Covance controversy continues

Chandler, Arizona continues to be embroiled in the Covance controversy despite the company's selection of a site which does not require approval from the City Council. From Newszap.com:

While dozens of anti-Covance demonstrators packed the Oct. 26 Chandler City Council meeting voicing their concerns, a huge sign-truck patrolled arterial streets in Chandler proclaiming the animal rights activist organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, being as guilty of mistreating animals as Covance stands accused.

The charges stem from PETA's practice of working with a local animal pound to help euthanize diseased and injured animals that were already slated by the pound for euthanizing. These animals are adopted by PETA and about ten percent are saved, while the remaining 90 percent or so continue on to being euthanized.

Many have argued that PETA's practice in euthanizing these animals is more humane than the practice used in pounds, typically.

PETA spokeswoman Dr. Alka Chandra said PETA began helping animals in North Carolina after being contacted by a police officer who was appalled by the conditions at a North Carolina pound, where animals were left to drown or freeze to death and dogs were suffering from contagious diseases and painful injuries that went untreated.

She said before PETA was invited to help in North Carolina, animals in the pounds were either shot or gassed in a rusty, windowless metal box or injected with a paralytic.

“There were no adoption hours and all the animals we offered to euthanize were slated for death, even the ones we did save,” Dr. Chandra said. “The animals that came to us were the most pitiful, from the most depressed neighborhoods. We could not say “no” to holding them in our arms and giving them a gentle exit from a world that didn’t want them. It was extremely hard and it takes a toll because the very people who love the animals the most, were the ones who had to do the deed.”

Given Covance's selection of a site which does not require Council approval, it seems that the anti-Covance lobby has lost a major leverage point in this dispute, though it shows no sign of abating.