SICK: Shelter Workers Mock Kitty Prior to Euthanization - YorkieTalk.com Forums

Wylie's Mom · 03-17-2011, 08:12 AM

This is SICK. This video from 17 years ago just surfaced. A kitty is about to be euthanized and the shelter workers are laughing and saying "Kill the kitty, kill the kitty" and flipping their middle finger at the kitty etcetera.

The main woman in the video has been promoted within this shelter. Apparently, she may now be suspended and/or reassigned to "general services". Why on earth would she not be fired??? This woman makes $92,000 a year at the shelter.

Here is the ARTICLE LINK

Article (I'll paste some email contacts after the article):

Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter “Kill The Kitty” Video Sparks Outrage
By Christopher Twarowski on March 14th, 2011

A disturbing video of Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter employees laughing, making obscene gestures and mocking the execution of a kitten as they ready the tiny animal for death has been making the rounds on YouTube Monday and inciting outrage among animal groups, residents and town officials.

The footage (posted below), shot inside the embattled taxpayer-funded facility in Wantagh and titled “Kill The Kitty,” documents Acting Shelter Director Pat Horan cheering and smiling, sporting a mullet and flipping her middle finger at the camera as two shelter workers cart in a small, defenseless, black-and-white baby cat.

Dogs bark off-camera as REM’s “Orange Crush” blasts in the background.

“Debbie do you want to kill a kitten?” asks an overweight worker, opening a blue cage containing the small feline and feigning a hangman’s noose around his neck.

“You wanna kill another kit?” chimes another, readying a noose attached to the tip of a pole. He then lassos the kitten and tightens the choke around its neck, lifting the creature into the air and pinning it on the ground as it struggles to break free.

“Pass the needle please,” says an off-camera female voice.

The helpless tuxedo kitten twists and flails as another off-camera woman’s voice shouts “Kill the kitty! Kill the kitty!”

“What you are about to witness is footage taken at the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter,” reads another version of the video circulating the Internet Monday.

“At the time Pat Horan was Kennel Supervisor,” it continues. “Ms. Horan has since been promoted to the position of Shelter Director.”

The original post, uploaded Sunday by a user under the alias Thedontkillthekitty, had more than 2,500 views and dozens of inflammatory comments as of midday Monday. The video has also been circulating widely on Facebook and reposted on various animal advocacy sites across the Internet.

“Just give me ONE minute with that facility manager,” writes a furious wendycase1 below the posting. “A question. Why do people still call these places shelters??????? Just curious. They ARE what they ARE.. killing facilities!!!!”

“This is just sick!!” scribbles secrets18.

Attempts to reach Horan were unsuccessful.

Town of Hempstead Communications Director Michael Deery tells the Press the video is at least 17 years old and the town has taken swift action in response to its “deeply disturb[ing]” content.

“[Hempstead Town] Supervisor [Kate Murray] has been advised and was shocked and appalled by the content on the video,” he says. “In response to the video, the Acting Shelter Director Pat Horan is being reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation.

“The employee handling the cat on the pole was not a town employee,” continues Deery. “It’s the former employee of a local animal hospital. The other person on camera handling the cage was a town employee but hasn’t been with the town in somewhere between 14 and 16 years.

“Ms. Horan emphatically denied that it was her voice when you hear that off-camera statement,” he adds, referring to the woman shouting “Kill the kitty! Kill the kitty!” “She emphatically denies that that was her.”

The Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter has come under fire recently for allegations of animal abuse and its highly paid staff. In November, town officials announced a series of policy changes at the facility following an October shakeup that included the transfer of several key employees and the barring of several local volunteer animal rescuers.

Three of those rescuers filed a lawsuit against the town, Supervisor Murray, Horan and others in December, alleging they were banned in retaliation for speaking out about abuse at the shelter.

EMAILS: I found these emails on the shelter site and will be emailing them right now: gfreese@tohmail.org, jmirenda@tohmail.org, sreichert@tohmail.org

Furbaby Friend · 03-17-2011, 09:15 AM

OMG this is just awful!!!!!!!

I will write as well... once I calm down.

