Inmate in sheriff’s work program posts photo online of euthanized shelter dogs

An inmate in the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department’s Alternative Work Program won’t be doing his community service at the animal shelter any longer after posting online a photo of several euthanized dogs.

Early Monday, Chad Winchester posted on his Facebook page the photo he took in a room where dogs are put down at the Thomas W. Mayfield Regional Animal Services Center on Cornucopia Way in Modesto.

“This is what I came across at the dog pound in Modesto. Thoughts?” he wrote to accompany the photo, which he since has taken down.

In response to posted comments about the picture, which was taken Sunday, Winchester added, “I opened up the door to go in that room to mop the floor (it’s the ER room). But as you can see they must have just got done putting those down.”

At least seven dogs are shown, but he also wrote, “over in the corner behind the table was a few smaller dogs.”

Animal Services Executive Director Annette Patton said Tuesday that Winchester took the photo in a locked area. “How he obtained the picture is illegal. He had no permission to be there,” she said, calling the photograph disrespectful to the dogs that had been euthanized and to people who may have had them as pets.

The shelter is closed Sundays, Patton said, and perhaps Winchester gained entry because an employee was entering or exiting and the door had not closed. Winchester did not reply Tuesday to messages left by The Bee seeking comment.

Patton complained to the Sheriff’s Department about what Winchester did. Sgt John Campbell with the Alternative Work Program said that beyond confirming that Winchester no longer will be working at Animal Services, “I can’t really speak to this particular case.”

What happens to an inmate depends on the factors in a case. “We usually reassign,” he said. “It happens weekly where somebody calls because there’s been a disagreement or an argument” or something else regarding an Alternative Work Program inmate.

Patton learned about the photograph through agencies and individuals, she said. Animal supporters are “up in arms,” telling her how disrespectful the photo is. Additionally, “I’ve been private-messaged, calling us dog killers,” she said.

Patton stressed that animals are euthanized “very humanely” through injection, and staff members watch over them during the brief time it takes them to die.

“We do not perform euthanasia every day here,” as many people imagine, Patton said. There is not even a regular schedule to put down animals, she added.

The dogs pictured may have come to the shelter any number of ways, she said. Dogs come in badly injured after being struck by vehicles, or are brought in by owners because they are diseased or very old and living in pain, she said.

After animals are humanely euthanized, she said, they are taken on gurneys to a refrigerated area, where a company from San Diego picks them up. “We do not incinerate here,” Patton said.

Owners who bring in a pet to have it put down do not have the option of taking home the body, she said. “They would have to go to a private veterinarian for that.”

Julia Souders, founder of Stanislaus County-based Kate’s Rescue for Animals, saw the picture online Monday night. “It’s a terrible image, but in a certain light, if this got more people understanding how bad the situation is,” it could help, she said.

She puts no blame on Animal Services, she said. “The blame falls on people who don’t spay and neuter; that’s the bottom line,” she said. “Shelters get 500 animals at a time. They can’t hold the space – they really, truly don’t have space for them all.”

Working at a shelter is different than working at a rescue, she knows. “Not all the stories end well, and animals can be in terrible shape.” It would be easy to look at the photo of dead dogs strewn about the floor and imagine a callous employee just dumping them. “But if you look at if from another point of view, if you have to be the one euthanizing the animals, it’s a lot of dead weight” to move around, she said. “That’s what it looks like, and what are you gonna do?”

From the animal shelter’s adoption center, Patton said, 99 percent of animals find homes. And from the shelter’s remaining population, euthanasia rates are drastically decreasing. Animal Services keeps statistics on its website showing a euthanasia rate of 75 percent in fiscal year 2010-11, 70 percent in 2011-12, 66 percent in 2012-13, 55 percent in 2013-14 and 46 percent in 2014-15.

The rate once was as high as 88 percent, Patton said, but when the report is released for the latest fiscal year, she expects to see a rate below 46 percent. “We’ve implemented programs to make our euthanasia rates even lower. ... We’re working our way to becoming a no-kill shelter.”

Patton noted that Animal Services is “gearing up for our busiest time of year” with the Fourth of July ahead. “Our intake will increase between 20 and 30 percent” as frightened pets escape homes and yards and flee the noise of fireworks.

“Most will be owned dogs ... people will be coming in frantically looking for them,” Patton said.

All the more reason to make sure pets have collars and tags and are microchipped. Animals Services call owners when identifiable pets come in, saving such a panicked trip.

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Inmate in sheriff’s work program posts photo online of euthanized shelter dogs."