sheltergatesville

Barbaric Animal Pound in
Gatesville, Texas

Good News!

Cases

It's truly amazing how, when there is a situation such as the Gatesville shelter, some people really come though for the animals. Two such people are Wendy Pray and her Mom, Ms. Jeanne Cohagan. They both have worked very hard to help the animals and to help improve conditions at the shelter. And, not only have they helped, they have even gone the extra mile.

Ms. Cohagan is a seventh grade English teacher, and every year she and her staff of kids on the school newspaper do a project for a good cause. After having gotten involved in helping with the Gatesville Shelter, she thought the animal shelter was one of the best causes that she could think of. When she asked her principal, he got very excited and not only approved it, but offered the school as a place to hold adopt a pets. They will be raising money and volunteering. Ms. Cohagan met with the police chief to discuss all the details of what all they can do to help. The Chief will be meeting with her class to plan things they can do to help.

Ms. Cohagan thinks that, in addition to helping the shelter animals, this is a good way to promote animal responsibility to children at an age where they can really learn. She really wants to get the point across that pets are not throw-away items.

Thank goodness for people like Jeanne Cohagan and Wendy Pray. They have big hearts, and a lot of animals will find warm, loving homes because of them.

There is good news to share with you. Brandon Emmons and Police Chief Jay Burch are more than willing to work with local residents to improve the shelter situation.

Matti Chandler, a Gatesville resident, is spearheading the fund-raising. Money and supplies are desperately needed to improve conditions for these poor animals.

Donations (i.e., bedding, food, etc.) can be mailed to:

Matti J. Chandler
Forgotten Angels Animal Foundation
502 S. 5th Street
Gatesville, TX 76528
email: [email protected]

A Fund has been set up for benefit of the shelter as follows. Checks and money orders can be mailed to:

Forgotten Angels Animal Foundation
Matti J. Chandler, Trustee
Guaranty Bank & Trust
PO Box 719
Gatesville, TX 76528
Phone: 254/865-2233

To make a donation via credit card, you may do that through the shelter's Pay Pal account at:

http://www.PayPal.com

You will have to set up your own account (it's free) and then request payment to the Forgotten Angels Animal Foundation.
It's easy and it's free!

Monetary donations are very much needed, but the following items are critical to the comfort and care of the animals.

Windblocks - Heavy, thick canvas tarps to place around the sides of the shelter

Bedding

Types of cover for the cat enclosure, such as:
Blankets
Sleeping bags
Comforters

Cat food
Dog food
Litter
Litter boxes
Litter box liners
Scoops

First Aid supplies, such as:
Peroxide
Bandages
Alcohol
Cotton balls
Q-tips
Deworming medicine

Also, building supplies are needed, and volunteers to assist in building a better enclosure for the animals.

And, if you happen to have a spare dog or cat toy lying around, maybe you could toss that in your package so the little guys will have something to chew on and play with.

As of now, most of the animals have been adopted, which is great news, but more animals are being turned in to the shelter all the time. So, please give generously so that these babies will be comfortable.

Everyone agrees that injection is the best method of euthanasia, so possible solutions to this problem are being discussed. Obviously, money will help.

Thank you all.

Above is the Gatesville Pound Chamber of horrors. Behind the chamber is an old police car that they use to pump exhaust into the brick chamber after they shove poor little animals in and close the door, leaving them in darkness.

In the front of the photo are rusted drums, which is where the animals are expected to sleep.

MORE PHOTOGRAPHS
WARNING - THESE PHOTOS ARE DISTURBING.

Read on for the details and then please help the poor animals.

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.

So many people three years ago greatly assisted my organization, ANIMALS HAVE HEARTS, TOO! in a 3-month 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 and facsimiles to various members of the City of Abilene, and they changed to lethal injection.

Now, we are requesting 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 its tires taken off and a hose is hooked up to its 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 and 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.

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, 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.

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: 254-757-1683
email: [email protected]

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