No food or water, crammed in filthy cages, sick and dying. These are a few of the photos taken at the Tri County Animal Shelter in Albany, KY and posted on Facebook. Warning: There are additional photos and some videos at the links. They are very disturbing and some appear to show dead animals.
If animals were suffering in these conditions at a citizen’s home, HSUS and/or ASPCA would be there with their logo jackets on, media in tow, bringing animals out for the cameras (before dumping them on the local rescue community after they got their fundraising ops). I have been checking online since these photos were posted and have seen no reporting on this so-called shelter. HSUS and ASPCA will never go there with the media and remove the animals because they enable this behavior and call us troublemakers when we demand the workers do their jobs. They tell us to bring them cupcakes in appreciation for the work they do. Fuck their worse than useless platitudes.
Contact Clinton Co. Tell them to treat this emergency situation in their shelter exactly as they would if animals in these conditions were found in a citizen’s home. The animals need immediate vet care and charges must be brought against those responsible for the neglect and abuse:
Clinton Count Judge Executive Office
Richard C. Armstrong
(606) 387-5234
judgearmstrong@windstream.net
County Sheriff
Jim Guffey
(606) 387-5111
The idea that a meeting could be held and changes proposed is unacceptable in this situation. This is a life and death emergency. The animals need help NOW and the people responsible need to be put in the back of a police car and taken to jail. This is institutionalized animal abuse, paid for by taxpayers, and overseen by Clinton Co officials. Shame on all of them.
sick bassttaarrddsss…put them into cages in the same conditions…and noowww please!!!!!!!!!!!!!! eye for eye,it’s so simple…
call the HSUS and ASPCA or even PETA. They are not evil. I have been to deployments after they shut down shelters. They don’t dump the rescue animals on rescues. They carefully research the organizations that are WILLING to help. HSUS does not have a shelter and they appreciate the support of rescues.
From: YesBiscuit! To: nearinc2004@yahoo.com Sent: Monday, June 27, 2016 9:01 AM Subject: [New post] Action Alert: Animals Suffering in Clinton Co Shelter #yiv3697125121 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv3697125121 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:link, #yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv3697125121 WordPress.com | YesBiscuit posted: “No food or water, crammed in filthy cages, sick and dying. These are a few of the photos taken at the Tri County Animal Shelter in Albany, KY and posted on Facebook. Warning: There are additional photos and some videos at the links. They are very dis” | |
Um. Except that they DO dump rescues on other rescues and shelters – some of them kill shelters. And PeTA will just kill all the animals “out of kindness”.
This needs criminal charges and real change, not a song and dance for the cameras and fundraisers.
Thank you! I was just responding with a post of my own. These photos of suffering and dead animals make me sick and very angry. To hear the excusing and blaming is beyond what I can tolerate.
ok, I just talked to a very nice lady about their situation. They receive water, food and shelter. The county does not have money for vet care. They rely on volunteers to find other rescues to help. This should be brought up during a county (emergency meeting) that funds need to be allocated. What pisses me off is that some people blame the shelter completely. In the end it’s the residents fault! It was in the town that I lived in the same. They complain about the shelter but don’t want to speak up or see even a $5.00 tax increase that could specifically go toward the shelter. Or the people who don’t want the government to tell them what to do with their animals (mandatory spay/neuter etc.) I’ll contact some people at the larger organizations and see if they can help them.
From: YesBiscuit! To: nearinc2004@yahoo.com Sent: Monday, June 27, 2016 9:01 AM Subject: [New post] Action Alert: Animals Suffering in Clinton Co Shelter #yiv3697125121 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv3697125121 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:link, #yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv3697125121 WordPress.com | YesBiscuit posted: “No food or water, crammed in filthy cages, sick and dying. These are a few of the photos taken at the Tri County Animal Shelter in Albany, KY and posted on Facebook. Warning: There are additional photos and some videos at the links. They are very dis” | |
It is the fault of those who run a facility. Once the animals are in their care, it is their responsibility to actually care for their basic needs. Clearly, food and water are not enough. There are a lot of things that can be done, without a lot of money, to help. But it takes someone who is committed to doing the right thing and a community to care. Stop blaming the public (responsible or irresponsible) for the choices the facility make. They are paid government officials and have a job to do.
