Thoughts on the Memphis Indictments

I am elated that Billy Stewart, Archie Elliott and Frank Lightfoot have been indicted on multiple counts of animal cruelty in connection with an undercover police investigation at the Memphis pound. I have witnessed them many times, when the webcams were still up, being cruel to pets and I have little doubt they will be found guilty on these charges. Their arrests and termination (presumably to come) mean that no more pets at MAS will be harmed by these three men. This is an improvement at the pound and good news for the pets housed there.

But let’s be clear. It’s only a temporary improvement. We do not yet know who the city will hire to replace them and more importantly, we do know what type of environment any new hires will enter at MAS – one of abuse, neglect and cover-ups. The removal of these three employees does nothing to change the culture of cruelty that has long existed at MAS. And it is that culture which must be obliterated if there is ever to be hope for meaningful reform.

The mayor’s statement, posted to YouTube, makes it sound as if the three indicted employees were merely a few bad apples out of a bushel of good ones. This is hardly the case. MAS is rotten to the core and the precious few good employees and volunteers are the exception, not the rule.   I wholly reject Mayor Wharton’s assertion that he is committed to reforming MAS.  It does not take an undercover police investigation over a period of months to uncover cruelty at MAS.  I believe that has been clearly demonstrated by the evidence of abuse seen on 12 hours worth of security camera footage from one day at the pound.  Had he ever been inclined to reform MAS at any point during his administration, he could have taken immediate action.  The evidence has been in plain sight for years, laid out before him, and he has chosen to ignore it.

The mayor and his management team have repeatedly defended the workers at MAS, including the three indicted today, and turned a blind eye to the issue of animal cruelty which has been obvious to the public for years. The mayor even turned off the webcams, which were the only voice the pets at MAS had, in what seemed to me to be a political move designed to appease his union supporters. In fact, even as security camera footage depicting multiple employees being abusive to pets has been posted on the internet this week, the mayor continues to ignore the evidence. He has failed to even acknowledge what is plainly in front of him: there is rampant cruelty at MAS, documented on video, and a re-training class is not going to fix it.

In the past year, the mayor directed his city attorney to threaten my free speech rights in an attempt to silence my criticism and airing of the abuse at his pound. LaSonya Hall, the mayor’s pick for head of the division overseeing MAS, has stated that she will not do her job to root out criminal activity at the pound but demands that the public do it for her. When volunteers approached her with serious concerns about the animals, she drew on eggs and chastised them for noting their concerns in a document which could be obtained by the public via FOIA request.  Mayor Wharton has nothing but praise for her performance.

It is clear to me that Mayor Wharton and his cohorts have no political will to make significant changes at MAS or to restore the public’s trust. MAS needs a complete overhaul starting from the top down. Memphis needs a mayor committed to making meaningful reform happen. A mayor who will surround himself with compassionate managers dedicated to that reform. The shelter director, supervisors, workers and volunteers must all be on board with this goal. The entire structure needs to be gutted and carefully woven back together, one stitch at a time.

Mayor Wharton’s administration has failed the animals in Memphis. They must be voted out of office and replaced with a team which will work to reform the shelter. We need a candidate to support and I will be relying on my readers in Memphis to let me know who that candidate is when the next election season approaches.

Until then, I will continue to watch and report on developments in Memphis. I will do everything I can to help bring reform to MAS and to fight for the animals. I will not be placated with three indictments for crimes unrelated to what is documented on the security camera footage. There is much more work to be done. If the abuse depicted on the security camera footage does not rise to the level of chargeable offenses in the opinion of the DA, I expect prompt terminations of the abusive employees at the very least. A transparent and immediate investigation of the abuse on these videos is necessary.

Mayor Wharton and his team have done nothing to reassure the public that these cruel acts are being taken seriously and meaningful action to remove the abusers has occurred. As far as I can guess, Mayor Wharton thinks workers who hang puppies on chokepoles or drag a dog straight into a wall so he smashes his head are compassionate people who serve the public well. He said in his statement, “Most of us wouldn’t take that job at any price.” I would counter that, unless the job is to abuse and neglect animals – and I don’t believe that it is, most of the current employees are not doing the job for which taxpayers pay them.

