This is security camera footage from the Memphis pound from February 7, 2012. It shows bin after bin of dead pets – eight in all – being dumped into trucks to be taken to the landfill. I shudder to think what abuse each of these dogs and cats may have endured at MAS before being needlessly and cruelly killed by city employees.
Morning pickup:
Afternoon pickup:
Mayor Wharton said in his recent press conference that the abuse witnessed by the undercover officer at MAS was so easily recognizable that even a second grader would know that it’s cruelty. I say to Mayor Wharton that pet abuse is not acceptable, regardless of how the evidence is obtained. Pet killing is not acceptable, regardless of the many excuses offered by your administration. Even a second grader would know it.
Tell city leaders in Memphis that action needs to be taken to investigate and, if deemed appropriate, prosecute the employees caught on security camera footage hurting pets at MAS. Stop the abuse. Stop the killing.
YesBiscuit! 
I am totally sick to my stomach watching these videos and my heart is broken. I just don’t understand the needless killing and the lack of compassion. What has happened to the people of Memphis and particularly the workers at MAS and the city government that they are so callous towards their animals? What mentality do these people possess in order to be so inhumane? I just don’t understand.
LikeLike
The morality of these images reminds me of what Nazi Germany was like. Just imagine, these could have been our lost pets, or pets somebody decided they didn’t want to feed anymore. It’s way over time for a ” No Kill Memphis Shelter “….
LikeLike
Bill, I agree, but we first have to remove the scum and get in there! With the right people in place at MAS, it could definitely become the starting point for a No-Kill Shelter.
Mayor Wharton, Mr. Rogers….if you’re reading this, a no-kill Memphis animal shelter full of compassionate employees and volunteers who are aimed at saving lives could turn the shelter around. This same old stagnant management and the same stagnant volunteer organization should go. You need fresh, new ideas by new people who could make Memphis Animal Shelter the shining star of Memphis. It CAN be done! And I believe they are enough of us to make it happen. It would be a WIN-WIN for all of us, especially the animals.
LikeLike
Upsetting. I hope no one calls for an incinerator on site though. They used to throw them in there half alive :( Very, very upsetting. If you are an animal at MAS, your life is worth nothing.
Very sad :(
LikeLike
Each and every one of these bags contains a cat or a dog who could have lived a full life — had the shelter chosen to list them online, market them for adoption, and treat them well until they found homes. But now they are gone, shoved like garbage into a truck bed by a worker who is encouraged in his disdain by his manager, his fellow workers, his union, and his city leaders.
Nothing could more graphically put the shelter’s contempt for pets on display than these horrifying videos, in which cruelty is shown to be banal.
I was shocked as much as anything else by the young woman in the second video who is walking right past the truck where the dead pets are being dumped, and doesn’t even glance that way. To the people who work at MAS, this appalling scene is normal.
And this happens day after day after day . . . this is just one day.
LikeLike
Absolutely horrible!! And how do we know the pets weren’t sold to a rendering plant to be added to the vats to make pet food?
LikeLike
Reposting my comment from Facebook:
“To my knowledge, the carcasses were being cremated until last year the damn thing broke (probably overused?). Then it was big news that MAS was sending dead animals to the landfill until the thing has been repaired. Did that never happen? It seems not!
Also, even if the bodies go to rendering plants: It’s ourselves buying the cheap pet food and other products derived out of these bodies, this is actually something I wouldn’t blame on MAS. (did I just say that?!)
Was it until the 1970s or 1980s that MAS sold off their overflow to labs and it was part Beverly King’s doing that this was finally discontinued?
What I am trying to say is that this video does not shock me the least. I don’t expect them to express the dead animals’ bladders and bury them in a shoe box with some daisies added after the went through the MAS death camp. It’s a logical consequence and the animals are out of their pain (hopefully they are really dead at that point).”
LikeLike
Horrifying at the thought, couldnt actually watch. Just when you think this place cant sink any lower, apparently it can.
On another note, if this wouldnt get more people to adopt from a shelter rather than a mill/breeder, I dont know what would.