As far as the big “animal welfare” organizations, can’t agree with you there. PETA kills more than 90% of the animals they take in: healthy, young, old, wonderful adoptable animals. They have no ‘shelter’ but do have a very large freezer for the bodies.
These animals in Albany KY need to be treated NOW. Certainly there is someone locally who cares. There must be good people who will help get them the care they need.
db is absolutely correct – it is COMPLETELY the shelter’s fault. The moment an animal crosses their threshold, that animal’s well-being is their responsibility.
Don’t have funds for vet care? START A DONATION PAGE. Advocate for funds at EVERY SINGLE MEETING THAT OCCURS. Work for grants. Ask vets if they’ll donate services, meds about to expire, etc. Hell, pet stores will donate flea meds about to expire and food in damaged bags!
This is cruelty begotten of laziness, nothing more. If you won’t work with your community for change, if you won’t market your animals, if you won’t seek VET CARE for maggot-infested wounds, you’re not just failing, you’re in the wrong field.
There is no excuse for filth. This is no excuse to allow suffering. There is no excuse for this.
And – just so we’re clear – mandatory spay/neuter does NOT fix this. Leadership fixes this. Compassion fixes this. Competence fixes this. If they don’t have any at the shelter, it’s time to outsource for it.
Just sent emails to the county and the judge. Please do the same and let them know that we are aware, monitoring, and want something done NOW! God help these poor creatures because apparently the people who are paid to are not.
Da Fuq? And of course they’ll say that they’re doing the best they can and they’re just victims of irresponsible owners…
Arrests need to be made. Vets called in for triage and treatment. Get volunteers to clean, bathe, feed, water as if it were an emergency situation – because it FUCKING IS.
My guess, at this point, is that they will bring in someone to kill the whole lot of them to avoid the “unfair” publicity. Hope I’m wrong.
That would be typical. Oh, you don’t like what we’re doing, fine, we’ll kill everything. There. Happy now?
Actually, no. Because the abuse still happened and criminal charges still need to be filed. Can’t really kill your way out of that now, can you?
keep your eyes and ears open, have contacted some amazing organization that is going to try to help. first, thank you for bringing up this issue.
From: YesBiscuit! To: nearinc2004@yahoo.com Sent: Monday, June 27, 2016 9:01 AM Subject: [New post] Action Alert: Animals Suffering in Clinton Co Shelter #yiv3697125121 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv3697125121 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:link, #yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv3697125121 a.yiv3697125121primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv3697125121 WordPress.com | YesBiscuit posted: “No food or water, crammed in filthy cages, sick and dying. These are a few of the photos taken at the Tri County Animal Shelter in Albany, KY and posted on Facebook. Warning: There are additional photos and some videos at the links. They are very dis” | |
Dear near. get your head out of your nether regions and stop supporting HSUS/PETA ?ASPCA.. this is entirely the fault of the SHELTER if this were a breeder what would you say then
I am one of the few volunteers that were at this shelter. Tri-County Animal Shelter sees upwards of 50 animals a week. Serving three counties, Clinton, Cumberland, and Wayne, with the majority coming from the largest of the three, Wayne County. The shelter has a total of 22 dog kennels and 4 cat cages. As you can probably guess, it is a very high kill shelter. For 5 months we were given a good deal of access in this facility with our own key to go in after hours and on weekends, as the shelter is only open Monday-Friday 10-2. We were very appreciative of this, but it got to where we would go in and literally be doing the workers’ jobs. Piles of feces and urine covering the kennel stalls, no food or water as you can see in most of the pictures, and the volunteers even supplied litter boxes and litter to the cats, as there were none before that. In the beginning, we actually did public adoptions, but seeing as the shelter gives the animals away for free with no vaccinations, unaltered, and no adoption screening process, we began to see the animals come back. We began to see the females come back pregnant or with litters in tow, every puppy that came out of the shelter tested positive for parvo, we would see people come in and try to surrender a dog and leave with another, and it just got to the point that we were getting nowhere. We met a “rescue” friend who has her own rescue, is a wonderful networker, and had contacts in the rescue world that were a tremendous help. In 5 months, we sent 369 animals to rescues across the world. Seeing the awesome works and effect of rescue, one volunteer and I stopped doing public adoptions outside of what the shelter itself did. We couldn’t bear to be a part of sending an unaltered female out to become a puppy machine. Here in our community, our veterinarian strictly does basic care, such as vaccinations and medications. Our closest vet that does spay/neuter is 20 minutes away, so we have a huge overpopulation problem. We did get a lot of backlash for not participating in public adoptions, but we only wanted what was best for the animals. Keep in mind, there are worse things than euthanasia. I would much rather see a dog quickly and humanely euthanized than to be stuck on a chain starving to death.
