A momentary victory for abused animals
In other news: Killing dogs cruelly. Freedom for more beagles. Dogs and kids want to help. Cats do too, but with one condition. Dog bites continue to decline. $800,000 judgment after cat dies. Did an animal sanctuary that claimed dogs were adopted shoot and kill them instead? A call for No Kill Toolkit update recommendations.
These are some of the stories making headlines in animal protection:
Killing dogs cruelly
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services fined the Harnett County Animal Shelter nearly $20,000 after inspectors found that dozens of dogs were killed using intracardiac (IC) injections without complying with state requirements. Inspectors documented 42 dogs killed by this method between March 25 and April 29, 2026. State officials said the shelter failed to provide the required documentation and justification showing that the dogs met the conditions necessary for IC injections to be used legally and humanely.
IC injection, also known as heartsticking, involves plunging a syringe through the chest wall and several layers of muscle into a dog or cat’s heart. An animal killed by a heartstick feels extreme, severe pain (due to the amount of nerves) and then suffers a heart attack. To get to the heart, the needle would have to penetrate the skin, body wall with costal musculature, costal pleura, pleural cavity, pericardial pleura (part of the mediastinal pleura), fibrous pericardium, serous pericardium, pericardial cavity, epicardium, myocardium, endocardium, ventricular chamber, and if the lung is penetrated, the needle must pass through the pulmonary pleura and lung tissue itself. It is so painful that North Carolina does not permit “heartsticking” unless the animal is unconscious.
According to the state notice, inspectors reminded shelter veterinarians and management that IC injections are subject to strict restrictions and must be properly documented. The pound’s director feigned ignorance of state rules, claiming that heartsticking is easier for employees, and questioned whether staff could simply make a general note that dogs had low blood pressure rather than documenting each case individually. Inspectors responded that the dogs must be unconscious or under general anesthesia.
No employees have been terminated and the director remains at the helm. Instead, Harnett County stated county staff would be “retrained.” Given that they should have already been trained, the response rings hollow.
Freedom for more beagles