Today’s indictments represent a positive step.  But this step can easily be undone if the mayor stops here.  Remember that he began his term in office by announcing that three workers at MAS were being charged with animal cruelty in 2009.  This was far from a catalyst for meaningful reform.  Some believe things at MAS are generally no better than when those charges were brought.  I for one don’t want to bear witness to another two or three years of Memphis misery only to see another three workers at the pound arrested for cruelty.  What we have here is a monster.  To quote a famous movie line, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

58 thoughts on “Thoughts on the Memphis Indictments

  1. You’ve nailed it…except for one point. The mayor should be impeached immediately, the animals cannot wait until the next election. Again, remember the New Brockton AL mayor that was found guilty of second degree animal cruelty in January over cruelty in that city’s pound. Wharton, Hooks, Hall, the veterinary team and the current MAS Advisory Board are all complicit in ongoing animal cruelty. I believe it would be Amy Weirich, Attorney General that needs to hear from everyone on this.

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  2. D.A. Contact Information

    Shelby County District Attorney’s Office
    201 Poplar Avenue, Third Floor
    Memphis, Tennessee 38103
    901-222-1300

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  3. “MAS is rotten to the core and the precious few good employees and volunteers are the exception, not the rule. ”

    True. Massive staff replacement is needed. There may be a few people capable of carrying out their duties with competence and compassion, but the vast majority are too entrenched in the culture of abuse to be salvageable.

    I hope a reporter asks the Mayor why he waited until November 2011 to send in an investigator when reports of abuse were coming in long, long before that. Did he ever send anyone independent down to the shelter to actually see the conditions of the animals and the treatment they received? Or did he just keep trusting Hooks/Hall who continued to reassure him that there was no problem, it was all just some nuts on the internet who wanted to make trouble? And the Rotary Club report? Even that didn’t spur anyone into action.

    And what about Tracy Dunlap? He was supposed to be in charge during this investigation – are we supposed to believe that he was completely unaware of the abuse? Where is HIS accountability for what happened under his watchful eye?

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    1. Mikken, I don’t think Tracy was ever “in charge.” There is an Operations Manager and a Supervisor, both over Tracy. Chelton Beamon is the Ops Manager. Totally useless. Tracy is technically powerless, except personally. He could have spoken up. Hell, he could have quit, but I understand needing a paycheck. But he is not in charge of the shelter. He is over the foster program and the volunteers. IMHO, it doesn’t excuse his silence.

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      1. Shelter Volunteer,

        Ah, Mr. Beamon! I forgot about him…goes to show what I get for staying up too late at night…

        Yes, definitely Mr. Beamon should be fired – he is either complicit in the abuse, or ignorant of it – either way, not competent in his duties.

        And I can understand the need for a paycheck, too, but that doesn’t mean that you must stay silent. You could feed info to the press under protection of anonymity. You can work through another party. Hell, you can document EVERYTHING (names, dates, actions) and send it to the cops. There were all kinds of options besides (shut your mouth and allow the horror to continue FOR YEARS).

        Let’s be honest. Everyone who worked at the shelter knew the score. Abuse is not only tolerated, it’s the norm. Everyone who was complicit in allowing it to continue needs to be removed immediately or yes, the culture of abuse WILL continue and no real, lasting change will happen.

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  4. You have summed-up this situation to a T, and I agree with every word.
    There is no way Wharton is sincere about his “concern” for this situation, the animals, or being a “pet-lover”, for that matter. I believe that the only thing he’s sorry for is that he got caught protecting his “team”, and could care less about the animals–I can’t help but be reminded of Michael Vick, who also was only sorry that he was caught.

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  5. I was reading this and I am Not good at the political stuff so I’m not sure if Attorney General is by state or Federal . But I see there are laws and there are laws being broken by MAS and plenty of proof. This Lawyer is fighting the Gorham NY puppy mill opening. Maybe there is a Laywer in Memphis willing to work to start making people accountable (Mayor on down).

