Battles between animal advocates, rescues (both good and bad) and haters have reached a level unseen in the past with everyone (again both good and bad) using social media as their sounding board.
The town of Smithtown, New York recently shut down their Facebook page after “it had become a vehicle for lies about animals under its care and for harassment of shelter employees,” Councilwoman Lisa Inzerillo reported to Newsday.
“They said we were murdering dogs and cats, doing surgeries without anesthesia, all of it not being true.”
Animal advocates have accused the shelter, which has been under the operation of the Smithtown’s Public Safety Department since the suspension of shelter director Sue Hansen, who was fired for what officials said was incompetence and mismanagement.
Another former director, George Beatty, was also accused of mismanagement before his retirement in 2015 stated
“Because we have Facebook and social media, they spew untruths. They hide behind the screen with a keyboard.”
Inzerillo insinuated she has screenshots where animal advocates accused officials of neglect and told the advocates to call the police and tell them animals at the shelter are being abused. She said she couldn’t share the screenshots with news media.
Town officials have been accused of hiding shelter issues from the public by taking down the Facebook community page.
A new Facebook has emerged to address Smithtown shelter issues. The video above came from the page Facebook: Smithtown Animal Shelter Needs a Director.
I’m curious as to what the truth is. Did the shelter take down their Facebook page because of “lies” being spread, or were animal advocates doing their best to present the true situation taking place there?
If you have additional information, please post it in the comment section.
Isnt it odd that the last 2 Directors were both accused of mismanagement and forced to leave. Now their police dept controls the dog pound and no one knows how many dogs and cats are being killed. Its not a shelter, its a killing pound and a dump. Ive been inside. Death row murderers are treated better than the animals in this “shelter”.
People not active in animal rescue wouldn’t believe some of the things that go on behind the scene at kill shelters. Things are so bad in the rescue world I can’t even bring myself to write cruelty articles very often. It’s just too heartbreaking.
I generally admire and support the police. However, I don’t feel they should be in charge of an animal shelter. I believe there is a certain type of person who is needed for that kind of job, especially sensitive to the issues facing animals. I must say that in my county, Columbia County, Oregon, the one and only person who handles Animal Control is extremely pro-animal, and has gone out of his way to prosecute cases involving animal abuse. He appears to be a true animal lover, Deputy Kadell. God bless him. However, he is also prompt, but fair, to punish owners who do not rein in their dangerous pets.
Shelters run by the local police department more often than not tend to be bad. If I’m wrong, please let me know and what the situation is and I’ll do a story.
Yes, if there is neglect or wrongdoing there by the authorities, it’s a dire situation for animal lovers trying to expose it, but especially for the animals.
Facebook is becoming a battle ground between various groups. It’s war online 😉
I’d tend to believe animal advocates if you are searching for the truth. Therefore the city is hiding something. QED.