LikeLike
I could not watch that but these people who did what they did to these animals should all be jailed and never qwn an animal i could never do what these shelters do to animals and get away with it,,,,, just awful
LikeLike
I read this blog, the newspaper, watch the news and am a dedicated animal advocate! There are, literally, thousands of “good people” that STILL do not know or care about MAS! When we respond and discuss the horrors of MAS we are “singing to the choir.” Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful to Yes Biscuit and all of us that keep up the “fight.” After watching Mayor Wharton, with his campaign speach, I feel that the only thing we can do to “break MAS” is a HUGE snail mail campaign. Mayor Wharton nor Janet Hooks read the emails from us crazies and they won’t read letters either….but if their offices were filled with envelopes & letters from 10 or 20,0000 citizens…..maybe after the arrest of these 3 thugs…maybe they would recognize that the people of Memphis are not going to settle for this blight on this city any longer. Just a thought! My letters go in the mail tomorrow.
LikeLike
Maybe I am just bitter but my impression is that those “good people” who do not know do not WANT to know: “I am so softhearted.” “I can’t stomach it!” “Please don’t tell me, it will give me bad dreams.” (These are quotes from people I have spoken with, trying to help them place animals). They don’t want to know because it would force them to take action now and personally. Starting with stopping to ignore the hungry cat that meows to them in the front yard and is obviously not neutered. Ignorance is bliss and it’s easy to be an ignorant “good” person. Bitter me, sorry, perhaps the wrong attitude tonight.
LikeLike
I’m speechless and sick to my stomach..
LikeLike
I have not seen one person post SPAY AND NEUTER your pets. And the jerk faces that just abandon their pets. I am so angry right now, I just want to come to Memphis and take all them dead animals and drop them in the mayors office. Make him go there when this is being done. Get your tv stations on it. I would scream until I had no voice left and then scream again. Get off your butts and do something. Get a petition going. But just don’t be complacent about it and turn your back cause you get nightmares. You are all just as guilty by not stopping this. Now get your butts in gear and fight.
LikeLike
Do you know for sure they are going to land fill or are they going to rendering plant? They would get paid for rendering plant. At least if they went to landfill someone is not making money off their dead bodies. It just seems odd to me that there is no other trash but the animals. Even the shelters that gas the animals are picked up by garbage truck.
I don’t buy food that has any meat bi-products in it. Not healthy for my dogs. I like them to live a good long time.
LikeLike
Sassy, may I ask you what brand of dog food you feed your dog? Im assuming its dry? I need a dry food for my dog because she needs to have gastro problems with wet food but I cant find the right one. She either doesnt like it or its got by-products or SOMETHING. So I was just wondering what your thoughts were. Either none of my friends have dogs or the ones that do just dont care what they feed it really (sadly). Sorry for being off-topic.
LikeLike
she SEEMS* to have gastro problems with wet, I meant to say. I can not type today.
LikeLike
Jessica, I use Diamond Chicken and Rice. the first ingredient is Chicken , there is no wheat,no corn no soy, it has flax seed and Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids.My vet said my dogs should get flax seed and Omegas so I was real happy to see it in this food.Here is the web site http://www.diamondpet.com/
I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner I have had the flu and out of commission.
LikeLike
Np! Thanks so much for letting me know! :) I hope you are feeling better
LikeLike
I hate to even type this out. Sorry. I am just going to be rather blunt on things in order to best explain it.
The animals used to go to an incinerator at the landfill and all.
When the incinerator broke, it was in the (local) media that it cost way too much to ever be repaired or replaced.
Then, they started having the animals dumped at the landfill and claimed in the media that the area would be sealed off in order to prevent anything contaminating the soil or water. Memphis actually has rather fertile soil naturally and some of the cleanest drinking water in the Nation.
The put down rate at MAS is 70 (some-odd) percent for Lord knows how long. It is doubtful that if they have someone load up deceased animals in the manner showed in the video that they are taking proper precautions against contaminating anything under Mother Nature’s dominion.
This type of thing is the rather unethical nature of certain things within Memphis city government has somehow been partially feeding off of MAS. There is no reason that someone could not have formally and ethically and morally cleaned house after the Sheriff’s raid back in 2009 unless if doing so would have brought way too much to the surface.
LikeLike
Has anyone been on Mayor Wharton’s FB page lately? I can’t seem to find it now.
