Another establishment that I felt should have been addressed more seriously, if at all, would be Murray County Animal Control located in Chatsworth, Ga.
During one of my inspections at this establishment, the Director of this facility, a new shelter employee, and myself were in the office when the Director kicked back in his chair, grinning, and said that he "..probably shouldn't be telling" me this, but.... and he went on to say, almost bragging, about how a while back he had a mother pit bull and her puppies dropped off at the shelter. He said that two of the puppies got to fighting. I asked if they were play fighting or real fighting. He said that at first they were playing, but it soon turned into real fighting.
I guess I figured if he was stupid enough to be saying this to me, I would take advantage of it. I asked if they drew blood while fighting - still grinning, he said "Yeah, they got pretty serious after a while". He then said that he 'wanted them to get one in before they had to be put down". I remember thinking I didn't know whether to be shocked at the puppies being allowed to fight, or him being so stupid as to actually admit to an Animal Protection Inspector that he had allowed a felony to take place in a county funded facility.
I did not say anything to him at that time but later walked outside and phoned my supervisor, who I couldn't reach at first. So I called our Lead Inspector, and relayed what had been said. He told me to make sure I continued to try to get ahold of our supervisor, as this was something that he needed to know.
I did reach the AP Director, and spoke with her regarding the establishment's violation history, since 2002. I did not mention the pit bull fighting situation to Mary, although looking back, I should have. And would have, had I known my supervisor would later suffer from selective memory about it. I told the AP Director about my telling the Lead Inspector about a 'situation' that I needed to talk to my supervisor about. She told me that if the establishment wasn't adhering to the rules/regulations, she said it might be time for a conference hearing.
When I finally reached my supervisor, and told him what the Director had said to me, he seemed shocked. His very next question was to ask me if the AP Director knew about this. I told him no, I had not mentioned that to her as I was discussing with her my concerns regarding the establishment's continual poor recordkeeping and other issues. His reply, to me, was "Good", and then went on to tell me to to finish up my inspection and he would 'talk' to the Director later.
I finished writing my report and included the statement of the Director allowing, and watching, the pit bull puppies fight to the point of blood being drawn. I finished my inspection report, the Director signed it, and was left with a copy of the report. Whether my supervisor spoke with the Director, I do not know. If he did, he never mentioned it to me, nor was any additional report, that I noticed, attached to my report, regarding my supervisor speaking with the shelter Director.
During another followup inspection at this establishment, myself and another Inspector, arrived at this establishment for a scheduled inspection but found the office and kennel to be locked with no one present on the property. We walked around back to the kennels and observed a dog, I believe it was a rottie, that was lying down and appeared to want to get up but was unable. It appeared that one of his back legs was injured and the other inspector stated that it appeared to be broken.
After a couple of hours, the new shelter employee, and the Director, returned to the facility and we questioned them as to how long the dog had been at the shelter in that condition. Neither one could say when the dog actually came into the shelter. We requested that they show us the dog's kennel card which would have the date the dog arrived at the shelter. Once inside, they appeared to be searching for a kennel card, and then concluded that they couldn't locate one. The Director then used his office computer and printed out a kennel card which stated that the dog had been brought in that day, since they couldn't locate a kennel card.
Myself and the other inspector contacted our supervisor and made him aware of the situation and that the dog was apparently suffering from possibly a broken leg and was unable to get up on his feet. Our supervisor instructed us to have the shelter take the dog to the vet and either get medical treatment for him or have him euthanized. The dog was taken that afternoon and euthanized by a local vet. His kennel card documentation shows he was held in Pen 11, ID 148.
During this inspection, a cat was observed in the cat room in the process of dying. The cat was extremely lethargic and sort of staring straight ahead as if it was in a daze. I brought this to the attention of the Director, who went to check the cat's condtion. When he returned to the office area, I walked back to the cat room and observed the cat to be gone from the cage. I walked to the deep freezer where bodies are normally placed after euthanasia. I did not observe the cat's body to be in the freezer. I questioned the Director about the disposition of the cat and he told me he had taken it out and put it in the back of his pickup truck.
I walked out to the parking lot and looked in the back of the pickup truck. I observed what appeared to be a household garbage bag of trash. I opened the bag and inside I observed the cat, which appeared to be dead, with used cat litter strewn over his body. The Director said the cat was dead when he checked it, therefore he didn't have to euthanize it.
While checking this establishment's euthanasia records, I discovered several 'Drugs Received' forms that appeared to have been pre-signed by a veterinarian. These records are required to be filled out, and signed, at the time of drug transfer from DVM to shelter staff. These sheets were blank except the space for the supervising vet to sign his name. I reported this back to my supervisor, as well as to the AP Director, via my telephone call to her earlier.