Maximo · 03-17-2011, 09:19 AM

This story is so disturbing. To think these people are working at a shelter, and that people this cruel walk among us. Scary, heartbreaking...I don't know if I want to cry or throw up first.

bellababy08 · 03-17-2011, 09:42 AM

I was unable to contiune to read the story or to even watch the video...I just bushed out crying! How can ppl be so cruel? As a kitty lover and owner of 2 beautiful Cats, this is just very heartbreaking!!

chachi · 03-17-2011, 09:51 AM

I couldnt watch the video I am a kitty lover and soft hearted. This is horrible though and I hope that lady is fired. I hope all the animal right groups unite and make this shelter clean up its act

Buster Brown · 03-17-2011, 10:14 AM

Thank you for the disturbing post. I have emailed the contacts provided with this message.
Please do not reassign Pat Horan that would be like reassigning a pedophile priest. Pat Horan should be fired and not entitled to any benefits as she betrayed the trust of the animals in her care and of the taxpayers paying her salary. FIRE TH B**C*

chachi · 03-17-2011, 10:19 AM

I know that people in kill shelters have to become at least a little numb to dog and cat death but its still deplorable to have such a blatant disreguard of a life. Euthanizing animals is one job I couldnt do no matter how much it payed

Buster Brown · 03-17-2011, 10:22 AM

I am not on facebook but I think this is the shelter's page Hempstead Town AnimalShelter | Facebook

miabellaamoure · 03-17-2011, 10:27 AM

Ann...a truly disturbing picture of what very likely happens to people when they see hundreds and hundreds of unwanted animals every day tossed out like garbage.

Unfortunately, most of these people just stop caring and stop seeing these animals like the beautiful living breathing creatures that they are. They choose to ignore that each of these animals are capable of feeling fear & pain and they loose all touch with compassion.

Like I said "most" but, then there are those who are just evil and I can rest knowing that Karma will deal with all of them eventually...in one way or another.

Buster Brown · 03-17-2011, 10:32 AM

I do have to agree that it must be a terrible job to do and perhaps they do become inured to the process. But that said it is still sickening and perhaps when they become that unfeeling it is time for a career change.

Jennxling · 03-17-2011, 10:59 AM

What the heck?! How can you laugh about something like this? Why did they choke the kitty to death? What's wrong with these people...they should be FIRED from the shelter and shouldn't be ever allowed to work with animals. I don't even know how they got away for 17 years!!

Sandysbabies · 03-17-2011, 11:37 AM

This is the most stomach turning thing I have ever seen. What is it coming to when the people in the shelters are sadistic. We had someone fired and I'm not sure what else happened to him for letting a cat die inside the walls at one of the shelters here in Dallas. I don't care how long they have done it, they should never get so cold and uncaring to treat those animals like that. I didn't watch the video because I couldn't. I can't even watch Animal Cops on Animal Planet. I tell you how bad something effects me. I seen a little toy poodle hit in the lane next to me and the person just kept going. The baby finally laid its little head down and died and that was 5yrs. ago and I still think about that little dog and never drive down that street that I don't think about that little baby. People are getting more and more cruel hearted.

Buster Brown · 03-17-2011, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandysbabies

This is the most stomach turning thing I have ever seen. What is it coming to when the people in the shelters are sadistic. We had someone fired and I'm not sure what else happened to him for letting a cat die inside the walls at one of the shelters here in Dallas. I don't care how long they have done it, they should never get so cold and uncaring to treat those animals like that. I didn't watch the video because I couldn't. I can't even watch Animal Cops on Animal Planet. I tell you how bad something effects me. I seen a little toy poodle hit in the lane next to me and the person just kept going. The baby finally laid its little head down and died and that was 5yrs. ago and I still think about that little dog and never drive down that street that I don't think about that little baby. People are getting more and more cruel hearted.

How cruel how sad. I would be haunted too poor baby.

miabellaamoure · 03-17-2011, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandysbabies

This is the most stomach turning thing I have ever seen. What is it coming to when the people in the shelters are sadistic. We had someone fired and I'm not sure what else happened to him for letting a cat die inside the walls at one of the shelters here in Dallas. I don't care how long they have done it, they should never get so cold and uncaring to treat those animals like that. I didn't watch the video because I couldn't. I can't even watch Animal Cops on Animal Planet. I tell you how bad something effects me. I seen a little toy poodle hit in the lane next to me and the person just kept going. The baby finally laid its little head down and died and that was 5yrs. ago and I still think about that little dog and never drive down that street that I don't think about that little baby. People are getting more and more cruel hearted.

O/T somewhat but, just had to identify with what you said about not being able to shake that memory. Mine is of a young cyclist struck by a vehicle and he was laying on the side of the road curled up in a fetal position. I can recall it like it happened yesterday and even remember his friend kneeling over him holding his hand. This one was also a hit & run. Each time I travel that road and come up to that spot...I always remember.

SWEETIEPIE · 03-17-2011, 01:16 PM

Oh My, THIS IS JUST HORRIBLE HORRIBLE TERRIBLE, how can anyone work
in a shelter and be like this!! I am sitting here crying so hard right now, that was just a little kitten, how can she do this!!!! Oh my this is just sooo wrong in so many ways, just think of how many other animals were treated like that, just think what the poor little kitty was feeling... Oh my...

