Rebecca Coleman, the shelter vet at the Memphis pound on whose watch numerous dogs have starved to death, including a puppy who was forced to eat his own littermate to survive, and who scrubbed a degloved cat’s wounds without providing pain medication and left him to suffer in a cage for 5 days has again been implicated in an animal cruelty incident at the pound. This time the victim was a mixed breed puppy who was impounded with a collar embedded in her neck:
According to city records, for days MAS Medical Director Rebecca Coleman did nothing, leaving the dog in its cage with an embedded collar.
[…]
According to shelter records, Coleman was the only veterinarian on duty the week the dog arrived. Four days after the dog arrived, it finally received medical attention for what was described as a “severe collar injury.” It was ingrown into the neck with a foul odor. It was so bad that not all of it could be removed; the clasp was left inside the dog because tissue had grown in.
Two days after treatment the dog was euthanized to ease its suffering.
That’s one way of putting it. Killed to hide the evidence of Rebecca Coleman’s negligence also comes to mind.
The cruelty occurred last fall but no charges have been filed. Someone did write a note in Rebecca Coleman’s personnel file about the incident.
In related news, there are fresh victims awaiting Dr. Coleman since the city seized two allegedly starving dogs with embedded collars from a Memphis firefighter this week:
According to neighbors and the police, the dogs had chains dug into their necks so deep the dogs were cut and bleeding. Police found bowls filled with dirt and out of reach from where the dogs were chained.
[…]
The dogs were taken to the Memphis Animal Shelter, where both are listed at a substantial risk of death.
You don’t say?
Fire. Them. All.
(Thank you Karen and Clarice for the links.)
They should have fired and prosecuted this bitch a long time ago.
Sent from my iPhone
Amen to you Lady bug.
I just don’t get it. Blatant neglect and cruelty. WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE?
It’s only blatant neglect and cruelty if a firefighter or other citizen is accused of doing it. If it’s someone at MAS, it’s just business as usual.
That woman ought to lose her license to practice veterinary medicine and the rest of them ought to be charged for animal cruelty/abuse/neglect/murder. If they can tolerate even being around such things, they have lost their souls. They have no business working with any living beings.
MAS seems to be a cesspool . . . I don’t know what it will take to clean it out. But I do know that it will be same old, same old until something is done by the folks in MEMPHIS.
If it helps at all we’re even aware of this hell hole all the way down here in little old New Zealand. Coleman can’t much like knowing that the whole world knows that she needs to be struck off, and that her staff are a bunch of gutless robots who’d rather kill than speak out.
Her bosses can’t much like that we’re all watching them pay Coleman to perpetuate the killing/suffering and want to know what sort of people can sanction what is happening at MAS.
Please write the mayors office! We need some national/international pressure put on the city to make changes!
Mayor@memphistn.gov
FIRE. THEM. ALL.
But, I’m pondering how does a Rebecca Coleman get to the point in her veterinarian career where she’s blind to suffering? I’m asking this sincerely…
hey folks we need to get MAS shut down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rebecca Coleman enjoys the forensic side of veterinary medicine. Living animals are apparently not really that much of a concern for her. So, of course, she’s perfect for the slaughterhouse that is MAS.
How her behavior continues to go unpunished is beyond me.
we need to get enough evidence against MAS and take it to the tennessee attorney general and the shelby county prosecutor and the F.B.I.and the tennessee crimes task force
Evidence has been presented to the AG and Shelby Co prosecutors. No response. But I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from trying again. Nothing to lose.
On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 10:53 AM, YesBiscuit!
You’ve put a small piece of the puzzle in place for me.
A veterinarian???? Yank her license, too!
do we know where the vet went to vet school? i wonder if she did her internship at the columbia missouri vet school?
Oh how I miss John Cox being on the Advisory Board!
“You have to be blind, dumb and stupid not to be able to see a collar that’s already ruptured the skin and embedded in the neck,” stated Cox.
Cox said of the lapse in care, “This is the height of laziness, it’s just plain laziness.”
Cox said, “I would have simply said goodbye. No hard feelings, don’t tell anybody that I’m mad at you, but I don’t want to see you anymore, goodbye.”
