News-Record.com

So, if purebred animals are so desirable and adoptable, did the Guilford County Animal Shelter put to death a purebred Dalmatian, as it appeared in a News & Record photo?

Marcia Cleveland, who works with German Shepherd Rescue and Adoptions, has asked that question, as have several letter writers.

Frankly, I wondered about it myself.

Why not at least call a rescue group before putting that dog to sleep? Cleveland said.

Marsha Williams, the shelter's director, said Monday the dog in the front-page photo was a pit bull/Dalmatian mix. The dog was wearing a muzzle, she added, because "he had issues. He had been biting people."

Williams also spoke to some rescue groups' concerns that a photo of an Aug. 1 "euthanansia list" contained purebred German shepherds as well as other breeds.

Williams said that's not true.

One German shepherd on the list was 80 percent pit bull, she said. So was a Labrador and the aformentioned Dalmatian.

Another mixed-breed Lab had severe mange and another Shepherd had heartworm that had reached an untreatable stage, she said.

"If we have a purebred animal that cannot be placed for adoption," Williams said, we do call animal rescue groups."

Williams sounded truly tense and harried. And more than a little bit frustrated.

She said people need to understand the sheer volume of the shelter's load. Se noted how the shelter handles not only abandoned dogs and cats but horses, pigs, racoons, coyotes, bats and iguanas. (They were arranging for the adoption of four horses that day, she said.)

The animal shelter seems doomed to get grief no matter what it does.
I understand their sense of being overwhelmed and underappreciated.
I also understand the passion of the rescue groups.

And I still wish all these animal lovers could come to terms on better ways to work together.