Sheriff receives praise for televising death of a dog

Number of stray animals left in North Carolina sheter fell significantly after initial, subsequent broadcasts of injection

Web posted September 6, 1998

By Sylvia Cooper
Staff Writer

Guilford County, N.C., Sheriff BJ Barnes made television history when a dog was euthanized on the sheriff's weekly television show, Sheriff's Beat, to draw attention to the problem of unwanted animals.

The Aug. 7 program achieved the sheriff's objective and then some. It prompted people in Guilford County to line up at the county shelter to adopt pets. And it drew praise from animal protection groups and animal lovers all over the country and made the sheriff a celebrity.

``I really didn't mean to do that,'' Sheriff Barnes said in a telephone interview. ``I just wanted to let the people in my county know that we had a problem, and they're the ones that could fix it. But it seems I've become the poster child for spay-neuter.

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``That's fine. It's an important message and whatever it takes to get the message out is what we need to do, which is why I did the things I did showing it on my TV show.''

Sheriff Barnes said he has received e-mail, cards, letters, faxes and telephone calls from all over the country.

``I think I've been on every radio show in the United States,'' he said. ``I have gotten three magazines doing articles on me. I've got the Today Show, CNN, Hard Copy trying to talk to me. It's been phenomenal.''

Meanwhile, pet adoptions in Guilford County are up 300 percent, with spaying and neutering also increasing, he said.

``On a 20-day month, we were averaging killing 800 -- 40 a day,'' he said. ``In the last month, we killed 612.''

Guilford County, with a population of 400,000, receives more than 13,000 animals a year and kills more than 10,000, the sheriff said.

``It's amazed me this story had legs this long. But still people are calling in from across the nation,'' he said.

Most are congratulating and praising him for his courage. Many tell him about animal control problems in their areas, he said.

An estimated 6 million to 8 million unwanted animals are put to death in the United States each year, animal protection groups say.