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A kennel in the East End that became controversial for its practice of gassing stray dogs and cats with a "lawnmower engine" could win back the city's animal control contract tonight.

Less than four years after public outcry led the city to cancel its contract with Ferree Kennels, council will consider reappointing the service for $800 per month on a month-by-month basis.

Several councilors are already vowing to vote against awarding the contract to Ferree.

"If we hire him, I think it reflects badly on the city," Councilman A.J. Tedesco said Tuesday.

. . .

Others at council's public work session, including Councilwoman Loretta Diggs, said they had bad personal experiences with owner Ken Ferree, who they described as impatient and rude.

"Quite frankly, I have some major concerns about this," Councilman Michael Cherepko said. "I don't like the way he handles people, and I don't like the fact that he doesn't return phone calls."

Ferree was not present at the work session to defend himself.

But officials say the city has two problems --- its current animal-control service is located far away, which can cause delayed response times, and Ferree Kennels was the only bidder on the contract.

"If you vote (this contract) down, you will have to re-bid it," Solicitor J. Jason Elash told council.

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Stray dogs and cats are currently handled by Triangle Pet Control Services of McKees Rocks. Police officers have reported that Triangle Pet --- which provides the same services to many other Allegheny County municipalities --- can take 45 minutes or more to respond to certain calls.

Those delays can cause serious problems. Vicious dogs used as guard animals sometimes hamper the ability of police to serve warrants, Mayor Jim Brewster said.

"Go downstairs and talk to your police," Councilman Richard Dellapenna told his colleagues. "To a man, they want Ferree."

Yet Brewster, who vowed Tuesday night to remain neutral on the subject of rehiring Ferree, admitted that he and Ken Ferree "have had half-a-dozen clashes, and none of them were good."

. . .

Located on Fifth Avenue near the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge, Ferree Kennels was the city's animal-control contractor from 1991 until 2006, when public complaints led council to replace the company with Triangle Pet.

In part, residents were angry that Ferree used carbon monoxide --- reportedly from the exhaust pipe of a lawnmower-type engine --- to euthanize strays. More than 1,000 residents signed a petition urging council not to renew Ferree's contract.

In 2007, a spokeswoman for the Animal Rescue League told Pittsburgh City Paper that although carbon monoxide is a legal method for killing stray animals, it takes considerably longer and causes the animals to suffer. The preferred method of euthanasia is lethal injection of poison, though it costs more money.

. . .

Others complained that Ferree was killing cats within hours of picking them up. State law requires animal-control officers to hold dogs for 48 hours after catching them, but sets no such time requirement on cats.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture inspects Ferree Kennels four times per year and the facility has a current operating permit, according to files at the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2006, Ferree called many of the allegations made against him "slanderous" and said he operated strictly within the law.

Ferree told City Paper that dogcatchers have been "demonized" by movies and cartoons, adding that if pet owners kept their animals on leashes or indoors, they wouldn't get caught.

. . .

Of stray animals, Ferree told City Paper, "this isn't Disney, they don't all have homes ... There is no magical pied piper who is going to come in and play his flute and lead the cats out of town."

The new contract would require Ferree to use lethal injection, not carbon monoxide, to euthanize strays, Elash says.

Council meets at 7 p.m. in the Public Safety Building, 201 Lysle Blvd. at Market Street, Downtown.

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