KALISPELL, Mont. - Flathead City-County Board of Health voted Thursday to eliminate pet euthanasia from services offered to the public for a fee.

Under the new procedure, an owner may surrender a dog or cat to the shelter for the $20 fee. Officials at the shelter will follow standing policy that allows euthanasia only if a pet is too injured, too ill or too much of a liability to put up for adoption.

Shelter Director Cliff Bennett asked for a vote on euthanasia for a fee at the regular meeting of the health board.

"I've never been comfortable with it," he said.

Bennett described a recent incident where mistakes were made. He said a friend of the owner brought a dog to the shelter to be euthanized, a service that was offered for $40.

"The dog was not critically ill and a volunteer offered to take it home," Bennett said.

Inadvertently, the dog's picture was put up on the shelter's website page of adoptable pets. The owner saw the picture and became quite angry that the dog had not been euthanized.

"This brought it to a head," he said.

In a memo to the board, Bennett said the policy of offering euthanasia was started before he became shelter director. He said the staff "feels that this is an action best left to the DVMs (doctors of veterinary medicine) of Flathead Country."

Bennett said he has received criticism from some veterinarians that the county is running "a government-subsidized vet clinic." In response to board member questions, he said the $40 fee was lower than some local clinic fees.