Thanks to KACCA ( Kentucky Animal Care and Control Association) and The Gleaner in Henderson, KY
Found the The Gleaner newspaper
"The Humane Society of Henderson County is disputing a report by a statewide animal care organization that said conditions at the local shelter were unsanitary and unhealthy for animals.
Based on shelter director Anne Gryczon's invitation, the Kentucky Animal Care and Control Association visited the local shelter on March 28 and issued a generally unfavorable report of its findings.
Beckey Reiter, who represents KACCA on the state animal control advisory board with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, said she recognizes that the shelter is in a transition period. Gryczon was hired in January, roughly one month after 77 animals were euthanized in one day in December, and the shelter has a new board.
"However, the conditions noted at that facility concerned me," Reiter said. "The conditions of the facility and what was provided for the animals -- it wasn't good."
Meanwhile, the president of the local animal shelter took issue with the report, saying KACCA has no governmental authority and noting that more animals are being adopted out than ever before.
Connie Keeling said his board called an emergency board meeting to talk about the KACCA report of March 28.
After talking to shelter director Gryczon, the board decided to ask a veterinarian to examine the shelter and take a look at conditions there. Keeling said that, as far as he knew, a veterinarian had not gone through the facility as of Saturday.
"After talking to Anne and looking at the conditions at the shelter ourselves, we felt like she was doing a very good job, and other than having a veterinarian come through to look at things, we didn't think anything needs to be done," Keeling said.
Henderson County Magistrate Hugh McCormick said the outside organization is only trying to help the shelter.
"We have no problems that cannot be tweaked and worked out, but it takes some people working together," he said.
Reiter and the president of KACCA, Dan Evans, visited the shelter for a little more than three hours on March 28, prompted in part by anonymous reports to the Humane Society of the United States that animals were not being properly cared for.
KACCA is an organization of animal control professionals that consists of members of government, animal control and private humane societies, according to Reiter.
Evans wrote the report, which was obtained by The Gleaner. It said that the shelter floor and kennel runs were stained with urine and fecal matter and that some dogs were seen mating in their cages. The report also claimed there were some cases of sick animals in the shelter.
"As we entered into the office area, I noticed a strong odor of urine," the report said. "I saw several urine and fecal stains on the office floor ... (A) calico cat was sneezing repeatedly with conjunctival eyes and nose ... Some of the male and female dogs were housed together and in some cases were actively engaged in breeding."
The report also said, "The trough drain system was full of fecal, urine and old dog food and there were several drain covers that were missing ... In the aisles of the main kennel area, I saw several piles of fecal matter and vomit of undigested food which visitors had to maneuver around.
"There is more than one different disease that is running through the shelter, and numerous animals have gotten sick and passed away from that."
The report "pretty accurately depicts what we saw," Reiter said. Since then, her organization has sent information on basic animal sheltering and offered advice on how to deal with some of the problems, she said.
"I don't know for what reason, but it wasn't welcomed," Reiter said. "We had a team of professionals that were willing to come down at no cost to offer whatever assistance that they needed."
Despite the findings of the report, she said that the facility has great potential to facilitate disease control and humane housing of animals.
She and Evans attempted to visit the facility again on April 21 and met with acting city manager Joe Ternes and county attorney Charlie McCollom before trying to visit the shelter. They were not allowed inside the shelter on their second visit, both said.
"From my understanding, there has been some change since then -- but again, that's hearsay and I can't verify that one way or another," Reiter said.
When she felt her concerns might not be addressed, she said she contacted Henderson County magistrate McCormick.
"I do know that he did everything within his power to address some of these issues," she said. "Mr. McCormick is educated on animal control with his (former) position (as chairman) on the state advisory board."
She said she regretted that this issue has made it to the media.
"I just don't want anything to hurt the shelter," Reiter said. "I mailed nine pounds of paper to Hugh McCormick on basic animal sheltering and guidance and everything they wanted to know, and I understand that we're not getting any feedback -- nothing."
When asked if the shelter's conditions had improved since the March 28 visit, Gryczon said, "It's not an issue of improvement. They were here on a Monday when we were short staffed."
Shelter board president Keeling said that the members of the KACCA group visited the shelter at "the worst possible time (when the shelter opens after a weekend) ... and they drew all their conclusions based on that."
Keeling said KACCA knows that's the worst time to examine a shelter since there is only a skeleton crew on the weekend and Monday is the first time in two days that the full crew is there to do a thorough cleaning
He said that since Gryczon has come on board, the shelter is now cleaned twice per weekend day. In prior years, it was cleaned only once a day on weekends, he said.
He also said that KACCA is a non-profit group with "absolutely no authority whatsoever," and that in what he believes is the first time ever, as many dogs are being adopted out of the shelter as are being moved in monthly.
"In round figures, that is right around 100 (dogs)," Keeling said. "It would be nice if people would recognize that she (Gryczon) is doing a good job rather than coming to complain."
Gryczon said two differing philosophies are colliding.
"We're doing things in a very progressive fashion," she said. "Our answer to pet overpopulation is spay/neuter, increased local adoptions and increased animal rescues. We think they (KACCA) are just trying to use us as their posterchild in their campaign against a nationally recognized system of rescue and transport of shelter animals.
McCormick said many conflicting personalities and viewpoints are involved in the controversy. Some support the rescue of all animals, while others view euthanasia as an alternative in certain cases. Others want both, he said.
"This shelter has been trying to rescue as much as possible, and I think they have hung on to too many animals," McCormick said.
He praised Reiter as a "very educated, smart woman in animal control" as well as Evans, who is also the director of the Kenton County Animal Shelter.
"A lot of things ... have been resolved. You don't fix it overnight," McCormick said. "Anne (Gryczon) is working her tail off. The board is trying very hard."