    Susan Chana Lask, Esq.
    My article to be posted later this week makes it irrefutable that THE PROOF IS IN THE PUPPIES–THEY ARE LIVING BEINGS NOT PROPERTY! I prove the law recognizes that puppies have souls and are “living beings”, not property. Although referred to as “property” in cases, there is a disconnect and contradiction between case law where courts find they are our best friend companions (best friends have a heart), then reluctanttly define them as “property”; then statutes exist protecting puppies/pets from abuse and harm like people while Agriculture laws exist protecting them as our companions (although by minimum standards of shelter, food and medicene–they require the same substenance to live as we do–including LOVE)–AND THE ATTORNEY GENERAL STATES THEY ARE “part of our family”. Like children are part of our family.

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    1. Sassy,
      Amy Weinrich is the District Attorney General for Shelby County, Tennessee. She is the person who signed the indictments on these 3 monsters.

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      1. Thank you 1 Voice now she needs to take action against the abusers in the videos. The recent ” choke pole abuse videos”. The indictments she just signed were for the crimes brought out by undercover operation. I think I will write her a nice letter.

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  6. OMG!!! I found Billy Stewart’s facebook page. He calls himself Billy PimpinBill Stewart. He is nothing but a thug and his facebook pictures are hideous. I have saved some of his pictures on my flash drive. I’m going to post them and share them also. He looks a a gangbanger!!!

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  7. You said it well, Shirley. On one hand, at least these 3 are arrested, but at the same time, there is much more work to be done. Who I would really love to see go is that lady ACO. She needs to leave BIG time. She abuses the dogs just as much as the workers inside MAS are. Anyway, if the 3 men are arrested and released on bail or something, does this mean then that legally they can go back to their job if they wanted to? I know it sounds like a stupid question and it should be “no”, but lets face it, has MAS really followed legal procedures up until now? If they ddi, they wouldve been gone a long long time ago.

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  8. This is so true, and I am glad you wrote it. I am going to forward this one as well to the contacts I have under MAS, which are the Mayor, City Council, Congressman, animal advocates and the governor. I don’t see anything but a slap on the hand, but If I keep forwarding these, maybe something will change. I have applied over 6 times for the positions at MAS, and I get a rejection every time….. I think it is because they know I wouldn’t put up with the cruelty. Thank you, and I will also keep you posted.

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  9. “We’re gonna need a biggerr boat”

    How about, we’re gonna need a political action committee?

    Any takers? My hands are somewhat tied, I’m Canadian.

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  10. Beautifully put, Shirley. As always, a clear statement of the greatest moral significance. This is leadership.

    The only thing that I would add is that IMO Wharton has actually created a problem for himself with his handling of these indictments. In producing a State of the Shelter address — more than four minutes long, longer than the vast majority of YouTube videos, clearly meant to be as presidential as possible in its imagery — he put his commitment to reform even more front and center and made himself even more of a target if he does not deliver. I’ve never seen a local politician do this over a shelter scandal. And I think the people of Memphis will become even more demanding in its wake.

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    1. mayor Wharton promosed in 2009, after he was elected Mayor that he would do something about it. Now, here it is 2012,and it’s worse than it was. What do you think he will do? NOTHING. He is a politician, and that is all he cares about. Don’t worry, I send all the Yes Biscuit posts to the Mayor,the city Council, my congressman and the governor Hasn’ t changed a bit.

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  11. Well done Shirley! Precise and to the point.

    There is a long long list of people who have been and still are complicit in the abuse at MAS. All must be rooted out. Evil has been permitted there for far too long and the three indictments are just the tip of the iceberg.

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  12. While I applaud the action in Memphis, I also have to ask “That’s it?” The undercover cop was in the shelter for almost 4 month and came up with charges against 3 people? Really?
    Nothing will change by removing only 3 people for abuse and neglect. It is not just the people in MAS that have to change, it is the culture at MAS that needs to be changed.

