She said she saw dogs living in cages standing in their own waste, green water in water dishes and in some instances, no water at all.
There is a video at the link that the mother shared with the local news. It contains shots of dogs being housed inhumanely at the shelter. The TV news crew went to the shelter to see for themselves but they weren’t allowed inside. Apparently since the “shelter” is located at a sewage plant/police training area (for reals), they don’t allow the public in for “safety” reasons. Therefore, they don’t do adoptions. In the video, the mom says she confronted an ACO about the shelter conditions and was told there is a drainage problem.
A drainage problem. At a sewage plant. Where homeless dogs are being “sheltered” and drinking green water.
No one would speak on camera regarding the allegations of neglect at the shelter but a city official did e-mail a statement to the news station. It reads, in part:
Historically, the City of Abbeville has attempted to partner with the Abbeville Humane Society and turn the services of sheltering animals over to the organization; however we have not had any success in our attempts.
I didn’t really get that so I looked up the Abbeville Humane Society. It is apparently a network of foster homes. The link on their site for “Available Pets” refers you to Petfinder. Their “Adoptable Pets List” there turns up “There are no pets that match your search criteria”. Their Petfinder page states:
THE ABBEVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY IS NOT ACCEPTING ANY ADDITIONAL ANIMALS AT THIS TIME BECAUSE WE HAVE NO AVAILABLE FOSTER HOMES. […] CURRENTLY, WE ONLY HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF FOSTER HOMES AND THEY ARE FULL WITH THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF FOSTER ANIMALS THEY CAN HOUSE AT ONE TIME.
[…]
The Greater Abbeville Humane Society has no physical shelter facility at this time. Each adoptable animal is cared for at an approved foster home and may be available for showing and/or interaction upon request.
So the city keeps dogs at a sewage plant in conditions unfit for a cockroach and says they’ve been trying to work with the local HS for adoptions but haven’t had any luck. The local HS has no facility, their fosters are all filled to capacity but they have no pets available for adoption. What is going on here?
I reached out to the Abbeville HS to see if they had a response to the story but haven’t received a reply. If I do, I will update this post.
The city official remarks in his statement that “The City of Abbeville has not received any monetary donations from the public for operating the animal shelter on record for the last decade, thereby finances are provided by the City’s General Fund.” I find this comment interesting. This “animal shelter” – which is what it says on the sign – is closed to the public, located at a sewage plant and apparently abuses the dogs in their care. And when contacted by the local news regarding a taxpayer complaint on the horrible conditions at the shelter, the city official notes that the public hasn’t been sending in cash? Whaaaaa?
I’m not sure how confident we’re supposed to feel here but, per the city official:
We take any city compliant [sic] seriously and are in the process of internally investigating the compliant [sic].
Internal investigation. Let me guess how this one turns out.