03-17-2011, 08:12 AM	#1
Wylie's Mom Furbutts = LOVE Donating Member Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 35,889 Blog Entries: 2	SICK: Shelter Workers Mock Kitty Prior to Euthanization This is SICK. This video from 17 years ago just surfaced. A kitty is about to be euthanized and the shelter workers are laughing and saying "Kill the kitty, kill the kitty" and flipping their middle finger at the kitty etcetera. The main woman in the video has been promoted within this shelter. Apparently, she may now be suspended and/or reassigned to "general services". Why on earth would she not be fired??? This woman makes $92,000 a year at the shelter. Here is the ARTICLE LINK Article (I'll paste some email contacts after the article): Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter “Kill The Kitty” Video Sparks Outrage By Christopher Twarowski on March 14th, 2011 A disturbing video of Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter employees laughing, making obscene gestures and mocking the execution of a kitten as they ready the tiny animal for death has been making the rounds on YouTube Monday and inciting outrage among animal groups, residents and town officials. The footage (posted below), shot inside the embattled taxpayer-funded facility in Wantagh and titled “Kill The Kitty,” documents Acting Shelter Director Pat Horan cheering and smiling, sporting a mullet and flipping her middle finger at the camera as two shelter workers cart in a small, defenseless, black-and-white baby cat. Dogs bark off-camera as REM’s “Orange Crush” blasts in the background. “Debbie do you want to kill a kitten?” asks an overweight worker, opening a blue cage containing the small feline and feigning a hangman’s noose around his neck. “You wanna kill another kit?” chimes another, readying a noose attached to the tip of a pole. He then lassos the kitten and tightens the choke around its neck, lifting the creature into the air and pinning it on the ground as it struggles to break free. “Pass the needle please,” says an off-camera female voice. The helpless tuxedo kitten twists and flails as another off-camera woman’s voice shouts “Kill the kitty! Kill the kitty!” “What you are about to witness is footage taken at the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter,” reads another version of the video circulating the Internet Monday. “At the time Pat Horan was Kennel Supervisor,” it continues. “Ms. Horan has since been promoted to the position of Shelter Director.” The original post, uploaded Sunday by a user under the alias Thedontkillthekitty, had more than 2,500 views and dozens of inflammatory comments as of midday Monday. The video has also been circulating widely on Facebook and reposted on various animal advocacy sites across the Internet. “Just give me ONE minute with that facility manager,” writes a furious wendycase1 below the posting. “A question. Why do people still call these places shelters??????? Just curious. They ARE what they ARE.. killing facilities!!!!” “This is just sick!!” scribbles secrets18. Attempts to reach Horan were unsuccessful. Town of Hempstead Communications Director Michael Deery tells the Press the video is at least 17 years old and the town has taken swift action in response to its “deeply disturb[ing]” content. “[Hempstead Town] Supervisor [Kate Murray] has been advised and was shocked and appalled by the content on the video,” he says. “In response to the video, the Acting Shelter Director Pat Horan is being reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation. “The employee handling the cat on the pole was not a town employee,” continues Deery. “It’s the former employee of a local animal hospital. The other person on camera handling the cage was a town employee but hasn’t been with the town in somewhere between 14 and 16 years. “Ms. Horan emphatically denied that it was her voice when you hear that off-camera statement,” he adds, referring to the woman shouting “Kill the kitty! Kill the kitty!” “She emphatically denies that that was her.” The Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter has come under fire recently for allegations of animal abuse and its highly paid staff. In November, town officials announced a series of policy changes at the facility following an October shakeup that included the transfer of several key employees and the barring of several local volunteer animal rescuers. Three of those rescuers filed a lawsuit against the town, Supervisor Murray, Horan and others in December, alleging they were banned in retaliation for speaking out about abuse at the shelter. EMAILS: I found these emails on the shelter site and will be emailing them right now: gfreese@tohmail.org, jmirenda@tohmail.org, sreichert@tohmail.org __________________ ~ A friend told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn. ~ °¨¨¨°ºOº°¨¨¨° Ann \| Pfeiffer \| Marcel Verdel Purcell \| Wylie \| Artie °¨¨¨°ºOº°¨¨¨°

03-17-2011, 09:19 AM	#3
Maximo ♥ Maximo and Teddy Donating Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 25,041	This story is so disturbing. To think these people are working at a shelter, and that people this cruel walk among us. Scary, heartbreaking...I don't know if I want to cry or throw up first. __________________ Kristin, Max and Teddy

