On Aug. 19, the county gave the Alexander Animal Action League notice to get out of the shelter, and it changed the locks on the building.
County officials resumed control of the shelter last week, saying the league didn't keep the shelter clean and that the group otherwise broke the terms of the two groups' agreement.
The league, a nonprofit group that lobbied for the shelter and raised $57,000 toward its construction, defended its management, calling the county's complaints unfounded. And it accused county animal control employees of inhumane treatment of animals.
The falling-out halts cooperative efforts to find homes for more unwanted dogs and cats. The league emphasizes adoptions and spaying/neutering to hold down the stray population, while the county takes on the responsibility of controlling the population by capturing and euthanizing unwanted pets.
In a memo sent to the league, County Manager Rick French cited several problems, including:
A state inspection that gave the shelter a failing grade because pet food was unsealed and cages were inadequately cleaned.
An investigation by the N.C. Veterinary Board into complaints from local veterinarians that league members vaccinated pets owned by members of the public. North Carolina allows animal shelters to vaccinate only animals in their care.
Animals that were held at the shelter for long periods.
Jenni Campbell, the league's interim president, said league volunteers cleaned animal cages as best they could. The group held one dog at the shelter for a long time while it waited until one of its members could house it, and volunteers exercised the dog regularly, Campbell said.
The league wasn't notified of the state inspection, she said, so a group representative was not present to answer questions about problems; neither was the league notified about the veterinary board investigation, she said.
"I feel like they kind of put us in this situation by not doing what they were supposed to do," Campbell said. The county was sometimes slow to euthanize animals deemed unadoptable, she said, thereby causing overcrowding.
She acknowledged, though, that the league sometimes kept large numbers of animals at the shelter to await transport to a New England adoption program. "Maybe we were trying to save too many."
Animal Control Director Garry Bradshaw said animal control has only two officers and that calls from the public take priority, so euthanizations are sometimes delayed.
Both the shelter inspection and investigation have been dropped because the county took over the shelter's management. The state doesn't regulate animal shelters run by governments.
Campbell also said that animal control officers were negligent in their care of shelter animals. She cited several incidents that concerned league members:
League volunteers heard a dog barking in a freezer after it went through the shelter's gas chamber and was assumed to be dead.
A puppy and a kitten that were hit by cars weren't immediately euthanized, though they suffered broken legs. She claims the animals were left untreated at the shelter for several days.
The county's gas chamber used for euthanizing animals is sealed with duct tape. Campbell worried that the makeshift sealer lengthened the time it takes for animals to die.
Bradshaw said that sometimes smaller animals get in air pockets in the gas chamber and don't immediately die. The county is in the process of ordering a new chamber, he said. As for the animals hit by cars, he said, the shelter has to keep animals for a short period to give owners a chance to retrieve them.
Last year, Alexander County and the animal league teamed up to replace the county's old shelter at the old county landfill. Animal rights activists said the former shelter was inhumane.
The old shelter had a drop box where people sometimes left baby animals with adults in the same pen. It was isolated from much of the county and had irregular adoption hours, making it hard to find homes for animals.
The cooperation between the two groups culminated in October with the opening of the new shelter on N.C. 16 North.
The county and league agreed on a plan: The league's volunteers would manage the shelter so that county animal control officers could focus on picking up strays and answering calls about problem animals and rabies cases.
League volunteers staffed the shelter so the public could visit for pet adoptions. The partnership was meant to give animals a better chance of getting adopted.
At least for now, the county isn't allowing league volunteers in the shelter or adoptions by league members. French said that county officials are willing to meet with league representatives to talk about the problems but that the county is waiting to first discuss the matter with the state.
"Our present and main concern is care of animals in the shelter," said Terry Foxx, Alexander's emergency management director, whose office oversees the Animal Control department. He said animal control officers spent days cleaning the shelter after the partnership with the league ended, using shovels to remove dirty cat litter. "The smell's gone, the flies are gone, and I expect to see it stay that way."
The competing interests of the county and the league may have contributed to the problems that led to the group's eviction, Foxx said. The league focused on promoting adoptions, while the county concentrated on catching stray animals and euthanizing them.
"I'm still not sure you can run animal control and an animal league in the same building."
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Hannah Mitchell: (828) 324-0055; hmitchell@charlotteobserver.com. Caption:
PHOTO:2
Caption:
1. JEFF WILLHELM - STAFF PHOTO. Young dogs are held in a run with a clean bucket of water at the Alexander County Animal Shelter in Taylorsville on Tuesday afternoon. Animal control officers spent much of Labor Day weekend cleaning up the facility.; 2. COURTESY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. Cat litter is piled in a corner and feces smattered on the walls of the cat room at the Alexander County Animal Shelter in mid-August. The Alexander Animal Action League had operated the county shelter since it opened in October 2002, but the shelter failed a recent inspection.
Edition: TWO
Section: CATAWBA NEIGHBORS
Page: 1V
Dateline: TAYLORSVILLE
Copyright (c) 2003 The Charlotte Observer
Record Number: 0309060238
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