Dogs in Harrisburg, Pa., had better watch out.
In a brutal example of the cost of the budget crises that cities across the country are facing, police in the cash-strapped Pennsylvania capital have received a memo instructing them to shoot any sick or aggressive strays they aren’t able to adopt themselves, infuriating animal rights advocates.
Harrisburg, which declared itself bankrupt last October, lost its contract with the local Humane Society and has nowhere to send its strays. In an internal memo obtained by The Daily, police officers were told that animals who are “sick, injured or suffering may be destroyed in as safe a manner as possible.”
“These are the best options we can offer at this time,” the memo says.
Under Pennsylvania state law, dogs must be held in a kennel for 48 hours and made available for adoption. Residents say it’s just the latest city service to fall by the wayside. And dog lovers in the city are outraged.
“This is abhorrent,” said Harrisburg resident Jessica Lowe, who owns a Labradoodle. “But from a taxpayer’s perspective, our city is a mess. We can’t even get a streetlight repaired. So I shouldn’t be surprised.”
City spokesman Robert Philbin now denies that such a policy was ever in effect, and said the leaked Dec. 5 memo was not a directive.
“They’re not following the memo,” Philbin said of the Harrisburg police in a phone interview with The Daily yesterday. But earlier this month, Philbin told The Patriot-News that the policy was in effect.
Animal rights advocates in the area say they believe the city has been shooting dogs for months.
“I had speculated that this was happening, but this took my breath away,” said Kris Baker, a Harrisburg resident and volunteer with the Central Pennsylvania Animal Alliance, who received the memo in an anonymous text message.
Last March, Harrisburg police caught flack after they picked up two pit bulls who escaped from a man’s backyard, took them to the city incinerator, shot them dead, then tossed them into the fire.
Police have said that the animals were aggressive. But Zella Anderson, the head of the Central Pennsylvania Animal Alliance, which rescues strays, said she doubted that was the case, since the officers transported the dogs in their police car.
And police officials now say that they plan to house strays in a building near that incinerator.
The Humane Society of Harrisburg Area Inc. has said it can no longer accept dogs from impoverished Harrisburg because the city doesn’t provide any funds to take care of the animals.
But Philbin said the contract with the Humane Society will be signed in “a couple of days.”
Mara.Gay@thedaily.com
In a brutal example of the cost of the budget crises that cities across the country are facing, police in the cash-strapped Pennsylvania capital have received a memo instructing them to shoot any sick or aggressive strays they aren’t able to adopt themselves, infuriating animal rights advocates.
Harrisburg, which declared itself bankrupt last October, lost its contract with the local Humane Society and has nowhere to send its strays. In an internal memo obtained by The Daily, police officers were told that animals who are “sick, injured or suffering may be destroyed in as safe a manner as possible.”
“These are the best options we can offer at this time,” the memo says.
Under Pennsylvania state law, dogs must be held in a kennel for 48 hours and made available for adoption. Residents say it’s just the latest city service to fall by the wayside. And dog lovers in the city are outraged.
“This is abhorrent,” said Harrisburg resident Jessica Lowe, who owns a Labradoodle. “But from a taxpayer’s perspective, our city is a mess. We can’t even get a streetlight repaired. So I shouldn’t be surprised.”
City spokesman Robert Philbin now denies that such a policy was ever in effect, and said the leaked Dec. 5 memo was not a directive.
“They’re not following the memo,” Philbin said of the Harrisburg police in a phone interview with The Daily yesterday. But earlier this month, Philbin told The Patriot-News that the policy was in effect.
Animal rights advocates in the area say they believe the city has been shooting dogs for months.
“I had speculated that this was happening, but this took my breath away,” said Kris Baker, a Harrisburg resident and volunteer with the Central Pennsylvania Animal Alliance, who received the memo in an anonymous text message.
Last March, Harrisburg police caught flack after they picked up two pit bulls who escaped from a man’s backyard, took them to the city incinerator, shot them dead, then tossed them into the fire.
Police have said that the animals were aggressive. But Zella Anderson, the head of the Central Pennsylvania Animal Alliance, which rescues strays, said she doubted that was the case, since the officers transported the dogs in their police car.
And police officials now say that they plan to house strays in a building near that incinerator.
The Humane Society of Harrisburg Area Inc. has said it can no longer accept dogs from impoverished Harrisburg because the city doesn’t provide any funds to take care of the animals.
But Philbin said the contract with the Humane Society will be signed in “a couple of days.”
Mara.Gay@thedaily.com
PHOTO: The Patriot-News
Harrisburg police officers have been instructed to shoot sick or aggressive stray dogs.
