The staggering incompetence of Kash Patel's FBI is on display again after fourteen staff members at a US animal shelter were taken to the hospital after the FBI used an incinerator at the facility to burn two pounds of seized methamphetamine. Now, I don't know much about meth, but wouldn't that have turned everyone at the animal hospital, including the animals, who have smaller lungs than humans into tweakers? Or even overdose? It's unlikely the animals got high, but it is poisonous, which can cause vomiting, seizures, elevated heart rate, hyperthermia, or organ damage.
The cause: Two pounds of seized methamphetamine were incinerated, and a "negative air pressure issue" caused the toxic smoke to be sucked back into the building instead of venting outside.
BBC reports:
Staff and some 75 cats and dogs were evacuated from the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter in Billings, Montana, when the building filled with smoke on Wednesday.
The incinerator is usually used by animal control officers to dispose of euthanised animals, but local authorities said it can also be used by law enforcement to burn seized narcotics.
The cats and dogs have been relocated, and the animals which experienced the most smoke exposure are now under supervision.
The incident was caused when smoke was pushed in the wrong direction because of negative pressure, according to Assistant City Administrator Kevin Iffland.
Shelter executive director Triniti Halverson said she was unaware that a drug burn was happening.
"I can firmly and confidently say that, as the Executive Director, I did not know that they were disposing of extremely dangerous narcotics onsite," she wrote in a statement.
"My team and my animals had been confirmed to have been exposed to meth," she said.
Before evacuating themselves, many employees put on masks and helped get the animals out.
Some staff were exposed to the smoke for more than an hour, and several began to feel sick. All 14 went to the emergency room, where they spent about three hours in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to combat the effects of smoke inhalation.
Halverson suffered from a very intense headache and sore throat, and others had dizziness, sweating and coughing.
Via the Associated Press:
“Not a party,” she said.
The workers found out it was methamphetamine smoke through a call from a city official while they were the hospital, Halverson said. Most of the staff spent several hours in an oxygen chamber for treatment.
Symptoms have lingered for some workers, Halverson said.
They also were closely monitoring four litters of kittens that got more heavily exposed because they were in a closed room with lots of smoke, she said.
The staff can sue them and the animals can do a sequel to Cocaine Bear.