We would come in almost every evening to take pictures for rescue networking and to feed and water. We knew the conditions didn’t meet KY shelter standards, but we’re threatened that if we “couldn’t all get along” the volunteer program would be stopped. So, we continued on and did the best we could for fear of being shut out of the shelter and the animals being left with no help. We hit the last straw the day we came in to a dead kitten in a cage with its litter mates. The kitten did previously show signs of sickness, and in the KY shelter standards, it states that a sick animal either be euthanized or it must be medically treated. It cannot just be left to suffer and die such as this kitten did. We completely understand that the shelter does not have the funds to treat every sick animal, but it shouldn’t have to suffer. This is when we decided to go public with the conditions. We had repeatedly spoke with the lady in charge, the deputy judge executive, about these conditions and nothing was done. We called KSP, who sent an officer to investigate, and the officer never even filed a report (he was related to the workers, btw). We were tired of the good ol’ boy system, so we were left with no choice. We couldn’t get anyone to listen so we did what we thought might get some much needed attention and posted pictures and videos to Facebook that spoke volumes for themselves. Since going public, we have received praise and we have also received resentment from people trying to blame the volunteers for the conditions. Some accuse that we purposely made the conditions look bad. We tried to get tv media coverage, but had no luck. We were in constant contact with Kathryn Callahan of the KY division of HSUS, who had a meeting with the judge executive a few days after we went public. She told us things went well in that meeting and the judge seemed receptive. There hasn’t been much change in the last week or so other than the fact that the volunteers no longer have their key at the moment and there will be a meeting of the fiscal court and judge executive regarding the shelter tonight. I understand a meeting isn’t exactly what needs to happen, but with no one that will enforce any laws, that is where we are stuck. We are hoping to move forward and see change for the better in the shelter. Will try to keep you all updated!
And yes, the day after we went public, at least 20 cats/kittens were euthanized and possibly dogs.
Thank you for advocating for these poor souls. It sounds as if you are being beaten down at every step of the way. We will do all we can to help you help the animals.
According to the Facebook page of the woman who released the horrific still photos and videos, shelter administrators have banned volunteers and the public from entering the shelter. Those who attempted were told: “We have no kittens. You’ll have to get them from somewhere else.” Law enforcement officers need to investigate these clear cases of animal abuse and neglect. This has gone way beyond the pale, IMO.
Darien, thank you for speaking out! I’m so sorry you’re up against this crappy situation.
How can anyone blame volunteers for this mess? It’s VERY CLEAR that paid staff are NOT doing their jobs and don’t care at all for the animals.
Please keep advocating! If we can support you in any way, do let us know!
Putting the blame on HSUS or ASPCA shows how uneducated you are about the law. These organizations cannot come into any situation without law enforcement. They certainly cannot shut down a shelter they have no authority.
I’ve been to the shelter, it’s a hellhole. Put the blame where it belongs, on the shelter staff, the Judge Executive and a little cal community that doesn’t give a shit.
This comment is directed at the person who spoke to ‘a very nice lady’ over the phone. Did you honestly think they were going to admit that they have a problem to you? Come on. They have blamed the conditions on volunteers and anyone else they could get to take the fall despite being approached multiple times about this shelter. They are responsible. 100000% so.
No, they do not have the funds to treat, but yet the county is spending almost $100,000 a year of the tax payers money on this shelter. And clearly, it is not going where it needs to go.
Also, until this all came about they were totally 100% against rescue. Would not even hear of it. We have been dealing with this shelter for 5 months. Busting our butts, but one phone call makes all this okay. Wow.