During a previous inspection visit, I had spoken with a resident, who claimed that she had been promised, by the Director, a Yorkie type dog. She told me that everytime she called or stopped by, the Director would tell her that the dog's time wasn't up yet. The resident said when the time limit did allow her to adopt the dog, she came to the shelter and was told that the dog was no longer in the shelter. I asked the Director and the new employee about the Yorkie dog, and both stated to me that their Office Manager had had the dog in the employee bathroom all day and they thought she may have taken it home with her when she left for the day.
I called this shelter's Office Manager, and she admitted to me that she had taken the dog home. I reminded her that it was against rules and regulations for an employee to take an unaltered dog out of the shelter without the proper documentation. She said she would have the dog vetted, rabies shots and altering. She stated that she owned and operated an animal rescue under another rescue's license and she was going to find the dog a home.
She also stated that she would not give any dog to this particular resident, because all of her dogs were mangy. The missing dog's kennel card showed his assigned kennel as Pen 5, ID 6.
I notified my supervisor and told him about the undocumented removal of this unaltered dog. He said to find out whose license she was rescuing under. After tracking the rescue's contact information, myself and another inspector, that worked in the county the shelter employee lived in, spoke with this woman on the phone who stated that although she knew this Murray County Animal Control employee, she had not authorized her to rescue under her state license. This was reported back to my supervisor.
According to kennel records, a dog was brought in the shelter on 12/29/03. The kennel card states that the dog 'DIK'. I asked the Director what the acronym meant, and he said it meant "Died in kennel". On the kennel card, underneath the acronym, was written, "Parvo". This dog's death from Parvo was required to have been reported to the Doa, as stated in the rules and regulations. The Director stated that he had not reported this case to the Doa. This dog's kennel card stated he was held in Pen 8, ID 49.
Another dog, brought in, the kennel card stated "Injured", was not euthanized until 3 days later. No medical care was afforded to this dog according to the shelter's documentation. The kennel card shows him being held in Pen 2, but no ID number on this dog.
Another kennel card showed a dog being brought in with the kennel card stating "Dog Has Been Shot". According to the kennel card, this dog was not euthanized until one day later. No medical care was afforded to this dog according to shelter documentation. His kennel card shows him held in Pen 11, ID 94.
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Right before leaving the Doa, I was called down to the office to talk to the Director of Animal Protection as well as the Office Manager. My supervisor was also in this meeting, as well as the Office Manager. Apparently the called meeting concerned my last inspection report conducted at Murray County Animal Control. At least that's what I think was the reason. To be honest, I'm still not real sure what the reason for it was. I do know that the Office Manager seemed, to me, to be concerned about a reporter that, she said, had requested copies of inspection reports of Murray County's Shelter.
In my last inspection report from this establishment, I had written in: 'Due to ongoing violations to this shelter since 02.18.03 to the present, I feel it would be in the best interest of the animals housed at this shelter, to request a conference at the Dept of Ag office in Atlanta, Ga.
During the meeting, the Office Manager told me that any time I felt a conference was needed due to a shelter acccumulating numerous violations, that I was to notify her or the Director, not write it in the inspection report. She then went on to say that a reporter in Chatsworth had requested copies of this animal control's inspection reports and that all of this should have been 'ran' by her first. She added that any requests for copies of inspection reports had to cross her desk first. I now question that when there is a totally separate department, upstairs, that is responsible for handling these requests.
During this meeting, I expressed my concerns regarding animals being housed at this shelter, as well as this shelter's documentation showing continual violations since 2002, 52 if I remember correctly that this establishment had incurred over the time frame of approximately 17 months.
I remember the Office Manager telling my supervisor that this situation should have been handled long before I had ever been hired. When I brought up what the Director had said regarding the pit bull puppies fighting in the shelter, my supervisor said he didn't remember my contacting him about that. I told him that maybe he should talk to the Lead Inspector, as I had talked to him first about it, and it was him that told me to keep trying to get in touch with my supervisor. I really loathe people with selective memories.
I told the Office Manager, and the Director, that the violations that were issued were the same ones on every inspection. I told her that from looking at the previous inspection reports, they had been cited for the same violations since approximately 2002-2003. I told them that this shelter was not correcting violations as required by the rules and regulations the department set forth. I told her that during the April 2004 inspection, myself and another inspector wrote out 11 violations for numerous infractions observed within this establishment. And that I felt the animals housed at this shelter were not being maintained within the scope of a 'humane' manner.
The Office Manager told me that she had already sent out a letter to Murray County, requesting a conference to be held at the Department of Agriculture office. I asked her to let me know when and I would be available with my input, documents or anything else that was needed. Whether that meeting ever happened, I do not know, as I never heard back from her about it. Her saying that to me might have just been her saying that to me, I don't know.
In January of 2008, I emailed Murray County Animal Shelter to ask who their Shelter Director was. The reply? Gary Cowart.
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