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    1. While I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment Peter, I think it’s worthwhile to note that, according to media reports, the undercover officer was assigned to the kill room. I really don’t know how much access/opportunity the officer was given to observe other areas and other staff members. For example, there is one worker I recognize on the security camera footage as being a kill tech and I have barely seen him at the new facility on the footage I’ve reviewed so far. It’s possible that the officer was mainly confined to the kill room which is tragically a full time job at MAS. After all, 11,000 pets a year aren’t just going to kill themselves…

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      1. I feel sorry for the officer who had this job assigned to him. To have to be in the kill room day after day, watching and assisting with death after death. He will probably never be the same

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      2. Ok, that makes sense now. I didn’t see in the article the assigned position for the officer and it wasn’t clear to me that he most likely did not have access to other areas.

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      3. While the undercover officer may have had limited access, the city has complete access via the security cameras which are supposedly monitored. As such, it seems unfathomable to me that there have not been many arrests made since November 2011. So far, zero arrests due to the security camera footage and zero acknowledgement from the mayor that the footage reveals any problems.

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      4. Yrah, same here, I didnt know and now it makes more sense. If he had seen the ACOs bang the dogs and use chokepoles while they were entering the building or trying to break up fights by beating them in the main room, he may have a lot more to say.

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  13. Wharton has known about this for his entire term, more than likely the reason for the CCTV NOT to be installed in the new shelter. WHY WASN”T HE INDICTED?

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  14. Normally, once indictments are served (i.e. when the suspect is arrested), the indictments become public record. I am not in Memphis, but if anyone else is, a trip to the Clerk’s office may be in order. I’d like to know what these men have done that is worse than what the female employee has been caught on camera doing.

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    1. My guess is since the crimes happened in the kill room. They probably were man handling the animals maybe even heart sticking them without sedation.

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    2. I don’t want to know. I can’t always look at the cam footage and/or photos, so I sure don’t want to see anything worse.

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  15. I have heard that almost a third of the MAS employees have been dismissed in the last 2 years. As a long time Memphian, I remember the horror stories of the animal shelter in the past. I realize that the wheels of justice sometimes move slowly, and the wheels of government even moreso, but change is happening for the good. The indictments were no doubt expedited by the release to the media of the tapes, which is a good thing. Now that the undercover operation has been outed, other methods of getting rid of the remaining bad staff and volunteers will have to be found.

    I have wondered why someone hasn’t opened a privately owned no-kill shelter in Memphis for the countless surrenders of pets. Surely it is widely known that surrendering them to the MAS is almost certainly an immediate death sentence. It is obvious that we can’t count on the city/union run shelter to take aggressive action in saving these poor animals.

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    1. It would be my guess that no one has opened an alternate no-kill shelter because of the vast amount of resources one must have to do it. Memphis (as you might know) is not exactly swarming with “have’s” but rather “have nots”. It’s easy to dream and wish – crushingly difficult to make happen. :(

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  16. Thank you Shirley for all you have done regarding the problems with MAS! The supervisors need to be fired also because either they knew what was going on and ignored it or they did not know what was going on which means they were not monitoring their employees which is incompetence.

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  17. It’s Tennessee. The only solution is to remove every animal to a different state. These people are ignorant and inhumane.

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    1. It is not Tennessee as much as it is Memphis.

      Trust me on that. Memphis is an anomaly within the state of Tennessee on many levels.

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      1. As a Memphian I take exception to the two previous comments. Please do not assume that all citizens of Memphis or Tennessee are ignorant and inhumane. Such blanket assertations will only reflect ignorance from those who speak or write them.

        There are good and bad people of all kinds in all parts of the world – for that matter, no one is all good or all bad. Seeing the positive aspects of any situation will bring hope and inspiration to make changes for the better.

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    2. Wow, you’re comment above shows your own ignorance. I live in Memphis and I have a long history with rescue. How you can make such a stupid comment about removing all animal to a different state is beyond me. MAS is and always has been a house of horrors, but there are a lot of animal lovers here that fight the fight every day. Who do you thing made MAS get rid of the gar chamber? Memphians did. Memphis has more loving compassionate people than not.

