Dog shelter needs license for narcotics

Franklin County commissioners are seeking a license from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to buy narcotics and other drugs — for dogs.

The county’s Dog Shelter & Adoption Center, at 4340 Tamarack Blvd. on the North Side, wants to be able to buy morphine and other painkillers for animals, as well as drugs to euthanize them.

Because the drugs are narcotics, a federally approved license is required. Recent

changes in federal regulations allow counties to hold that drug-buying license on behalf of shelters. Commissioners are being asked to adopt the proposed resolution at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Until 2017, dog shelters were not

allowed to have full DEA licenses” to buy those drugs, shelter Assistant Director Deb Finelli told the commissioners Thursday morning.

The shelter currently has a DEA license to buy some drugs, but wants to expand the license to buy narcotics, as well as the drugs needed for euthanizations.

“Those are basically the highest-level narcotic drugs,” said Susan Smith, shelter spokeswoman.

The shelter needs the license because it hasn’t had a full-time veterinarian for almost two years, relying instead on vets it contracts with to provide medical services. Veterinarians usually have the licenses in their names.

“It was less of an issue when we had an in-house veterinarian,” Deputy County Administrator Erik Janas said Thursday.

The shelter’s veterinarian, Vincent Morton, resigned without explanation in April 2015, after animal advocates accused him of needlessly euthanizing dogs. They also said he provoked dogs

so he could label them a danger to put them down. Shelter leaders investigated but found no wrongdoing by Morton.

The shelter is “open,” meaning it accepts all dogs. It accepted more than 10,000 in 2015, euthanizing 1,500 of them.