DMN INVESTIGATES

One of Texas' top tourist attractions opens for the season Saturday. But will SeaWorld San Antonio's best known show go on?

Company officials aren't saying what the future holds after a killer whale lived up to its name yesterday at SeaWorld Orlando. Horrified tourists watched as trainer Dawn Brancheau (right) perished, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Tilikum, the orca that killed her, had been involved in the deaths of two other people -- a trainer in 1991 and a visitor who sneaked past security in 1999.

SeaWorld isn't saying much today on its Web site -- just this: "SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego will be open Thursday, February 25 as scheduled (SeaWorld San Antonio is not yet open for the season) but Believe shows and Dine with Shamu experiences at all SeaWorld locations have been suspended; no decision has been made for future dates at this time."

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The Humane Society of the United States will perform a comprehensive five-month review of Dallas' animal shelter and animal services department, The Dallas Morning News' Rudolph Bush reports today.

City Hall says it supports the study, which will be privately funded.

A similar inquiry in 2001 was critical of the city and led to construction of the new shelter on Westmoreland Road.

Do you have a tip about animal welfare? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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I wrote a column entry this week about a man who generously wanted to donate some suits. While researching which charities take suits and offer them directly to someone in need, I found the Oak Lawn Community Outreach Center.

The center offers clothing to the needy twice a month, a charitable mission that grew out of the Oak Lawn United Methodist Church's weekly dinner for the homeless.

Each Sunday evening beginning at 5 p.m. the church offers a home-cooked meal for people living on the streets and in their vehicles.

They don't forget about the pets of their homeless guests either. A program called "Baxter's Buddies" helps provide food for the furry or feathered set.

To donate to or volunteer for any of the programs, contact gregg.smith@olumc.org.

Some stories about the Garland animal shelter generated pictures in the facility. Included in that was a trio of kittens.

Patsy Thompson wrote to Problem Solver saying she would like to take all three. She has a piece of land and several other animals. She would have been happy to add the mix.

"You just want to take them all. I'll drive up there and get them," she said.

I contacted the city of Garland immediately and they checked for me and the kittens were no longer there. Unfortunately, the city was unable to say where they went without identifying numbers. They may have been adopted. They may have been euthanized.

While animal advocates plan protests in Garland over the city's continued use of carbon monoxide gas to euthanise animals in its shelter, Richardson has quietly shelved its gas chamber.

Richardson quit using carbon monoxide gas in its shelter earlier this year, according to city officials. The chamber was removed from the animal services facility last week, Richardson City Secretary Pamela Schmidt confirmed.

Meanwhile, Garland Citizens for Reform of the Animal SHelter (Garland CRASH) are planning a protest outside tonight's Garland City Council meeting.

Garland changed its euthanasia policy earlier this month after The Dallas Morning News reported that the shelter had illegally gassed some animals. The new policy, to be fully implemented by Jan. 1, restricts the use of carbon monoxide gas only to animals that could pose a danger to staff.

That policy doesn't go far enough, according to a news release.

"The city council has made it clear that it does not care what the citizens want, and that the council will do nothing to end the gassing of feral cats, wildlife, and so-called 'dangerous animals'," the release says. "Public pleas to the city council over several weeks have been ignored and ridiculed, including 19 speakers (all Garlanders) and 67 filed cards (most Garlanders) opposing gassing at the last two city council meetings. Nobody has spoken in favor of gassing."

Garland's animal shelter is going to begin using more lethal injections immediately, transitioning away from carbon monixide gassing.

I wrote about the shelter's euthanasia issues in a column and then on how the shelter had illegally gassed young, sick and elderly animals in 2007 and the city promised an investigation. A review by the city said they found one instance of an animal younger than four months of age was gassed and that the person responsible was no longer employed.

Carbon monoxide gassing is still going to be used though for "vicious dogs, feral cats, wild animals and other animals that present a significant danger."

Mayor Ronald Jones said that he understands that the city should be using all injectables by Jan. 1.

Passions are running hot in the debate over carbon monoxide euthanasia at the Garland animal shelter and I want to make sure that the things I've written are clear.

So, I thought I better make some points:
1. The state does not require inspections of carbon monoxide chambers. The state does require annual inspections of shelters for larger cities. They just don't run any tests on the chambers while they are there.
2. The fact that Garland does not have outside inspections of its carbon monoxide chamber, does not mean that it does not allow overall inspections.
3. Current animal shelter workers may have had nothing to do with the incidents that occurred two years ago. In addition, there have been some discipline actions in regards to mistakes with euthanasia. These are personnel matters and not open to the public.

