From FHM Magazine: The Puppy Killer Doug Elpner waits five days before euthanizing pound puppies to make room for more doomed animals..... FHM: How exactly do you kill someone's pet? Elpner: I give it an injection of a class III lethal drug called Fatal Plus. It goes to the brain and tells it to shut the system down. The animal never knows what's hit it. FHM: As the executioner, how does that feel? Elpner: It's hard, but I have been doing this for four years. I just grit my teeth and do it. It has to be done. By killing the animals that nobody claims or adopts, I make room for new ones. Unfortunately, I've become really coarse about it through the years. I've done well over 5000 animals. FHM: What's an average workday like? Elpner: I do the ones who aren't too hard on me first--the biters, the sick ones and the ugly ones. The dogs have dates written on their collars, the date they were brought in on. I check the dates, and if it has been five days since they came in, it's time for them to check out. If you put it off, even for a day, it's only going to be harder. FHM: Do you come across many fighters? Elpner: Of course. Some just don't want to die. Today, I had a pit bull that was crossed with a Doberman. It took him almost three minutes to shut his eyes. FHM: What do you tell owners who come by looking for Fluffy a bit too late? Elpner: The medical waste bags we put them in are kind of see-through. I had an owner come in one day and see her dog laying dead in the pile with the rest of them. I was like, "I'm sorry, but you should have come sooner." She was upset, but it's not my fault. FHM: How often are your kills cuddly puppies? Elpner: We're always overloaded with puppies and kittens. FHM: Which are easier? Elpner: Let's just say I'm not really a cat person. Details of Elpner's job: Age: 25 Salary: $7.85 per hour Hours: 9 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday Perks: Occasionally finding a home for an otherwise condemned animal. I was literally so disturbed by this interview. I was even tearing up, especially about the part when Elpner said it took almost three minutes for the dog to close it's eyes. No one could pay me any amount of money to do what this guy does for a measly $7.85 per hour. I know it isn't all this guy's fault, but he is the executioner and in my opinion is responsible for these senseless euthinizations. I got to say this and I am pretty sure I am not the only one: If I walked into that place looking for my dog and seen it dead on a pile with other dead dogs and all the guy could tell me was, "I am sorry, you should have come sooner", it would be very hard to hold myself back from jumping on his ass. This is just a harsh reality.
Man thats wierd. I wonder how long he'll have that job or if he'll end up being a famous rock-n-roll singer?
Is it just me or are those questions absolutely loaded to make this guy look bad? I mean, what he's doing is bad, but geez...
It would not matter what questions are being asked of this guy. He has to live with the fact that he kills living creatures for a living. There is no way to sugarcoat his job. End of discussion.
I don't intend to defend the guys occupation, but when you do something like that, were you are so overwhelmed by death, you tend to build up a wall to it if you can make it past the initial guilt and saddness. I used to work at Methodist Hospital, and when I started, it amazed me how cavaleer both the doctors and the nurses were about the somewhat frequent death. I still remember (with embarasment at how naive I was) promising myself to remember the name of the first person I had contact with who actualy died. Later, however, the shock of death just became passe. I no longer remember who the that first death was, much less their name. Often people remark about how cold and clinical nurses are, when discussing the loved ones with whom they visit who are dying. They have to do this. Otherwise they would be overwelemed with the same saddness you feel for every working day of their life.
Another great group of people, like Special Pals that not many people know about is: Greyhound Pets of America - Houston These people take these greyounds, which are not only ignored, but exploited, and almost always abused, and offer them out for adoption to save them from euthanasia. If you want a group of sick, heartless bastards look no further than Gulf Greyhound Park. My boss adoped a greyhound named Blackjack who had been litteraly tossed out of the kennel onto the streets when his owner determined that his broken leg ended his racing career. He was found by GPA, wandering the streets, with an incorrectly healed broken leg which caused him to limp, a bad case of mange, and quite a bit of malnutriton. Most of these greyhounds start off being quite difficult to deal with, as most of their lives are spent fearing the humans they come into contact with and who abuse them regularly. They are also used to the communal life of the kennels, and suffer from seperation anxiety when alone from other dogs too long. GPA nurses them back to health, and takes care of them until they are able to socialise naturaly with people and other dogs. They then find homes for these beautifull, noble, sad dogs, with the caviat that if the owners must get rid of the dogs they will return them to GPA. Anyone wanting a beautiful, sweet, loving purebread pet, but can't afford the expense should consider contacting them. (Whenever I see one of these dogs, my mind forces me to think of the 'good guys' from 'The Dark Crystal'. It seems to be an accurate analogy, both in their angular nobility, and their demure attitude.) ((Of course, if you have cats be carefull! The have been conditioned to chase the small furry rabit thing that bears some resemblence to a cat. Many working greyhounds are unable to get past this.))
