Exposure to meth takes toll on pets

[PARAGON]

October 4, 2006

Exposure to meth takes toll on pets
Animals taken from Coast labs don't easily recover from drugged behavior

The Associated Press
GAUTIER ? People run methamphetamine labs in trailers or houses where they live exposing themselves and their pets to highly toxic substances.
And though the toll on humans has been documented to some extent, animal control officers are seeing that the labs, the fumes and the toxic byproducts are taking their toll on animals as well.

Bill Richman, director of the Jackson County Animal Shelter, said his crew receives calls when everyone at the scene is arrested and animals are left. Picking up the pets and holding them at the shelter until a responsible party claims them is a public service the county performs.

What Richman sees is the marked effect that exposure has on dogs and cats. For anyone dealing with animals day in and day out, it's easy to tell that there's something different about them, he said.

Gulf Coast SPCA's Barbara McKenzie, who works at the shelter, said she's seen animals come in high and jittery with breathing problems.

"These people injure their dogs without even knowing it," she said.

Richman said it's particularly sad because, "animals can't help themselves. They're stuck in whatever environment their owners put them in."

And the drug exposure doesn't readily wear off.

"They're not adoptable animals as far as we're concerned," Richman said.
Richman remembers a specific case in St. Martin that happened more than a year ago. Deputies had raided a meth lab. Two dogs and four cats had been living there, he said.

The Dalmatian living outside was fine, he said. Inside was another story. A medium-sized mixed-breed was almost impossible to catch. It didn't charge or bite; it was bouncing off the walls, he said.

The four cats living in a small bedroom were a similar story, except weirder.

They had food, water and a litter box, but when Richman entered the room, they literally climbed the walls.

"They were up the walls. One climbed up a wall and across the ceiling and down the other wall," Richman said, "which is kind of hard to imagine. If I hadn't been there to see it myself ... It was going so fast when it crossed that ceiling that it didn't seem to touch anything on the way over."

All four were affected, he said.

"It wasn't normal," he said. "Even a mean cat doesn't act like that. They hiss and strike out at you. These cats didn't do that. They didn't come after us. They were uncontrollable."

Richman and the crew snared them and took them back to the shelter. They held the cats for two or three weeks. Their condition did improve a little, he said, but not significantly. "You'd think they were on a high that would wear off," he said, "but for these cats, it never did."

No one claimed them, and the shelter put them down.

Curtis Spiers, commander of the Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County, said the task force raided 154 labs in 2004, but in addition to the actual labs, another issue with meth and animals is that the people who cook the drug dump the toxic byproducts. It winds up in rural areas where pets and wild animals happen upon it and are poisoned.

Spiers listed lye, sulfuric acid, camp fuel, ether or starting fuel, ammonium nitrate fertilizer and lithium from batteries among the items used to make meth.

Spiers said he's not sure what the long-term effects are on officers who raid these labs. They now use breathing devices and take great precautions when dealing with the fumes. He said that homemade meth hasn't been around long enough to determine the long-term effects.

[KenP]

"They were up the walls. One climbed up a wall and across the ceiling and down the other wall," Richman said, "which is kind of hard to imagine. If I hadn't been there to see it myself ... It was going so fast when it crossed that ceiling that it didn't seem to touch anything on the way over."

That quote is pretty funny. But it's really sad.

Idiot druggies.

[CO Hummer]

Originally Posted by PARAGON

Spiers listed lye, sulfuric acid, camp fuel, ether or starting fuel, ammonium nitrate fertilizer and lithium from batteries among the items used to make meth.

Great. Now Shaggy's just learned how to make it at home. Thanks, P.

[CO Hummer]

Quote:
"They were up the walls. One climbed up a wall and across the ceiling and down the other wall," Richman said, "which is kind of hard to imagine. If I hadn't been there to see it myself ... It was going so fast when it crossed that ceiling that it didn't seem to touch anything on the way over."

Originally Posted by KenP

That quote is pretty funny. But it's really sad.

Idiot druggies.

That sounds like Tim when he sees a spider.

[usetosellhummer]

Don't forget the children that are ruined too.