The city’s admission that a Sitka police officer euthanized several animals in the local shelter by gunshot late last summer has generated a strong response from the community’s veterinarians.  Seven vets – both practicing and retired – dispute the administration’s claim that shooting the dogs and cats was an acceptable practice under guidelines of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

In the meantime, everyone involved is hoping to ensure that the episode is never repeated.

Earlier this month, Sitka’s municipal administrator published an investigation into animal shelter operations. It revealed that local police euthanized two dogs and four cats by gunshot last September after taking over day-to-day management of the shelter.

Sitka’s animal shelter is under the umbrella of the police department, but in years past, day-to-day operations have been managed by an animal control officer with the support of volunteers. But last July, the volunteer group, Friends of Sitka Animal Shelter, was barred from the building. When then-ACO Olivia Magni went missing in late August and did not return to work, pets were left in the care of police. 

Kristina Tirman is the president of FOSAS. She says the administrator’s investigation confirmed what her group feared. 

“We had suspected that gunshot was the method of euthanasia for the dogs based on information we heard from community members, but we did not have confirmation on that until this report was released,” Tirman said. “Seeing that in writing was difficult, and we also did not have any information regarding the cats, so that was also new, and again, very hard to read.” 

What frustrates Tirman and the volunteers is how preventable the situation was. She says when they found out the ACO was not managing the shelter, they reached out to offer police their help, but the offer was declined.

“We had volunteers there ready to help,” Tirman said. “If we had known that this was going to be the outcome, and the police department didn’t have the time to care for these animals, we would have done everything we could to get them out of the shelter [and] adopted into homes. I think many people would have adopted them if they had known that this was going to be the outcome.” 

The administrator’s report was also hard to read for Sitka’s veterinary community- none of whom were consulted before the animals were euthanized. Like Tirman, Dr. Toccoa Wolf said if any of them had been contacted by police ahead of time, things would have been different.

“There’s practicing veterinarians that have always been available for help, we’re always here to support the city. We’re always here to support our community,” Wolf said. “And so I wonder why none of us were asked to help, and why that relationship has been, you know, severed?”

Wolf said she’s glad the report was released to the public and appreciates the transparency, but disagrees with some of its findings. Wolf and six other vets in Sitka penned a letter to the local assembly on February 20. The vets say the investigation’s conclusion that the pets were euthanized following American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines is incorrect.

The AVMA says gunshot can be considered an acceptable form of euthanasia under some circumstances [Page 42]. Arleigh Reynolds is another vet who signed the letter. 

“Those limited circumstances are if the animal is an immediate threat to someone,” said Arleigh Reynolds, another veterinarian who signed the letter. “Like if it’s aggressive or is a rabies suspect, or if it’s so injured that moving it would cause more harm than euthanizing it in place. But other than those two instances, it’s not okay.”

The vets’ letter points to another section of the AVMA that says gunshot should not be used for routine euthanasia of animals in municipal pounds or shelters [Page 44]. A second letter from a local attorney also calls the legality of the euthanasia into question.

Reynolds has spent years working in rural communities around the state with limited access to veterinary care. In those remote communities, gunshot euthanasia is more common.

“They call it culling, where they actually have dog kill days, and they will send a notice out to everybody, either tie up your dogs or put them inside, and any dog that’s found unattached is shot,” Reynolds said.  

“And that is incredibly traumatic, of course to the dogs, but to the people doing the shooting,” Reynolds said. “A lot of those village safety officers leave their job because of that. It’s also really traumatic to the communities, you know, for just hearing the shots and knowing this is going on. And in several communities, there have been some really bad outcomes afterwards because of things like this.” 

While the local vets disagree with the administrator’s interpretation of AVMA euthanasia guidelines, they do agree that Sitka is due for a code change and a restructuring of Sitka’s animal services.

“This was a house ready to crumble to begin with, because our code is so outdated,” Wolf said. “The city administrator does highlight in his report that code needs to change, I think that is one of the most urgent things. I think that a code needs to change that will prevent these from happening in the future.”

“The city has supported the shelter, but it’s not an official thing. It’s not in their code, and and the code was written back in the 70s, right? So it’s 50 years old,” Reynolds said. “Times have changed. Our values have changed, and our ability to take care of animals has changed during that period of time. And so I think we need to update the code to really cover the way that folks here in Sitka would like to see animals cared for.”

In response to the vet’s letter and widespread concern over how police handled the euthanasia, Municipal Administrator Leach said he’s open to reinvestigating – and ensuring that the treatment of animals is consistent with community standards.

“If the assembly desires to put an independent investigator on it, in terms of whether or not the AVMA standards were followed, that’s fine. We’re very open to that,” Leach said. “But my overall message is moving forward and making sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s really my focus at this point.” 

Changing city code will take some time. In the interim, the city and FOSAS have reached a tentative agreement on shelter operations for the next year, pending assembly approval [reporting forthcoming]. The timing lines up with the hiring of Sitka’s new animal control officer who starts work this month.