brought to the shelter Dec. 3 by a woman wanting it euthanized because she was moving to a place that did not allow pets, according to Iovine.
Paul, believing he had killed the dog, dumped it in garbage at the city trash transfer station, where it was compacted with other trash on a garbage truck. As it was being dumped at the county landfill in East Brunswick the next day, the dog poked its head out at the truck's rear just before it would have fallen into the landfill.
A worker spotted it and an East Brunswick animal control officer rescued the dog and took it to a local kennel. Dozens of people have already called there hoping to adopt the dog.