Jeremiah Robertson, the whistleblower at the McCracken Co HS in KY who recently testified in court against his co-workers, has been fired by the HS board for being “insubordinate”. And by “insubordinate”, the board means he “took issue with euthanizing a dog.” And that “issue” involved the killing of a puppy the surrendering party was willing to take back.
Austin Fairfield surrendered 4 mixed breed pups to McCracken Co in early October:
“[W]hen we took them over there, we talked to them…we made sure. We were told over and over again that they are a no-kill shelter and that if we leave our puppies there, they will not be put down in any way.”
Mr. Fairfield says he made an agreement with the shelter that if any of the pups were in danger of being killed, staff would contact him so he could retrieve the dogs.
But shelter director Terry Vannerson says that, while the society would be willing to work with an animal owner in this type of situation, there is no policy in place regarding such arrangements, and no record of any sort of agreement between Fairfield and the shelter.
No policy in place and no record – wouldn’t that be the shelter’s fault for failing to put its policies in writing and failing to maintain its records properly? Wasn’t that an issue in the recent convictions of two shelter employees?
At any rate, the director says a puppy named Gunther changed into a vicious animal after being at her shelter for 2 days. They killed him without contacting the former owner who was willing to take him back. And then the board fired Jeremiah Robertson:
[Mr. Robertson] says he was told it was for a violation of policy. But Robertson says he believes he was fired for agreeing that Fairfield had been told that none of his animals would be euthanized, and for advising Fairfield that his dog had been put down. He added that he has never seen an employee policy manual, and was not told what policy he violated.
Gee, McCracken Co sure makes use of its failure to put things in writing.
Vannerson would not comment on Robertson’s employment. But she did say that no-kill may mean different things to different people.
Uh yeah, that might be one of those things that would best be put in writing.
One of the McCracken Co employees convicted of improperly killing cats is Dalena Hall:
Hall is still an employee at the society, which is holding an open house October 27 to introduce new board members, show off remodeled facilities, and celebrate “new policies and procedures”.
Any of them recorded on paper? Or are they filed under the “may mean different things to different people” category?
The bravado on display at the McCracken Co HS must be a terrible embarrassment to the local residents. Imagine the audacity it takes to invite the community for an open house to “celebrate” and “show off” anything at a place that employs someone convicted of improper cat killing, that killed a puppy who had a safe place to go and that fired the whistleblower responsible for exposing both cruel acts.