by Jerry Layne -
[email protected]
Forty-four miles from Waco, Texas is the small, lovely
town of Gatesville, Texas. About 10 miles outside the city limits of
Gatesville, isolated off a county road, behind a locked gate and nowhere
to be seen is the city's 'Animal Pound.'
Twice in the last several months I have driven from my
home in Waco to this unsanitized 'animal pound.' Over the past 14 years
I have seen and fought hard against animal shelters and pounds that give
nothing but misery and suffering to animals.
ANIMALS RIGHTS ONLINE and so many reader's three years
ago greatly assisted my organization, ANIMALS HAVE HEARTS, TOO! in a 3
months battle against the City of Abilene, Texas and their use of a gas
chamber where they bunched-up many animals at one time, shoved them in
the gas chamber, pushed the button and walked away from the ghastly
nightmare. We won a victory there by emails, letters, facsimiles to
various members of the City of Abilene and they changed to lethal
injection.
Now, we are requesting your assistance again. This small
town has set-up a small bricked-in confinement for a gas chamber. When
shut, it is complete darkness inside (pictures are available that I and
other individuals took of the chamber and the animal pound where feces
and filth are everywhere/also, located around the animal pound-empty
shotgun shells) and the small brick chamber is hooked-up to an old City
of Gatesville police car with it's tires taken off and a hose is
hooked-up to it's exhaust pipe directly attached to the gas chamber.
Also, in one picture the gas pedal has a tree-stick
shoved against it and the car seat so no individual has to push the gas
pedal to maintain pressure for the gas fumes to move to the gas chamber.
It is a haunting sight to realize what the dogs,
puppies, cats and kittens must go through. All alone, pushed into this
darkness then very slowly gassed to death.
This is unacceptable to all of us and we need your
assistance in writing to place people and the city on notice.
Please tell the below list of individuals that a gas
chamber of any kind is unacceptable and causes great suffering and must
be dismantled. Unwanted animals are entitled to basic protections under
the Texas State Law. Tell them to stop permitting pound/city employees
to continue killing animals by gassing. We realize this is a small town;
but other small towns know it is a horrible action to gas animals and
instead, use lethal injection--even in a small community there must be
given to the animals respect and dignity in the time of their deaths!
It is well-known that animals killed in gas chambers
especially homemade, car exhaust to chamber is a wrenching way to die.
The animals often scream in panic, they struggle for air and the exhaust
gas horribly irritates their eyes and noses.
Gassing animals is an extremely cruel and inhumane
method of euthanasia; if you can even call gassing euthanasia. We
resonate with all of creation, and whatever harm or brutality is done to
these innocents without voices affects us all, one way or the other.
All of us are appalled by the way this small town has
hidden the 'animal pound' way away from civilization and are killing the
unwanted animals by CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING...through the exhaust of a
vehicle!
Virtually every major animal protection organization in
the United States, as well as the AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION, advocates strongly "intravenous injection of sodium
pentobarbital" as the euthanasia method of choice and it is our belief
we can offer the veterinary community assistance in teaching the proper
way to use lethal injection.
The above is 'some-type' of message your reader's can
send; ending with, "Thank you for your time and urgent decision to stop
using the gas chamber."
Please forward a carbon copy (CC) to <[email protected]>
as this was very helpful in the Abilene, Texas animal shelter gas
chamber case. Such monitoring of the mail is also being done with the
current cat cruelty case here in Waco, the QUESO cat case and we have
monitored over 4,000 messages to city council members, Baylor
University, the DA and etc.
*Also, in your messages; please inform the CONTACTS that
sanitation and better protection from the weather elements is a
priority. As the 'pound' uses old, rusty oil drums for 'housing' of
individual animals; which give no shelter or comfort whatsoever to the
animals.
CONTACTS AND INFORMATION:
Mr. Brandon Emmons
City Manager
email:
[email protected]
Mr. Luis Lobo
Assistant City Manager
email:
[email protected]
Ms. Evelyn Thomas
Finance Director
email:
[email protected]
City of Gatesville
email:
[email protected] ph: 254-865-8951
Within the above email address are the City Council
Members:
Ms. Lucille Plane Ward 1, Place 3
Mr. Darren Moore 2 5
Mr. Jimmy Knox 1 1
Mr. Billy Landua 2 4
Mr. Carl Kietzer 2 6
Also, at the same, above email address is the Mayor of
Gatesville, Texas
The Honorable Mayor, James E. Erwin
*for the reader's own review:
www.ci.gatesville.tx.us/government.htm
The Federal Government / Senators are:
The Honorable Phil Gramm
email: [email protected]
The Honorable Kay Baily Hutchinson
[email protected]
State of Texas Senator
Honorable Troy Frazier
Fax: 254-939-7611 (Belton, Tx.)
I wrote on 11.2.01, the Publisher of THE GATESVILLE
MESSENGER, Mr. Marshall Day, describing what I saw on my first trip to
the 'animal pound' and sent him several pictures of the unconscionable
and tragic Gatesville 'animal pound.' (***there has been no response)
Please issue emails:
Mr. Marshall Day
Publisher
The Gatesville Messenger
Gatesville, Texas
email:
[email protected]
Mr. Larry Kennedy
Editor
The Gatesville Messenger
email:
[email protected]
send Letters to the Editor
email:
[email protected]
(*letters must include a daytime phone number and home address) *(we
need volumes of emails) (to all)
(we will monitor the newspaper)
***Please write / 'cc' the wonderful individuals at our
Texas Department of Health, Zoonosis Control Division; their names were
given to me by a wonderful and most devoted individual to animal rights,
Mr. Robert L. "Skip" Trimble.
Ms. Jane Mahlow, DVM, MS
Director
Zoonosis Control Division
email: [email protected]
web site for an excellent review:
www.tdh.state.tx.us/zoonosis
Mr. Jay Sabatucci
Zoonosis Control Division
email:
[email protected]
*also visit:
www.sheltercoalition.com
*also review: TEXAS HUMANE LEGISLATION NETWORK (a great group)
web site: www.thln.com
The Gatesville 'animal pound' is a gruesome sight; it,
to me is like ... 'entering the gates of hell.' When the City is made
respectfully aware of such atrocious conditions it is my belief they
will change everything at their 'city pound,' as everything is
unacceptable - because everything is done behind closed doors!
Thank you,
Jerry Elmore Layne
ANIMALS HAVE HEARTS, TOO!
1917 Austin Avenue,
Waco, Texas 76701
Phone: 254-757-1682
Fax 1683
email: [email protected]
Go on to Job
Opportunity
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