If you give a dog a toy, it may growl when you take it away.

At the Bay Area Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, that's enough to end its life, according to former employees.

Former workers and volunteers at the society's San Leon shelter say that since last year, perhaps hundreds of dogs and cats have been euthanized because they failed to pass the new shelter manager's temperament tests.

Jennifer Rowan, the shelter manager, said she's never claimed the shelter didn't kill animals. She wouldn't say how many animals the shelter has euthanized since it began temperament testing.

"We've never represented ourselves as a no-kill shelter," she said. "We're really working to educate the public that it's a misleading term."

In an interview with The Daily News last month, Rowan said the shelter accepts only animals that pass the temperament tests and doesn't euthanize for space, as many area shelters do.

She said then the shelter euthanized animals if they were too sick or injured to be adopted but didn't mention animals who fail what she conceded are "controversial" temperament tests would be put to sleep also.

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