Daily Archives: February 6, 2017

Evanger's Hunk of Beef.(Photo: Recalls.gov)

Evanger's is voluntarily recalling some of its dog food after a drug that is used toanesthetize or put down pets was found in it.

Michigan is one of 15 states affected by the Hunk of Beef Au Jus recall.

Pentobarbital was found inone lot of the dog food; five dogs got sick and one died, according to the Wheeling, Ill.-based company.

The 12-ounce cans were manufactured June 6-13 and sold in stores and online inWashington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

As a precaution, Evanger's isrecalling Hunk of Beef products manufactured the same week, with lot numbers thatstart with1816E03HB, 1816E04HB, 1816E06HB, 1816E07HBand 1816E13HB, and expireJune 2020. The second half of the barcode on the back of the labelsays20109. The ill and deceased dog ate from the1816E06HB13 lot.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is distributing information about the recall as well.

All Evangers suppliers of meat products are USDA approved, the company said.

Related:

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Cat food recall for 9Lives, EverPet and Special Kitty

"We feel that we have been let down by our supplier, and in reference to the possible presence of pentobarbital, we have let down our customers," the company said in a press release on its Web site, adding that it's the first recall in 82 years of manufacturing.

Evanger's said it has terminated its relationship with that supplier after 40 years, though that company services "many other pet food companies."

Dr. Alan Lewis of DePorre Veterinary Hospital in Bloomfield Hills advised dog owners to take the recall seriously.

"I would be vigilantof any of those things," he said. "Call yourvet to see if they have any more information. In most cases, theyre just taking abundance of caution."

Evanger's found out thatdogs became sick on New Years Eve and began what would become a four-week investigation, which included sending samples from the lot to an independent lab"to test for any toxin or bacteria we could possibly imagine. All of those tests came back negative.It was not until January 29th that we learned about the term, 'pentobarbital.'"

The company saidpentobarbitalis more of an issue in dry foods that get their ingredients from rendering plants, which Evanger's doesn't do.

In researching the supply chain, Evanger'slearned that "pentobarbital is very highly controlled, and that, if an animal is euthanized, it is done so by a veterinarian.Once this process has been done, there is absolutely no regulation that requires the certified vet to place any kind of marker on the animal indicating that it has been euthanized and guaranteeing that product from euthanized animals cannot enter the food chain."

Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-847-537-0102 10 a.m.-5 p.m. CT Monday throughFriday.

Pentobarbital can causedrowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance,nauseaand sometimesdeath, said the company.

Evanger's is paying the ill dogs' vet bills and makinga donation to a local shelter in honor of Talula the Pug.

Contact Zlati Meyer: 313-223-4439 or zmeyer@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @ZlatiMeyer

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Dog food recalled after discovery of euthanasia drug - Detroit Free Press

Taiwan has banned euthanising animals in shelters, which follows the tragic suicide last year of a vet burdened with the task of putting down animals.

The law came into effect Saturday, two years after it was passed by parliament a period meant to prepare shelters for the ban.

But during the wait, animal lover Chien Chih-cheng took her own life with euthanasia drugs, reportedly upset at having to kill animals at the shelter at which she worked.

Reports at the time said Chien was called a "butcher" by activists.

Her death sparked calls for authorities to improve conditions for animals and staff at shelters.

An animal welfare group, Life Conservationist Association, estimated more than 1.2 million animals not adopted from shelters have been put down since 1999.

"Animal protection in Taiwan has moved towards a new milestone," the association's executive director Ho Tsung-hsun said in a statement.

But Taiwan's Council of Agriculture warned the ban would lead to a deterioration in the quality of shelters through a surging intake or it may discourage the capture of strays.

"It's impossible for there to be no problems," said Wang Chung-shu, deputy chief of the animal husbandry department, according to The China Times.

He said Taiwan's ban was "quite idealized", adding that manpower was a problem because the vet's suicide had had a "chilling effect" on the sector, according to the report.

RELATED: 'Euthanized' Dog Rises from the Dead

Even before the legislation, the number of animals being put down had been steadily declining.

Last year, 12.38 percent of the 64,276 animals in public shelters were euthanized, according to official statistics.

That compares with 94,741 animals in shelters in 2014, of which 26.45 percent were put down.

WATCH VIDEO: China's Controversial Dog Meat Festival

See more here:

New Law in Taiwan Halts Euthanasia of Stray Animals - Seeker - Seeker

A Dutch doctor who ordered an elderly dementia patients family to hold her down as she was given a lethal euthanasia injection has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The doctor at a nursing home in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal, was investigated following the death of the unnamed woman who had expressed a wish to die when the time was right.

The Catholic News Agency reported that the woman woke up despite the sleep-inducing drug she had been given in her coffee and tried to resist the procedure.

The doctor then asked the relatives of the woman, said to be aged over 80, to restrain her while she administered the lethal injection.

The senior doctor had determined the time was right because of a recent deterioration in the womans condition.

I am convinced that the doctor acted in good faith, and we would like to see more clarity on how such cases are handled in the future, said Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the Regional Review Committee, which considered the case.

The case will be further examined by the Dutch courts to clarify the laws around euthanasia and determine whether doctors who carry out the procedure should be prosecuted if they are found to have acted in good faith.