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  18. Here’s the list of people in positions of responsibility for the humane treatment of animals in MAS that are complicit in the rampant animal cruelty and neglect. They must all be indicted for their part in the ongoing, systematic abuse and neglect of MAS animals : AC Wharton, LaSonya Hall, Janet Hooks, the current MAS Advisory Board (Jeanne Chancellor, Jen Clay, John R. Cox, Don Siemer, Dr. Stephen Tower), Operations Manager Chelton Beamon, Field Supervisor David Johnson, Supervisor Glen Andrews, Tracy Dunlap, all MAS veterinary staff including veterinarians, ALL employees witnessed abusing animals on Feb 7 security video. Thousands of animals have already paid an unimaginable price for lack of action at all levels of government in Shelby County. I am calling upon the DA Amy Weirich to follow through and apply all legal remedies to put an end to this tragic situation.

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    1. I am so glad there are people like you out there that feel the exact same way I do. I despise any type of cruelty to animals as if they were just throwaway items. Its so sad and unfair to these poor creatures who don’t have a voice.

      I wonder if its the day- to-day activities these employees experience that lead them to being numb to the situation.

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  19. Take a minute to consider the differences between the cases of the Memphis Animal Shelter (MAS) arrests and the Caboodle Ranch Raid.

    First of all, the worst cruelty is convenience killing of innocent cats and dogs – that is routine at MAS, but was not happening at the No Kill Caboodle Ranch.

    Second, the undercover work at MAS was done by Memphis police in accordance with the law, not the PETA vigilantes.

    Third, the video footage of MAS shows specific acts of cruelty. There is no such video that we know of that shows the Caboodle Ranch owner being cruel to his cats. The videos/photos of Caboodle Ranch made by PETA shows cats who need vet care. Much of what we have seen about the Caboodle Ranch is about cats with respiratory illness.

    OK, so when there are sick cats at a No Kill sanctuary like the Caboodle Ranch, it is grounds for an ASPCA raid, arrest of the sanctuary owner, closing down the facility, and taking away the cats, perhaps to kill shelters.

    At Memphis Animal Shelter, there are finally some arrests when there is irrefutable evidence of acts of cruelty. However, MAS is not closed. The workers are fired, but the MAS managers stay on. The animals are left at the mercy of the MAS managers who allowed this cruelty to go unpunished for way too long. Why doesn’t ASPCA raid MAS and rescue all those animals?

    Does any of this make sense?

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    1. I take your point Jan but also wanted to clarify that the video evidence of cruelty at MAS has been completely ignored by the city. The charges against the 3 indicted employees are in no way related to the videotaped abuse. The charges stem solely from the undercover investigation.

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  20. I don’t think what is being done here is right. These 3 people are just doing their job, keep in mind that they are not dealing with nice friendly gerbils here, they are dealing with vicious animals who are more likely to bite a chunk out of you rather than rub up against your leg. These people are doing their job and what they are paid to do, obviously it is in the guidelines and procedures to use these items to perform their job. You don’t arrest a police officer for using the necessary force he needs to take a person into custody, so why are these men getting charged? The same rule applies here except these are animals and not people. If anything needs to happen the management needs to be held in contempt and not these employees who are just doing what they are told to do. Obviously the management has told these men to perform their job this way and has said nothing to this men about it being the way to do their job. It is not ethically right for these men to lose their jobs for doing their job. Ask yourself this, would you rather have these vicious animals run wild harming innocent people?

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    1. Hey “John Doe,”

      Let’s take this one piece at a time, shall we?

      “I don’t think what is being done here is right”

      Huh. Interesting. Because even the MPD and the mayor disagree with you. In fact, the mayor stated that even a child would be able to identify what these people have done as abusive and wrong. Congrats, you’ve proven you have fewer morals or logic than a child.

      “These 3 people are just doing their job, keep in mind that they are not dealing with nice friendly gerbils here, they are dealing with vicious animals who are more likely to bite a chunk out of you rather than rub up against your leg.”

