Daijiworld Media Network - Billings

Billings, Sep 14: Fourteen staff members at Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter in Billings were hospitalised after being exposed to smoke when the FBI used the facility’s incinerator to burn two pounds of seized methamphetamine. Around 75 cats and dogs were also evacuated from the shelter during the incident on Wednesday.

The incinerator, typically used for disposing of euthanised animals, can also be employed by law enforcement to burn narcotics. Assistant City Administrator Kevin Iffland said the smoke was pushed in the wrong direction due to negative pressure. Shelter executive director Triniti Halverson said she was unaware that a drug burn was taking place and confirmed that both staff and animals had been exposed to meth smoke.

Staff who were exposed spent about three hours in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, and the animals, including four litters of kittens, were given veterinary care and placed in temporary housing. A restoration team has begun decontaminating the shelter, a process expected to take two weeks to a month.

Calling the incident “heartbreaking,” Halverson appealed to the public for donations to help provide supplies like food, blankets, and bottles, saying the shelter remains displaced and its staff and volunteers feel “lost and homeless.”