Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1895 — KILLING CATS AND DOGS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KILLING CATS AND DOGS.

Over 21,000 Pot to Death in Eight Month* in New York City. New York’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is now invested with full power to license dogs, and to capture, detain and, if necessary, to humanely destroy captured animals, so that the spectacle of a cage full of howling dogs and crying cats on their way to the pound is no longer seen In our streets. The first steps taken by President Haines, of the society, says the World, were to provide a suitable shelter for the stray creatures and to fix upon a humane method of putting them to death. Accordingly the old pound, at the foot of 102 d street and the East river, was converted into a home for estrays. The interior has been fitted up with every possible convenience for the maintenance of captured animals and for destroying them without pain in case they are not claimed within the time fixed by the law, which is for-ty-eight hours. Asphyxiation was decided upon as the kindest method. The society's service at the present time requires four ambulances and two

wagons specially constructed for their purpose, eight horses, with necessary stable room, and twenty-two persons, who are at work in different relays by day and by night. Only unlicensed dogs are seized. Any cat found without a collar bearing the name and residence of its owner is promptly captured. If a dog is taken to the shelter wearing a collar on which its owner's name and address appear, the person to whom the dog belongs is immediately notified, and an opportunity afforded for its redemption. Any dog may be redeemed for $3. The shelter has five or six pens for dogs, the floors of which are covered with dean sawdust Each of these pens, which are larger, lighter and better ventilated than most bedrooms In apartment houses In Xew York, is provided with a window. On the opposite side of the building are rows of cages for the reception of cats. In the center of the building stand two large iron kettles, In which the animals’ food is cooked. The cooking is done by steam. The animals are fed twice a day. The “death chamber” is a large room containing a tank in which the poor

dumb creatures are asphyxiated. This tank is ten feet long, four feet high and five feet wide. Every afternoon at 4 o’clock the tank is charged with gas, and the animals that have been kept for forty-eight hours are dropped in through a sort of trap door at the top.

WHERE HOMELESS CATS ARE PENNED.

DROPPING A DOG INTO THE “DEATH CHAMBER.”