Staff members at a Montana animal shelter were rushed to the hospital after the pet center filled with meth smoke.
Both workers and animals inhaled methamphetamine after the onsite incinerator, sometimes used by police and FBI, malfunctioned on Sept. 10, according to a statement from Triniti Halverson, the executive director at the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter.
The City of Billings Animal Control Operations, which operates the animal crematorium, occupies the same building as the pet shelter.
But sometimes Billings police and the FBI use the incinerator to dispose of drugs, according to the Billings Gazette.
On that particular day, however, the incinerator had malfunctioned because of a pressure issue.
As a cloud of meth filled the building, Halverson sprang into action.
“When the smoke started pouring out of one of our feline isolation rooms, I instructed staff to put on COVID masks and begin evacuating the animals,” Halverson said in her statement. “13 staff members and I were exposed to the smoke for approximately an hour, and several began feeling ill. At this time, I instructed the team to go to the emergency room for treatment.”
Halverson said she and her team experienced headaches, sore throats, dizziness, sweating, and coughing, according to the Associated Press.
Police were disposing 2 pounds of meth when the incident happened.
A cloud of smoke from two pounds of methamphetamine seized by the FBI and incinerated inside a Montana animal shelter sent its workers to the hospital, city officials in Billings said. https://t.co/p7HORpJz6y
— 13 Action News (@13abc) September 14, 2025
But this wasn’t the first time the incinerator had malfunctioned.
It spewed smoke into the animal shelter on several occasions in 2023. It wasn’t until 2024 that the City of Billings repaired the machine, Halverson said.
And while staff members knew that police sometimes used it to dispose of “evidence,” they were shocked to learn about the meth.
“I can firmly and confidently say that, as the Executive Director, I did not know that they were disposing of extremely dangerous narcotics onsite,” Halverson said.
In the meantime, the shelter will remain closed until decontaminated of meth, which could take two weeks to a month, she said.
As for the displaced animals, 75 cats and dogs were either relocated or put into foster homes, according to the Associated Press.
Billings resident Jay Ettlemen was upset about the incident.
“Why the hell are they destroying drugs inside the city limits?” Ettlemen said, according to the Associated Press. “There’s so many other places in the middle of nowhere.”
Billings Assistant City Administrator Kevin Iffland said the incinerator has been used reliably for decades.
In 2024, law enforcement seized nearly 100 pounds of meth and more than 45,000 fentanyl pills, the Billings Gazette reported.
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