NEWS AND COMMENT – I EXPRESS MY OPINION: The animal shelter in McDuffie County, Georgia, USA closed its doors in late July 2022 for what was meant to be a renovation project, but it looks as if it shut up shop in order to rebuild itself and provide services to the local residents that they expect of a “shelter”. The shelter cannot reopen in the form that it had because under that structure and management according to the report that I have from Nathan Winograd in an email, there was an alleged catalogue of misdeeds and animal cruelty such as:
- More than 30 dogs killed despite having rescue commitments which I take to mean that they had places to go to;
- Animals being placed in body bags before they stopped breathing;
- Dogs being choked with leashes, or they were stomped on or kicked in order to try and control them particularly when they struggled when being euthanised;
- There were also reports of dogs being slammed against concrete;
- And allegedly collars being removed from dogs in order to hide the fact that they were domestic dogs with homes to go to;
- Killing animals before the holding period had expired and then fraudulently covering up the practice in paperwork in order to protect themselves from people coming around to the shelter looking for their pets;
- Engaging in improper euthanasia procedures including heart sticking without sedation and on fully conscious animals.
The McDuffie County Community Development Officer, Jason Smith, said: “We’ve also got to figure out how to provide a service that meets the expectations that have been laid for us”. That statement was reportedly made around late August 2022, and I wonder whether the shelter has now opened with new procedures?
Smith said:
“We’re going to take a hard look at the way animal services are provided here in McDuffie County. It’s going to be a conversation for our local leaders, our county commission, and figure out where we’re going to go. And I don’t know the answer to that yet.”
Comment: shocking? The allegations listed above are indeed shocking. It is hard to imagine a shelter degenerating to such a state of immoral behaviour which is completely contrary to their stated purpose namely to “shelter” animals and prepare them for a new home in which they can live out their lives contentedly under excellent human caregiving.
Perhaps what happened at McDuffie is what might happen in any shelter where management go off the rails and people become inured to the killing of companion and stray animals because once you start mistreating animals you create lower standards of care which take hold and which lead to even lower standards to the point where the problem gets out into the public domain and the news media picks up on it and the shelter has to close.
Below are some more articles on shelters.
