Shelter Euthanizing Animals Inhumanely, Ex-Workers Say

HENRY COUNTY, Ind. -- Animals have suffered while being euthanized at Henry County's animal shelter because the people doing it are unqualified and use an improper technique, a former employee said Thursday.

Ron Frye, who worked four years as a county animal control officer, said he and others who were not qualified to euthanize animals were told to do the task so the county wouldn't have to pay for a euthanasia technician.

"The people that they have doing it aren't trained, and the people they've got doing it aren't even supposed to be doing it," Frye told 6News' Renee Jameson.

Two other former workers whom 6News didn't name also said the Henry County shelter euthanized animals inhumanely.

Frye, who was fired from his animal control job a few months ago, said he was told to inject animals in the abdomen. He said he should have injected the animals in a vein, which he said would let the drugs work quicker.

"They get all doped up, and they ... run into the walls and everything," Frye said. "It's horrible to watch. It's horrible to even have to be a part of it."

Frye said it took some animals an hour to die.

A representative of the animal control service in Indianapolis -- two counties away from Henry County -- said giving an injection in a vein is the standard way to euthanize most animals.

The shelter's director, Linda Bircon, denied the allegations, saying animals are put to sleep humanely there.

The Humane Society of the United States is looking into the allegations, Jameson reported.