While researching the practices of the Garland Animal Shelter for a story, I was interested to find that there are no state-required inspections of shelter-run carbon monoxide chambers. That means Texas also doesn't track which animal shelters use carbon monoxide for euthanasia.

Garland is self-insured, so no outside insurance companies are inspecting the city's chamber either.

Officials over the shelter say the carbon monoxide that is in use is actually less dangerous than chlorine chemicals which are used at the water treatment plant.

At least 14 states ban the use of carbon monoxide chambers to euthanize animals, while several others have been considering that option.

Garland is one of the few Texas cities that continues to use the chambers at its animal shelter. After I wrote a column on the issue, a city councilman sent a letter to the newspaper saying Garland can solve its own problems. A second letter ran yesterday in response to his.

The Garland City Council will consider tonight whether to add more people to the city's four-person animal shelter advisory board. I've heard from numerous proponents of the euthanasia method that they too plan to be present.

A letter to the editor from Garland Councilman Rick Williams is generating some debate over the city's shelter and his comment that "If there's a problem in Garland, we'll solve it ourselves."

The readers are, so far, divided about the use of carbon monoxide gas for euthanasia.

Three readers wrote to Problem Solver asking if something could be done about the fact that animals are euthanized at the Garland shelter with carbon monoxide gas.

Roughly one-third of all animals leave alive from the Garland shelter each year. That average is similar to the national shelter average, but poor when compared to neighboring Plano's live placement rate of 80 percent.

I requested an interview with Garland Animal Services manager Diana Oats but was referred to the city's public information office. I then filed a Texas Open Records Act request for data involving the shelter's advisory board, as well as the shelter's operations and budget during the past three years.

For the thousands of animals that are euthanized each year, shelter staff estimates that carbon monoxide gas is used between 60 percent and 70 percent of the time. Lethal injection is used for puppies or kittens under four months old and for dogs or cats with obvious respiratory distress, according to Jason Chessher, deputy director of Garland's health department.

Several readers wrote to Problem Solver concerned that the Garland Animal Services Department was operating without an advisory board, as required by state law.

"I am grateful for any attention you can give to the conditions at this shelter," one reader wrote.

I have volunteered with various animal rescue groups for 15 years, and I have to say I had a hard time finding information about the four-person Garland Animal Services Advisory Board. It was not listed with the other boards on the City of Garland's Web site. Rescue groups in Garland were not familiar with the board. And requests for applications to apply to the board were met with blank stares.

Agendas were not posted publicly and no meeting minutes were available, according to an answer to a Texas Open Records Act request for the material. "The supervisor has informed this office that the Animal Services Advisory Board does not maintain minutes from their meetings," wrote Assistant City Attorney Mark G. Mann.

But that's all getting ready to change.

I reported last month that after getting a congressional skewering, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a clumsily named arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was planning another look at possible health effects of Midlothian's industrial air pollution.

The ATSDR says it began that effort on Monday. Researchers from the University of North Texas will be calling a random sample of Midlothian residents. From those, the agency is looking for 100 people to agree to longer interviews next week.

The goal is to get the public's suggestions in advance on how the federal agency and the Texas state health department should conduct the new air pollution review. That in itself is a shift from past practice. Another change: ATSDR officials at first said the health of local animals wasn't relevant to looking at local pollution. This time, animals will play a role.

Here are a few public-interest stories catching our eye in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. OK, the good news first: No one has been hurt since stadium lighting poles (like the one pictured here) started falling at Texas high schools. But the rest of this investigative report from Cox Newspapers is terrifying. Denton, Tarrant and Ellis counties are among those where tragedy nearly has struck. The steel poles have a common -- and unregulated -- manufacturing lineage.

2. Bedford resident Jan Tidwell, a reader of this blog, sent us a frantic post yesterday. The local power company wanted to chop down her old oak trees. Dallas Morning News reporter Sherry Jacobson and videographer Nathan Hunsinger hustled to craft these balanced looks at the situation. Is Oncor overzealous in cutting trees near power lines? Or are homeowners like Jan putting shade ahead of safety?

3. We've been trying to avoid the White House puppy story, reasoning that there were too many other reporters covering this trivia. But Dallas Morning News reporter Jeffrey Weiss changed our mind today with a look at the risks associated with the Obamas' North Texas-bred pooch.