LikeLike
Dot; His facebook page is still there & active…maybe you got blocked? His press release video still has all the negative comments posted but I guess he’s probably not the one writing the page. I would doubt he’s ever laid eyes on it.
LikeLike
thanks… when I do the search for him on FB.. it just shows a different site. Can you post the link here so I can bookmark it… Thanks
LikeLike
Thought I would share this in case you have not seen the latest MAS footage.
LikeLike
http://www.abc24.com/content/thetruth/story/THE-TRUTH-Police-Dropped-the-Ball-in-Prior-MAS/25_VTb_puUGR4y3cbUOR_w.cspx
LikeLike
Wow, Faith. I hadn’t seen this.
LikeLike
Look people, I am not defending the way MAS has been run or the many incidents in which animals in its care have not been humanely treated, BUT . . . We in Memphis do not want to euthanize healthy animals either . . . BUT the Shelter is trying to do its job with regard to picking up strays and animals that are being abused. We want the Shelter to continue doing this. The Shelter is beginning to work with rescue groups and is starting to do a better job placing animals by adoption. However, MAS is still overrun with animals. They literally cannot keep up with the incoming population and do not have sufficient space to house them. The problem is that Memphis is also overrun with strays, abused and neglected animals and dogfighting. We now have a spay/neuter ordinance that is being enforced, but it takes time to have an effect and we know that by itself it is not the solution. We are way behind in public information and affordable spay/neuter options. Folks here view animals as property that they may treat and dispose of as they wish.
So please work with us on improving MAS as far as the humane treatment of animals is concerned and with regard to increased rescue placements, increased adoptions and affordable spay/neuter options. Obviously we also want a no-kill facility, but that is not an option at this point. We need help with the immediate issues so we can work toward that goal.
Thanks.
LikeLike
Immediate implementation of the No Kill Equation is definitely an option. The city just needs the political will to do it. Waiting around for MSN to “work” – which it never has, anywhere, ever – is not an option. Pets are being hurt and needlessly killed at MAS. They can’t wait any longer.
LikeLike
This goes on at all kinds of ‘shelters’ across the US every single day. 12,000 dogs and cats are killed in animal control facilities every DAY; 500 precious lives every single HOUR. Most of these places need to do much more work to adopt them out, but if people would sterilize their pets and completely stop buying puppies from pet stores, we could eliminate the practice of killing animals in ‘shelters’ altogether. This is a man-made problem, and the animals pay for it with their lives. The majority of dogs killed in pounds are healthy, adoptable, and under the age of two. They never got a chance to live their lives. Since 1970, when 24 million dogs and cats were being killed every year, and each decade got ‘better’–it’s now down to 3 million–there have been something like 700 MILLION animals who have lost their lives in pounds. How this can go in a ‘civilized’ society is beyond me! Every life lost is due to humans, and the beings who can’t protect themselves lose.
LikeLike
If Mayor Wharton feels, “that the abuse witnessed by the undercover officer at MAS was so easily recognizable that even a second grader would know that it’s cruelty.”, then I would have to ask Mayor Wharton, why did it take so damn long for you or anyone to do something about it?!
LikeLike
Heartbreaking and disgusting! How could so many animals be put down on a daily basis???? This is obviously the REAL MAS though. It is a toss up as to what is more disturbing to watch…the worker nonchalantly dumping bin after bin of animals into trucks, all the while handling the deceased animals in such a horribly disrespectful manner, or to see that woman walk right by what he was doing as though absolutely nothing was happening.
Seems the employees at MAS have no heart, soul or conscience. The animals are trash to them in life and in death. All they are interested in is a paycheck at the end of the day! What an utterly despicable lot they are!!!! They makes me sick to my stomach!
As far as Mayor Wharton goes, he is of the same ilk. He only acted when he felt the need to shape up for re-election. I would say that he should be ashamed, but I doubt he has is capable of such a human emotion. KARMA will visit these people with a vengeance, as rightly so!
LikeLike
this is so horrible and so EVIL ! What’s happening to the first world country? killing is not an answer. Karma for you guys, God is watching you.
LikeLike
yes press charges on every employee and hire new people , this is my home town and this makes me sick to say iam from there with this happening to animals . animal crulty wtf…..
LikeLike