The Compassion Experiment (Day 24)

Could you kill these cats?

This is unbelievable:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/807590--ospca-to-euthanize-350-animals-at-york-region-shelter?bn=1

Here is the short and long of it. York OSPCA is euthanizing all their animals, ALL! That's 350 cats, dogs, rats, everything, dead.
Apparently they have been dealing with a ringworm outbreak, and the OSPCA vets have decided they all need to die.
The Star says: "Ringworm is a fungal infection that causes small patches of hair loss, skin redness and discoloration. Ringworm can make an animal so itchy they break their skin when they scratch for temporary relief. Ringworm usually starts in one area and multiplies if not treated."
I am not vet, I am just an animal lover, but from what I've read, ringworm isn't fatal. It isn't great, and can cause animals discomfort, but to kill them all, wow.
It breaks my heart, because I work at the Oakville and Milton Humane Society, and if all their animals were going to be put down, I would be just as angry as all the volunteers in York. There are police, armed guards, the whole nine yards, and I wish this didn't have to be.
They have fired the shelter manager, Denise Stephenson, but they are just cutting off the head. There is a trickle down affect here, but she isn't the one to blame, if you ask me. It's the kennel staff for not taking control of the public as they stick their fingers in cages, and probably the fault of volunteers who inadvertently started passing on the disease.
I don't think the OSPCA wants to kill all these potential pets, I don't totally blame them here, but I don't applaud their efforts either. I wish there was another way.
Sadly, there isn't.
The real question is: why does this have to happen?
This could have been avoided, but every single person who worked there, is responsible, including volunteers, because clearly cleanliness, and passing on diseases wasn't taken as seriously as it is at the OMHS. Trust me, I work at the OMHS, and I know the staff, the vet tech's, everyone, and boy do they take cleanliness serious. Just try and stick your finger inside a cage when Deb is around, and see what happens. Your head will get bitten off. The people there might seem like dicks sometimes, but that is because they care about the animals safety, more than they do you. And I applaud them for this. I do it too, and sometime relish it, because a lot of people who come into the shelter act like idiots, and don't think about the consequences of what they are doing by sticking their hands into cage after cage after cage.
Not all the animals in the shelter are healthy, that's a fact. Illness isn't always something you can see, or really detect until it is too late. That's why you have to take all the precautions in the world.
It still might not be enough to stop disease, I know this, but it could have helped prevent this outbreak from growing so large, that all the animals had to die.
At the OMHS, the walls are covered in signs asking people to not stick their hands in the cage, to use disinfectant after touching any animal, but people just ignore it. Not everyone, but, most of them, and this drives me nuts.
What can I do?
When I see someone sticking their fingers in a cage I say: "We ask that you don't do that, because you can pass diseases from cat to cat. See how all these cats have runny eyes, they didn't have that before they were moved up here, but because people stuck their fingers in the cages, they are now sick."
To be honest, people often remark to me: "Oh, I didn't realize that! Sorry!", and "Thanks for letting me know, and being nice about it."
This is the honest to god truth, and that's why I don't have an issue with asking people to not stick their fingers in the cages.
Because they will listen.
I just wish the York OSPCA staff and volunteers would have done this.
Look at the consequences, 350 animals, dead. Because they didn't want to tell people not to touch the animals.
It's a sad, sad day.

Animals saved today: 3
Animals saved to date: 53
Animals killed in York: 350!