Shooting Dogs Cheaper, They Say in Kentucky

It’s a chore Bill Burkhead says he dreads: Nearly every day he leads one dog after another to a secluded spot behind the Bullitt County Animal Shelter, places the barrel of his gun between their eyes and pulls the trigger.

Burkhead, the county dog warden, and other officials say shooting dogs instead of putting them to death with gas or by injection comes down to money.

“You can get 50 dogs dispatched for a dollar,” said Judge-Executive John Harper, head of county government in this town about 30 miles south of Louisville.

The longstanding practice has drawn condemnation from animal welfare groups across the country.

And some residents couldn’t believe the news reports. “I’ve lived here all my life, and I’d have to see it to believe it,” said Gary Fraley, a custodian at First Baptist Church.

Animal-welfare experts recommend an injection into the dog’s leg of sodium pentobarbital, a barbiturate that can be administered only by prescription.

“A gunshot is something we consider to be inhumane,” said Sally Fekety of the Humane Society of the United States.

“Nobody wants to euthanize an animal, but when you’re staring into its eyes and shooting it, that’s a lot harder,” said Jane Stern, executive director of the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago.

Harper said it costs $12 to euthanize an animal, compared with 2 cents for a bullet bought at bulk rate for the .22-caliber rifle used to dispatch the dogs. Stern contends it costs about $4.42 for a lethal injection.

“Sometimes, the dog is in more of a panic with an injection than with simple dispatch of a shot to the cerebellum,” Harper said.

Local officials say they rely on a 1973 state attorney general’s opinion that said shooting animals is a humane method of killing them so long as death is instantaneous.

Harper said he believes that shooting dogs is widespread across the state. Authorities in Pendleton County also acknowledged the practice there.

Darrin Gregg, Pendleton County’s dog warden, said: “I don’t know if it’s painful or not, because I’ve never been shot in the head.”