Karina Andersen was employed at Animal Services and Assistance Programs Inc. (ASAP) in Marengo, for five years. She was fired in January. Cindy Gaffney runs the home-based nonprofit cat shelter and she is a McHenry County Board of Health Member.
Andersen claims that her complaint is genuine while Gaffney claims that the complaints started after Andersen’s departure and are the complaints of a disgruntled former employee.
The shelter has been inspected by McHenry County inspectors who found that there were some mosquitoes in a tire and accumulated waste at the shelter. Some cats had upper respiratory infections but in general the cats were in good health and no animal abuse was detected.
It appears that a second inspection was carried out and this also was passed. The finding was that the facility was sanitary and all of the cats looked healthy.
Gaffney said that her position on the board had no influence over the inspection. Gaffney’s shelter appears to be attached to her home and there are 70 cats and 30 kittens in it at present. She has five dogs and six cats in her home.
A comment on the daily Herald, article by Cindy Gaffney states:
“All of the cats at ASAP receive timely veterinary care. We do have two permanent resident cats that have chronic sinus issues that make them unadoptable. The allegations were unfounded and no violations were issued. The inspection of the shelter was completed on 7 January 2019.”
It appears that this is indeed a complaint by a disgruntled employee.
This is a precised version of the news report on the Daily Herald.com website.
