COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Branch County Board of Commissioners could be moving in a new direction on a contentious Animal Control issue. The county board held its annual organizational meeting yesterday, and at the end of the session Monday, Commissioner Rod Olney told commissioners it was the right time for the board to act to shut down the county’s animal control gas chamber to euthanize stray dogs.
According to Olney, he’s been swamped by phone calls urging the board to make the change, with the requests coming in not just from the county or Michigan but from across the nation. It’s been widely reported that Branch County is the last remaining county in the state with an animal gas chamber. Olney suggested there are any number of other options to the gas chamber including a switch to an intravenous injection method to euthanize unwanted animals.
Decisions on the future of the machine have been on hold since the Branch County Animal Control Shelter building was heavily damaged by fire in late May 2015. Repairs to reopen the shelter at the current site south of Quincy on an interim basis are nearly complete.
Olney asked that the matter be put on the agenda for the board’s next work meeting, which is set for this Thursday, January 7 at 9 a.m.
