"Lethal White"

Last weekend when I was picking up my mama cat and her babies from the pound, I saw this "lethal white" Australian Shepherd in the kennels.

The term "lethal white" originated in the horse world, where it was used to describe a genetic anomaly that caused some foals to be born pure white, and die shortly after birth. The term is a misnomer when applied to dogs because Aussies with this genetic disorder rarely die of it. Instead, they are usually deaf, and are either totally blind or suffer from a variety of eye defects. There is some anecdotal evidence that they are also more likely to suffer from immune system defects and other health problems, but this observation has not been proven. You can read more about Lethal Whites, and what causes this genetic disorder, in the link provided in the links section on the side bar of this blog.

His release date was already 3 days past, and notes scribbled on the card indicated that he was only to be released to rescue, if at all; the shelter vet was out of town, and hadn't had a chance to evaluate him yet. The notes said she would evaluate him "when she got back", but did not say when that would be. I also noticed that Border Collie rescue's name and phone number had been written on the card. This was Sunday evening. That night, I sent an e-mail with his picture to a rescue group that specializes in "lethal white" Aussies. This group is located in a city about two hours away, but I was fairly certain they had foster homes here. Sure enough, the next day I received a reply from the rescue group thanking me for alerting them to his presence at the pound. She called the kennel manager, who knew nothing about the dog; the call was passed on to the kennel supervisor, who acknowledged that the dog was there, and still needed to be evaluated by the vet. The lethal white rescue rep expressed her interest in the dog, and asked the kennel supervisor to please call her once the dog was released for rescue. She would then send a local foster to pick up the dog.

Tuesday I received a call from the foster. She told me that she called the pound that morning and was told the dog had been exposed to parvo, and had already been euthanized. She was very upset that the lethal white rescue rep had not been called first. I told her this was not the first time an animal at this pound had been euthanized despite the fact that a rescue group was ready and willing to take it.

That night I received an e-mail from the rescue rep: the dog was alive after all! The kennel tech who reported the dog was already dead was mistaken. The dog had been put on the E-list and moved to the euthanasia bay, but had not been put to death yet. Another kennel tech had called Border Collie rescue, whose name and number were on the kennel card. Border Collie rescue called the lethal white rescue rep, who called the foster, who ran down to the pound and got there just in time: the dog had just been sedated in preparation for euthanasia. The foster was able to bring the dog home and let him sleep off the sedative in safety and comfort.

Working with the county pound is incredibly frustrating. There are times when the staff show compassion to the animals and are very helpful to rescue, but there are far too many times when the staff is careless with the lives (and deaths) entrusted to them. However, it's too easy to blame the overworked and underpaid kennel staff, and fail to look for the underlying causes to all this needless death: the shelter is understaffed and underfunded because the people of this county do not consider homeless animals a high priority. I wish I had the political savvy to figure out a way to shame the county supervisors into funding more solutions to the problem of homeless animals. Sometimes I feel like animal rescue groups are trying to put bandaids on a gaping wound. We save lives and alleviate suffering one animal at a time, rather than finding ways to prevent the root causes of all of the suffering and death.