Ottomaton, Your post is exactly my response. I worked at a hospital. I started back in 1990 I think. I remember visiting the ICU and delivering my first TPN/IV to a patient's bedside. The guy could barely move, was about 70 years old, and I would just try to make the guy smile by telling him jokes knowing he probably couldn't even hear me. Then one day I came in and noticed his eyes were wide open and he smiled at me when I came in to deliver his IV. I thought "cool, he's getting better". The tragedy was, he passed away that night before I came in during the 7am shift to make new IV's. Like a wuss I went for a walk outside the hospital and then into my car and cried. I felt like I had lost a family member even though the guy never said one word to me. I still remember his name to this day (stating it here would prove nothing and I think would be tacky). I still remember the first IV I ever made for him. Here's the tragic part : in the 5 or so years that I worked at that hospital, I saw people die in several units. There were times I made chemotherapy IV's, TPN's, etc. only to have someone come in and say "forget it... he's gone" or "forget it... his family asked him to be a DNR". DNR meaning "do not resuscitate" or "let him die if he's dying". I saw people die from AIDS. I watched as a nurse who contracted AIDS and whom I had befriended go from weighing about 155 lbs to about 95 lbs before he passed away. I saw people die with no family members ever visiting them. Towards the end of that 5 year career, death didn't bother me one bit. I felt bad that it didn't bother me, but the emotion was completely gone. It was almost as if I couldn't care if I wanted to. It was just a way of life. A lot of the nurses and doctors were the same way. I'm not defending what the "puppy killer" is doing. It's horrible, no doubt. I'm just trying to say don't be shocked at his nonchalant approach to it. You do get de-sensitized to death, whether it be human or animal, if you hang around it enough. My questioning of the questions asked him was simply to point out that there needs to be impartiality in reporting, no matter what, and in my opinion, the questions were phrased in a way to make the guy look bad. The story should bring out the emotion, not the reporter/interviewer. Their questions should be unbiased.
Yea great post DoD, but you were wrong when you said "Like a wuss...and cried"...I think if anything you definitely acted appropiately at the time and demonstrated traits of compassion and empathy...If more people had this ability, the world would be a better place.
Like everyone else said so eloquently, countingcrow, I don't really think I could blame the guy himself. It's an awful job, yeah, but I don't see it as his fault. Geez, I can't wait till I'm a little more settled so my girl and I can find me a puppy from one of those pounds...
The guy is doing nothing wrong.I could never do it,but this is a job that somebody has to do. The amount of animals these shelters get in is incredible.What pisses me off are peoples cavalier attitudes towards pet ownership.
amen Ottoman: I know a couple of people who have greyhounds from that organization. They are the SWEETEST dogs. What is crazy is I actually tried to run with one of them. That dog was half a block away before I even made it two steps!
I am a dog lover who put my 12 year old lab down two weeks ago so this is a sensitive subject. Somebody has to do the job. I don't blame the puppy killer. The people who are most to blame are those who breed pets indiscriminately and who let their pets run loose and do not take care of their pets. While I don't know the details of the story about the lady who was too late to save her dog, I do know that if my dog were missing I would not rest or sleep until I had checked every pound in the county. I can't imagine letting five days go by.
If your animals go outside (in the desert where I live you should not let cats outside at all), get them microchiped. My vet did one of my dogs and the humane scoeity implanted the other. If they ever somehow got picked up they would be scanned (at animal control or the humane society or the like) and it would show my address/phone for them to contact me. Even though the story is sad and brutal I don't really blame the guy either. Someone has to do that job.
