Kinship Circle: Louisiana Vet Marcy Miranov “Kills Without Cause”
Monday, September 7th, 2009
I’m a little late in forwarding this alert from Kinship Circle, and in the interim, there’s been a development in the case. Not surprisingly, it hasn’t resulted in justice for the animals killed by veterinarian Marcy Miranov (and Dr. John Edwards, as well).
Raw emotions and poor record-keeping triggered whirling accusations of animal cruelty at Jefferson Parish’s animal shelters, according to the results of an independent study released today.
But no laws were broken when 51 cats and dogs were euthanized on Aug. 13 at the parish’s Elmwood facility, the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals discovered. [...]
“Our report is not a glowing report about what’s going on in interoperation,” said Ana Zorrilla, chief executive officer of the state SPCA. “We certainly hope that it’s well received and we certainly hope that the public reads parts and pieces of it, that it’s really seen as an opportunity to improve those operations, not just as criticism or critique of what’s been going on there.”
The SPCA’s representatives worked in an atmosphere already emotionally charged by the abrupt resignation of the shelters’ director, Lee Ann Matherne. She quit the day before the animals were put down.
The most glaring problem appeared to be shoddy record-keeping and lackluster policy management, Zorrilla said. The shelters have four different written policies governing euthanasia. Each one says a different set of people need to approve each procedure.
As far as the SPCA could tell, none of them were being followed. But since none were being implemented, no policies were broken, Zorrilla said.
The SPCA report, however, dispelled several rumors that arose from that incident. Dr. Marci Miranov, the parish’s senior veterinarian in Marrero, had clearance to work at the Elmwood shelter, Zorrilla said. Her colleague, Dr. John Edwards, did not stop her from euthanizing the animals on Aug. 13, as some animal activists suspected. Rather, he assisted her in her work.
The cats put down that day had been sedated, Zorrilla said, contrary to reports that Miranov was lethally injecting the animals without killing the pain first.
The report also found the number of animals put down that day were average. Euthanasia sessions don’t occur daily, which accounts for larger numbers when one is conducted, officials said.
Zorrilla did say that the SPCA found that some of the animals killed that day were adoptable.
“Some were sick, some were feral, but some were strictly space conditions,” she said.
Parish President Aaron Broussard said he would be asking the Parish Council to enact several ordinances Wednesday that would go a long way to cleaning up the poor conditions at the shelters. Broussard has asked that the parish hire the American SPCA to take over the shelters for 90 days, that his administration begin searching for an outside group that could permanently run the facilities and that he enter negotiations to transfer the Marrero shelter to a new site – a former West Jefferson Medical Center clinic near the Oakwood Mall.
(Background here.)
If you choose to act on this alert, please take the SPCA’s findings and recommendations into account. In addition to turning control of the parish shelters over to an outside organization, please urge Jefferson Parish to work in concert with local animal rescue organizations in order to make NOLA a no-kill city. By “no-kill,” I mean truly no-kill – this goes for “feral” and “less adoptable” cats and dogs, too. While shelters may not have the time or resources to rehab animals with medical or behavioral problems, some rescue groups do; some even specialize in these cases.
Whether any human law was violated or not, this slaughter needn’t have happened. Judging from ARNO’s comments, little-to-no effort was made to place these animals in rescue groups prior to killing them – and this is simply unacceptable.
I’m a little late in forwarding this alert from Kinship Circle, and in the interim, there’s been a development in the case. Not surprisingly, it hasn’t resulted in justice for the animals killed by veterinarian Marcy Miranov (and Dr. John Edwards, as well).
Raw emotions and poor record-keeping triggered whirling accusations of animal cruelty at Jefferson Parish’s animal shelters, according to the results of an independent study released today.
But no laws were broken when 51 cats and dogs were euthanized on Aug. 13 at the parish’s Elmwood facility, the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals discovered. [...]
“Our report is not a glowing report about what’s going on in interoperation,” said Ana Zorrilla, chief executive officer of the state SPCA. “We certainly hope that it’s well received and we certainly hope that the public reads parts and pieces of it, that it’s really seen as an opportunity to improve those operations, not just as criticism or critique of what’s been going on there.”
The SPCA’s representatives worked in an atmosphere already emotionally charged by the abrupt resignation of the shelters’ director, Lee Ann Matherne. She quit the day before the animals were put down.
The most glaring problem appeared to be shoddy record-keeping and lackluster policy management, Zorrilla said. The shelters have four different written policies governing euthanasia. Each one says a different set of people need to approve each procedure.
As far as the SPCA could tell, none of them were being followed. But since none were being implemented, no policies were broken, Zorrilla said.
The SPCA report, however, dispelled several rumors that arose from that incident. Dr. Marci Miranov, the parish’s senior veterinarian in Marrero, had clearance to work at the Elmwood shelter, Zorrilla said. Her colleague, Dr. John Edwards, did not stop her from euthanizing the animals on Aug. 13, as some animal activists suspected. Rather, he assisted her in her work.
The cats put down that day had been sedated, Zorrilla said, contrary to reports that Miranov was lethally injecting the animals without killing the pain first.
The report also found the number of animals put down that day were average. Euthanasia sessions don’t occur daily, which accounts for larger numbers when one is conducted, officials said.
Zorrilla did say that the SPCA found that some of the animals killed that day were adoptable.
“Some were sick, some were feral, but some were strictly space conditions,” she said.
Parish President Aaron Broussard said he would be asking the Parish Council to enact several ordinances Wednesday that would go a long way to cleaning up the poor conditions at the shelters. Broussard has asked that the parish hire the American SPCA to take over the shelters for 90 days, that his administration begin searching for an outside group that could permanently run the facilities and that he enter negotiations to transfer the Marrero shelter to a new site – a former West Jefferson Medical Center clinic near the Oakwood Mall.
(Background here.)
If you choose to act on this alert, please take the SPCA’s findings and recommendations into account. In addition to turning control of the parish shelters over to an outside organization, please urge Jefferson Parish to work in concert with local animal rescue organizations in order to make NOLA a no-kill city. By “no-kill,” I mean truly no-kill – this goes for “feral” and “less adoptable” cats and dogs, too. While shelters may not have the time or resources to rehab animals with medical or behavioral problems, some rescue groups do; some even specialize in these cases.
Whether any human law was violated or not, this slaughter needn’t have happened. Judging from ARNO’s comments, little-to-no effort was made to place these animals in rescue groups prior to killing them – and this is simply unacceptable.