Nuff said.
This level of sickness is beyond comprehension. MAS needs to be closed, and the animals relocated to a safe facility. Rebecca Coleman should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
i agree 100%
lets see, they kill healty adoptable animals…but let sick or injured ones lay for days and suffer. isn’t there a name for this kind of disorder?
munchausen,s syndrome,its a syndrome known around the medical community
I forwarded your post to my MAS contacts, City Council and MAS Board and asked the same thing: when will someone stand up for the animals at MAS and stop this abuse. It is time to stop and hold those accountable for these heinous acts. I repeated your quote of Fire Them All but I added NOW. It will probably fall on deaf ears, but I do try.
Agreed! fire them all!
What can we do to get organized, join our forces and raise holy hell until this shelter is closed down and these people are prosecuted for neglect and abuse? I work 60 + hour weeks, and i am not an organizer;/leader type, but i will help in whatever way i can. I will make phone calls, write letters, donate money. This is beyond belief and it can’t continue. there is strength in numbers and with all the social medial available, we should be able to make a difference! Will HSUS or ASPCA help out? IT’s TIME to DO something. Anybody game for uniting our passions and resources? Meanwhile, how does this woman keep a license? Has a formal complaint been filed to the state board by DVMs in the community?
We have got to do something. This hellhole is completely unacceptable. Call, write, share, protest!
“Documents show one employee after another in trouble for mishandling dogs; it’s a common occurrence at the Memphis Animal Shelter.”
http://www.abc24.com/news/local/story/Records-Show-Widespread-Problems-Persist-at/kB7erK17LUizdPdjroZhFQ.cspx?rss=59
Just sent the reporter an email thanking her for keeping MAS in the public eye. Now, if only things could change . . .
They need to clean this place out, starting from the top. If an inconsiderate administrator is allowed to run a shelter, all it does is teach the employees to also be inconsiderate. That place is a prime example of the “blind leading the blind.” So many rules being broken here that even the employees hate working there. Pretty sad indeed.
That’s a really sick shelter! It seems they’re all bastards and don’t give a damn about the pain and suffering they inflict! What good are the laws? This should never be allowed to happen!
For those of you in the Memphis area (or reasonable driving distance):
Animal Advocacy Group Plans Protest Against Memphis Animal Services
http://www.memphisflyer.com/NewsBlog/archives/2013/05/16/animal-advocacy-group-plans-protest-against-memphis-animal-services
Protest is tomorrow.
Protests have been held countless times in Memphis over the years. No effect. No changes. The time for protesting is over. There is a road map available to anyone with the political will to effect change. No one in Memphis is interested apparently.
It’s sad that I was a new employee with MAS, and was fired because I was initially trained by an unexperienced employee and was lacking on “paperwork” as they told me. It’s funny how I start speaking out on the wrong doings going on at that hell hole and get fired shortly after voicing my opinions. Some shady stuff going on with that Mr.Rogers character. Clean that place out starting with the administration, Uncompassionate bosses only teach the employees to be inconsiderate of the animals. I loved my job and I loved working so close with the animals as I am a pet lover myself. It’s sad that they fired one of the only employees that really even cared about the animals and educating the public. Very sad indeed MAS, I will be there protesting right along with y’all.
Rebecca Coleman is a cold, heartless individual. I had no knowledge of her veterinary work until now. I found this on the Internet quite by mistake. You see, I’m a friend of Rebecca’s brother Robert Coleman. Robert was murdered this month in Kailua, Hawaii where he lived. Robert was homeless because the home that his mother left to him was taken away by Rebecca. He has no local family here since his mothers death and Rebecca didn’t even attend her own mothers funeral. Robert was stabbed 22 times. Our whole community is devastated. Robert is exactly opposite his sister with a heart so big you could fit Canus Majoras in it.
The medical examiners office has made numerous attempts to reach his sister, leaving message after message with absolutely no response. Our community had a lot of respect and love for Robert and we would like to send him off with a service he deserves. We would like to claim his body and take care of him the way he did so many of us.
We all knew that there was no love lost between Robert and Rebecca, but to go as far as ignoring calls regarding her murdered brother is truly heartless. This woman is a devil in disguise!