03-17-2011, 09:42 AM	#4
bellababy08 YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Port St. Lucie, Florida Posts: 1,043	I was unable to contiune to read the story or to even watch the video...I just bushed out crying! How can ppl be so cruel? As a kitty lover and owner of 2 beautiful Cats, this is just very heartbreaking!! __________________ Jennifer R.I.P Bailey Bella Harley Ivy Baby Milo

03-17-2011, 09:51 AM	#5
chachi I Love My Yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Posts: 37,147	I couldnt watch the video I am a kitty lover and soft hearted. This is horrible though and I hope that lady is fired. I hope all the animal right groups unite and make this shelter clean up its act __________________ Chachi's & Jewels Mom Jewels http://www.dogster.com/?132431 Chachi http://www.dogster.com/?132427

03-17-2011, 10:14 AM	#6
Buster Brown Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Toluca Lake, CA Posts: 5,491	Thank you for the disturbing post. I have emailed the contacts provided with this message. Please do not reassign Pat Horan that would be like reassigning a pedophile priest. Pat Horan should be fired and not entitled to any benefits as she betrayed the trust of the animals in her care and of the taxpayers paying her salary. FIRE TH B*C __________________ CarolynBuster Brown "The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything."

03-17-2011, 09:15 AM	#2
Furbaby Friend YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Buffalo, NY, United States Posts: 971	OMG this is just awful!!!!!!! I will write as well... once I calm down.

03-17-2011, 10:19 AM	#7
chachi I Love My Yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Posts: 37,147	I know that people in kill shelters have to become at least a little numb to dog and cat death but its still deplorable to have such a blatant disreguard of a life. Euthanizing animals is one job I couldnt do no matter how much it payed __________________ Chachi's & Jewels Mom Jewels http://www.dogster.com/?132431 Chachi http://www.dogster.com/?132427

03-17-2011, 10:22 AM	#8
Buster Brown Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Toluca Lake, CA Posts: 5,491	I am not on facebook but I think this is the shelter's page Hempstead Town AnimalShelter \| Facebook __________________ CarolynBuster Brown "The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything."

03-17-2011, 10:27 AM	#9
miabellaamoure ♥YORKIERESCUE.com♥ Donating Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Menifee, CA Posts: 8,708	Ann...a truly disturbing picture of what very likely happens to people when they see hundreds and hundreds of unwanted animals every day tossed out like garbage. Unfortunately, most of these people just stop caring and stop seeing these animals like the beautiful living breathing creatures that they are. They choose to ignore that each of these animals are capable of feeling fear & pain and they loose all touch with compassion. Like I said "most" but, then there are those who are just evil and I can rest knowing that Karma will deal with all of them eventually...in one way or another. __________________ Jo Ann Abby, Bella , Phoebe & Violette....

03-17-2011, 10:32 AM	#10
Buster Brown Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Toluca Lake, CA Posts: 5,491	I do have to agree that it must be a terrible job to do and perhaps they do become inured to the process. But that said it is still sickening and perhaps when they become that unfeeling it is time for a career change. __________________ CarolynBuster Brown "The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything."

03-17-2011, 10:59 AM	#11
Jennxling YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: ~CA~ Posts: 1,637	What the heck?! How can you laugh about something like this? Why did they choke the kitty to death? What's wrong with these people...they should be FIRED from the shelter and shouldn't be ever allowed to work with animals. I don't even know how they got away for 17 years!! __________________ Jen, Carmel Bo & Emma Lynn I knew nothing about love until I met my yorkies!

03-17-2011, 11:37 AM	#12
Sandysbabies YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Dallas, Texas Posts: 2,234	This is the most stomach turning thing I have ever seen. What is it coming to when the people in the shelters are sadistic. We had someone fired and I'm not sure what else happened to him for letting a cat die inside the walls at one of the shelters here in Dallas. I don't care how long they have done it, they should never get so cold and uncaring to treat those animals like that. I didn't watch the video because I couldn't. I can't even watch Animal Cops on Animal Planet. I tell you how bad something effects me. I seen a little toy poodle hit in the lane next to me and the person just kept going. The baby finally laid its little head down and died and that was 5yrs. ago and I still think about that little dog and never drive down that street that I don't think about that little baby. People are getting more and more cruel hearted.

03-17-2011, 01:16 PM	#15
SWEETIEPIE Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: ALASKA Posts: 99	Oh My, THIS IS JUST HORRIBLE HORRIBLE TERRIBLE, how can anyone work in a shelter and be like this!! I am sitting here crying so hard right now, that was just a little kitten, how can she do this!!!! Oh my this is just sooo wrong in so many ways, just think of how many other animals were treated like that, just think what the poor little kitty was feeling... Oh my...