On March 21, The Lincoln Times-News in NC ran a lengthy piece on the troubled Lincoln Co pound which included comments from more than a dozen volunteers, rescuers, fosters and former employees. Some requested their real names not be published in the paper due to fear of reprisal. It’s been 2 1/2 years since Lincoln Co commissioners unanimously voted to embrace no kill. The pound continues to kill animals. Among the concerns expressed by those interviewed for the article:
- Pound staff kill pets while cages sit empty, sometimes as a means of hurting someone who is trying to save the animals.
- Cats are placed on the kill list for being feral when they are in fact friendly, socialized animals.
- Some dogs are placed on the kill list for aggression without any sort of temperament evaluation. Others are placed on the kill list for treatable conditions such as heartworm or itchy skin.
- Intact male dogs pulled by rescuers often have chemical burns on their testicles from the bleach poured on the floors.
- The supposed increase in the pound’s reported live release rate does not include animals who fall over dead in their cages – something that happens at an alarming rate.
- Inmates perform the only real work that gets done at the pound while county employees smoke, play cards and play on their phones.
- The pound’s contracted veterinarian is referred to as “Dr. Death” by many volunteers as death is her recommended treatment for many shelter animals, including nearly all the cats in the facility when she first came on board in 2012.
The same night the article ran in the paper, Lincoln Co commissioners held their regular public meeting and criticized the piece, comparing it to tabloid journalism. It was also announced at the meeting that Dr. Death’s contract had been renewed and she’d been given a huge raise. The county is currently in the process of hiring a replacement for the pound’s director who is resigning.
(Thanks Clarice for the links.)
Cross your fingers … a caring and compassionate person I know–who I believe would make a big difference there if hired–is a candidate for the director’s position! I’m hoping and wishing very fervently!
Oh, that would be a breath of fresh air, wouldn’t it? I’ll hope right along with you, then!
I finally got through the *lengthy* article in The Lincoln Times-News (I have AADD). It’s always very painful to read these accounts. I have developed into a suspicious person when it comes to treatment of animals. In this situation, I couldn’t help focus on the number of animals who reportedly died overnight. Under the circumstances, I couldn’t help wonder if many of the deaths weren’t facilitated by human barbarity, since those deaths boosted their no-kill numbers.
I wanted to post a comment to the Times article about my thoughts. However, I did not find a means to do so without already having an account.
I’m struck by the incoherence of Commissioner Bill Beam’s statement on the allegations:
“This is horrible and the person that called our veterinarian those names, whether their name’s in here or not or whether it’s an anonymous name that someone’s allowed to pick,” Beam said. “Mr. (Lincoln Times-News reporter) Adam (Lawson)’s allowed them to take names of someone else so that nobody else would know who they are, so they can call the veterinarian without any idea. They don’t know this vet. They don’t know this person. This vet is an excellent individual and an excellent veterinarian. I feel bad for Lincoln County that the veterinarian that has helped Lincoln County so much has got to go through this.”
and then there’s this, later in the 2nd article:
Aside from names sources used to describe Mitchell, commissioners did not attack specific facts used throughout the Lincoln Times-News report.
So, apparently unflattering nick-names are worse than what was done to earn them.
Here’s an article published yesterday about cat rescuers who pull from LCAS, featuring severale examples of cats who were labeled as feral or “aggressive” and turning out to be sweeties: http://www.lincolntimesnews.com/2016/04/04/network-fosters-helps-save-animals-euthanization/