The Dutch Parliament is considering revising the euthanasia laws to allow anyone older than 75 who is tired of life to have the right to assisted suicide, widening the current restriction which limits the practice to the terminally ill.

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to decriminalise euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2002, but has had several high-profile cases of doctor-assisted suicide in recent years.

In 2015, there were more than 5,000 euthanasia deaths in the country which represents a leap of 50 per cent in the past five years.

Only four of these 5,306 deaths were found by officials to have involved irregularities.

Psychiatric patients can be put to death at their own request as can under 18s. Those aged between 12 and 16 wishing to die must also have the consent of their parents, but 16-18s can take the decision themselves.

This has led to fierce opposition from numerous groups, including church leaders and psychiatrists who do not believe young girls and boys or the mentally ill have the capacity to make such decisions.

Those opposed to euthanasia have highlighted the potential pitfalls of allowing doctor-assisted death for those with dementia or mental health conditions.

A new study has found that Canadas new euthanasia laws, which closely resemble those of the Netherlands, could save the state as much as 84 million from its annual health care budget, with lethal injections said to cost just 15 per patient.

Robert Flello, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, told the Catholic Herald the implications of the Canadian study were absolutely horrific.

It reinforces anecdotal evidence coming out of Holland that doctors are rationing health care by using euthanasia, said Mr Flello, a co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group.

Quite frankly, it terrifies me, he said. We have issues with bed-blocking and if we ever had euthanasia or even so-called assisted dying in this country then we would have a real issue with cuts to our NHS being softened by actually just killing people off.

Euthanasia has been debated in the UK Parliament, with the last right-to-die private members bill defeated in the Commons in 2015.

Public opinion in the UK shows the majority are in favour of the right to die, with the largest ever poll conducted on assisted suicide finding 82 per cent were in favour in 2015.

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Doctor who asked dementia patient's family to hold her down while she gave lethal injection cleared - The Independent

Our task is difficult but urgent: to show that people who are old and ill nevertheless have value

There has been a new but entirely predictable development in the practice of euthanasia in Holland, as this magazine reports. A woman suffering from dementia has been executed by lethal injection, having first been sedated with drugged coffee, and then having been held down by her relatives when she attempted to struggle.

It is very hard to see how anyone can justify this sort of behaviour, which not only goes against the law of God, which commands us to respect all life, but even goes against the usual practices of those who support euthanasia, who generally stress its voluntary nature. There was nothing voluntary here. All the victims actions indicated that she was not co-operating with those trying to kill her; and as a demented person, she was not capable of making an informed choice to die. It is true that she had expressed a preference for euthanasia four years previously, but in the meantime she might well have changed her mind.

The same article also gives us another chilling piece of information, this time from Canada:

A new study has predicted that Canadas new euthanasia laws, which closely resemble those in the Netherlands, could cut as much as 84 million from its annual health budget.

Researchers from the University of Calgary identified the substantial savings that could be made from reducing end-of-life care. The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, said that health care at the end of life was intensive and could go on for months. Euthanasia, however, would cost the state just 15 per patient.

As always, the old adage follow the money has a lot of wisdom in it. If we see old people, and demented people in particular, simply as useless mouths and a drain on resources, then this sort of argument becomes a powerful one. The Church now has an urgent task, and a difficult one: to make people realise that people who are old and ill, and who add nothing to the economy, nevertheless have value, intrinsic value; and that to kill these people off not only harms them, but harms all of society. In other words, the Church has to stress the intrinsic worth of every human being, something which transcends their economic productivity.

If we were to see people purely in terms of what they can produce, what sort of society would that makes us?

Given that we all know that the funds for social care in this country are limited, we need to prepare to defend society from the threat of euthanasia here in Britain. We could be the next Canada or Holland. Above all, as this case, and others like it, has made clear, euthanasia, which starts as voluntary, soon becomes compulsory. As such it is a threat to us all.

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Once euthanasia is voluntary, it will become irresistible. Just ask the Dutch - Catholic Herald Online (blog)

ATLANTA, Georgia An animal control captain in Georgia is setting the record straight after rumors circulated on social media suggesting workers at a shelter were planning tokill any dogs that had not been adopted when the shelter temporarily closes for repairs.

Clayton County Animal Control Captain Anthony Thuman saidonline talk of mass euthanasia is absolutely not true.

The department as a whole is very committed to these animals, Thuman said.

WGCL received emails from concerned dog lovers across the nation worried that more than 50 dogs would be put down. The controversy was sparked shortly after animal control officials put an alert on Facebook, warning that one of their shelters would be temporarily closing for renovations, which meant they needed to find new homes for more than 130 dogs.

We have been very fortunate [and] received a great response from folks to find adopters, Thuman said.

Avolunteer with the Ginny Milner Rescue saidworkers within animal control stressed to them that any dogs left behind would be killed.

Not true, saidThuman.

We will find alternate placement for the dogs, whether they be at a secondary facility, or reaching out again to some of the rescue groups, Thuman said.

As of Friday afternoon, February 3rd,officials posted on Facebook that the shelter had been emptied.

The renovation is expected to shut the shelter down for at least two weeks.

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Mass euthanasia rumors prompt adoptions en masse at animal control shelter in Georgia - fox6now.com