      Really? Not gerbils, you say? Well, for the record, you’re more likely to get bitten handling a gerbil than you are handling a dog. That aside, the reality is that the vast majority of these dogs are friendly, and while certainly a very small percentage should be handled with great care, this certainly sounds like it’s coming from someone with an existing fear/distrust/hatred of dogs. Tell me I’m wrong. At the very least, it’s coming from someone who CLEARLY has not spent ANY time in a shelter environment.

      “These people are doing their job and what they are paid to do, obviously it is in the guidelines and procedures to use these items to perform their job.”

      Sure, they’re getting paid to do A job… but are they performing up to the “guidelines and procedures”? Methinks if they were, constant “retraining” with choke poles would not be necessary.

      I can also assure you beyond a shadow of a doubt that these guidelines and procedures do NOT permit lifting or dragging animals with these poles, or for that matter picking up puppies and small dogs by their neck, head or hair.

      “You don’t arrest a police officer for using the necessary force he needs to take a person into custody, so why are these men getting charged?”

      Nope, you sure don’t. But when there IS an issue, it is addressed. Just as a badge doesn’t give anyone the right to abuse, mistreat, or otherwise unnecessarily cause harm to those they police, neither does an MAS paycheck entitle anyone to abuse, mistreat, or otherwise unnecessarily cause harm to those they shelter. Don’t believe me, ask the local cop who was recently charged with a homicide after shooting a suspect illegally.

      “The same rule applies here except these are animals and not people.”

      Frankly, in many ways this makes it worse. If you are abused, mistreated or harmed by the police, you have the option of going to the authorities, your lawyer, the media, etc. You have a defense, you have recourse, you have protections. These animals have NOTHING but our voices. And yes, we are speaking LOUDLY for them.

      “If anything needs to happen the management needs to be held in contempt and not these employees who are just doing what they are told to do.”

      I partly agree. Absolutely the management, administration and the government agencies who run this sorry excuse for a “shelter” should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. ABSOLUTELY. But to suggest that employees are somehow free from any responsibility because they were “following orders” is bullcrap, and we both know it.

      We didn’t bring down Hitler and give his generals a pass (Project Paperclip notwithstanding).

      We didn’t bring down Al-Quaeda by only going after Bin Laden.

      And we didn’t bring down the system of abuse and horror in middle east prisons by ignoring the roles played by guards.

      I suggest you look into Obedience to Authority a little more. Just because these people were too weak, too immoral, too callous, too I-just-don’t-give-a-damn to stand up and DEMAND proper, humane treatment of the animals at MAS does NOT give them a pass, I don’t care if they have direct orders to act this way. If you take a job at an orphanage and the person in charge tells you to act abusively towards the orphans, is the blame on the instructor? Hardly.

      “Obviously the management has told these men to perform their job this way and has said nothing to this men about it being the way to do their job.”

      Oh sure, every poor employee must have been instructed to perform this way, right? Hogwash. Did they make it easy? Sure. Did they make excuses? Sure. But once again, information from your boss does NOT override the law – or for that matter, common decency.

      “It is not ethically right for these men to lose their jobs for doing their job.”

      Sure it is. If they’re not doing their job properly. If they are acting abusive towards the animals in their care. If they are harming the animals in their care. If they are starving the animals in their care. If they are fighting dogs, or selling dogs for fighting. If they are acting in ANY WAY that goes against HUMANE TREATMENT or for that matter the LAW – then they certainly do deserve to lose their jobs. Just for starters.

      “Ask yourself this, would you rather have these vicious animals run wild harming innocent people?”

      Ask yourself this, would you rather have these vicious people running around MAS harming innocent animals?

      Shame on you for defending these poor excuses for human beings and their ILLEGAL actions. Shame on you.

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      1. Amen, Kim H! Im hoping that John Doe is just a troll who does not actually feel this way, and considering that his name is actually John Doe, its probably true since he doesnt believe in his convictions enough to have the courage to write his real name.

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    2. Let’s be clear….the only vicious animals here are those three subhumans! And NO….I would not want those three running wild harming innocent people any more than I wanted to hear that those poor dogs were abused in the kill room.

      Oddly enough the mayor himself proclaimed that what they did was so obviously wrong even a second grader would have known it was wrong.

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