NEW YORK -- Many stray cats end up in animal shelters. But if you ask one man at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, there is an easier way to deal with stray cats: drown them.
The group People for the Ethical Treatment Of Animals, or PETA, claims it secretly recorded a biologist from a Stony Brook, N.Y., office of the Department of Environmental Control, giving advice to a caller complaining about feral cats in his yard.
"The easiest one would probably be to fill up a garbage can and place the animal while it is in the trap in the can while it's filled with water," the biologist said.
"So just keep it in the trap then?" asked the caller.
"Right, place the animal in the can while it's in the trap and it will drown after a few minutes," the biologist said.
The caller then asks how long the drowning may take, and the biologist told him that "it shouldn't be more than a couple of minutes ... I would leave them in there for five minutes just to be 100 percent sure. I would hate to pull it out and have to put it back in."
PETA released the tape to expose what they call "an inhumane approach toward nuisance animals."
Animal shelter officials were shocked to learn that a government employee would advocate the drowning of cats. The only legal way to euthanize a cat in the state of New York is by lethal injection at shelter. State officials call this method of euthanasia a quick and painless method.
Animal advocates say the most humane way to deal with strays is to put them up for adoption at a shelter. Today, DEC officials acknowledged that would be a better idea. A spokeswoman said the department does not advocate the drowning of cats, which are not classified as wild animals. The employee who gave the man advice, she said, is being counseled about the issue.
Copyright 2002 by WNBC.com. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