This is all so crazy. Today I’ve been reading in your blog for several hours. I’m from Germany, we have public shelters and organizations, that rescue animals from all over Europe, because they get killed in the shelters there. (My adorable Lab-Mix came from Romania.) I was aware, that the USA had similar problems with killing animals in the shelters, but I never imagined it to be that bad. German shelters rarely euthanize animals and only for medical reasons. I know many pets being in shelters getting medical care (for diabetes for example) and still getting adopted after years. Well, enough said, thanks for the inview.
Just think if we all shared our time in the shelter or fostering… transporting..doing something .. the difference it could make. There is something we can all do besides shake our fingers and sit on our ***
Um. Are you implying that we’re all just a bunch of keyboard warriors? Because if you are, you may want to check your sources. Just saying.
And… Teresa? You may not be aware of the number of “shelters” that not only refuse help, they actively abuse volunteers and advocates.
Not many people want to foster a litter of kittens for eight weeks, only to have the shelter take them back and kill them all, you know? Volunteering and fostering doesn’t help when monsters are in charge. We’ve got to get rid of the monsters, first.
I hate people. I just really hate them.
Well, people are both the cause of and the answer to suffering like this.
Hating people isn’t helpful to you. You don’t need that kind of negativity. And people will fix this. People are the only thing that can fix this.
Try qualifying your statement (for your own well-being). Instead, make it “I hate assholes.”
There! Now you don’t hate all people, you just hate assholes! A perfectly reasonable and sensible thing to do.
I just hope that these particular assholes get what’s coming to them. Both in karma and criminal charges.
Good point, mikken. I HATE ASSHOLES, too!!
I have emailed the judge and included this link in hopes he feels the pressure. Fingers crossed:
Your Honor:
The link below is a news article about the horrible conditions at the Tri-County Animal Shelter in Albany, KY. It is all over Facebook today and is going viral via hundreds other social media and news outlets. We are living in an age where thousands of shelters throughout the U.S. are implementing ethical standards for animals that include proper vet care, safe and sanitary conditions and a conscious effort to strive towards “no-kill” status through volunteers, rescue/foster/adopt programs and events as well as spay/neuter and other programs. Not only is this an ethical endeavor, it also saves money in the long run for the county. Tri-County Animal Shelter has one of the worst ratings of any shelter in the nation and now all animal rights advocates have been made fully aware of this disgraceful situation. Please have county officials look into this situation before it spirals completely out of control. The consequences of doing nothing would be severe in terms of Clinton County’s public image and wellbeing. I would be happy to discuss this situation with you or any other county officials in an effort to seek a solution to this problem. Thank you.
https://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2016/ shelter06/27/action-alert-animals-suffering-in-clinton-co-shelter/
David Libert
213-949-4801
dlibert62@gmail.com
I don’t know you but applaud your well written letter ~ honest without being threatening. I so hope you get some response. A lot of us on YB! will support these animals in whatever way we can.
This actually made me tear up!! Cats don’t like to be dirty…….litter in their food!!! JESUS!! Something has to be done!!
Dear mikken, I hate ASSHOLES, too!!!
And, as soon as I get this newspaper out today, I will write all the officials “in charge” of this hellhole!
Called .. Someone picked up and then promptly hung up
I hate buttheads too.
I have contacted HSUS and I talked with Kentucky representative there. I have the name & number of a coordinator between the shelter and the county judge executive. I will post any news that I’ll get
I have also contacted ASPCA, lets build some momentum, and make changes in this horrible shelter!!!
Clinton County Judge/Executive Richard Armstrong called a special fiscal court session to address the problems at the Tri-County shelter, in which he defended the shelter staff and blamed the volunteers. http://clintonnews.net/pages/?p=21464
Typical. Absolutely typical. I hope there’s enough anger in the community for him to rethink that position.
THESE BASTARDS MOST PAY FOR THERE CRUELTY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Things are changing at this shelter. I am in constant contact with the people at the shelter. A week ago, I loaded a van and drive from Atlanta to Albany, Kentucky to deliver supplies, computer, camera, crates, beds, you name it!!! I also adopted a puppy from them. it is a rural, somewhat poor area. They are trying to make changes. I will keep you posted!