County attorney McCollom, who was present during a meeting with KACCA on April 21, said no one is pushing for charges to be filed against the shelter. In his mind, any problems at the facility should be worked out by the community.
"I feel it would be better to sit down and discuss these things with the city or county or whoever is going to oversee this thing," he said.
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Soon there will be no more suffering for these poor animal TRAPPED in that shelter
males mixed with females , BREEDING IN AN SHELTER
RUMORS of abortions on the animals because they are to dumb to know make from female
NO MORE MISTREATMENT!
Found the The Gleaner newspaper
"The Humane Society of Henderson County is disputing a report by a statewide animal care organization that said conditions at the local shelter were unsanitary and unhealthy for animals.
Based on shelter director Anne Gryczon's invitation, the Kentucky Animal Care and Control Association visited the local shelter on March 28 and issued a generally unfavorable report of its findings.
Beckey Reiter, who represents KACCA on the state animal control advisory board with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, said she recognizes that the shelter is in a transition period. Gryczon was hired in January, roughly one month after 77 animals were euthanized in one day in December, and the shelter has a new board.
"However, the conditions noted at that facility concerned me," Reiter said. "The conditions of the facility and what was provided for the animals -- it wasn't good."
Meanwhile, the president of the local animal shelter took issue with the report, saying KACCA has no governmental authority and noting that more animals are being adopted out than ever before.
Connie Keeling said his board called an emergency board meeting to talk about the KACCA report of March 28.
After talking to shelter director Gryczon, the board decided to ask a veterinarian to examine the shelter and take a look at conditions there. Keeling said that, as far as he knew, a veterinarian had not gone through the facility as of Saturday.
"After talking to Anne and looking at the conditions at the shelter ourselves, we felt like she was doing a very good job, and other than having a veterinarian come through to look at things, we didn't think anything needs to be done," Keeling said.
Henderson County Magistrate Hugh McCormick said the outside organization is only trying to help the shelter.
"We have no problems that cannot be tweaked and worked out, but it takes some people working together," he said.
Reiter and the president of KACCA, Dan Evans, visited the shelter for a little more than three hours on March 28, prompted in part by anonymous reports to the Humane Society of the United States that animals were not being properly cared for.
KACCA is an organization of animal control professionals that consists of members of government, animal control and private humane societies, according to Reiter.
Evans wrote the report, which was obtained by The Gleaner. It said that the shelter floor and kennel runs were stained with urine and fecal matter and that some dogs were seen mating in their cages. The report also claimed there were some cases of sick animals in the shelter.
"As we entered into the office area, I noticed a strong odor of urine," the report said. "I saw several urine and fecal stains on the office floor ... (A) calico cat was sneezing repeatedly with conjunctival eyes and nose ... Some of the male and female dogs were housed together and in some cases were actively engaged in breeding."
The report also said, "The trough drain system was full of fecal, urine and old dog food and there were several drain covers that were missing ... In the aisles of the main kennel area, I saw several piles of fecal matter and vomit of undigested food which visitors had to maneuver around.
"There is more than one different disease that is running through the shelter, and numerous animals have gotten sick and passed away from that."
The report "pretty accurately depicts what we saw," Reiter said. Since then, her organization has sent information on basic animal sheltering and offered advice on how to deal with some of the problems, she said.
"I don't know for what reason, but it wasn't welcomed," Reiter said. "We had a team of professionals that were willing to come down at no cost to offer whatever assistance that they needed."
Despite the findings of the report, she said that the facility has great potential to facilitate disease control and humane housing of animals.
She and Evans attempted to visit the facility again on April 21 and met with acting city manager Joe Ternes and county attorney Charlie McCollom before trying to visit the shelter. They were not allowed inside the shelter on their second visit, both said.
"From my understanding, there has been some change since then -- but again, that's hearsay and I can't verify that one way or another," Reiter said.
When she felt her concerns might not be addressed, she said she contacted Henderson County magistrate McCormick.
"I do know that he did everything within his power to address some of these issues," she said. "Mr. McCormick is educated on animal control with his (former) position (as chairman) on the state advisory board."
She said she regretted that this issue has made it to the media.
"I just don't want anything to hurt the shelter," Reiter said. "I mailed nine pounds of paper to Hugh McCormick on basic animal sheltering and guidance and everything they wanted to know, and I understand that we're not getting any feedback -- nothing."
When asked if the shelter's conditions had improved since the March 28 visit, Gryczon said, "It's not an issue of improvement. They were here on a Monday when we were short staffed."
Shelter board president Keeling said that the members of the KACCA group visited the shelter at "the worst possible time (when the shelter opens after a weekend) ... and they drew all their conclusions based on that."
Keeling said KACCA knows that's the worst time to examine a shelter since there is only a skeleton crew on the weekend and Monday is the first time in two days that the full crew is there to do a thorough cleaning
He said that since Gryczon has come on board, the shelter is now cleaned twice per weekend day. In prior years, it was cleaned only once a day on weekends, he said.
He also said that KACCA is a non-profit group with "absolutely no authority whatsoever," and that in what he believes is the first time ever, as many dogs are being adopted out of the shelter as are being moved in monthly.
"In round figures, that is right around 100 (dogs)," Keeling said. "It would be nice if people would recognize that she (Gryczon) is doing a good job rather than coming to complain."
Gryczon said two differing philosophies are colliding.
"We're doing things in a very progressive fashion," she said. "Our answer to pet overpopulation is spay/neuter, increased local adoptions and increased animal rescues. We think they (KACCA) are just trying to use us as their posterchild in their campaign against a nationally recognized system of rescue and transport of shelter animals.
McCormick said many conflicting personalities and viewpoints are involved in the controversy. Some support the rescue of all animals, while others view euthanasia as an alternative in certain cases. Others want both, he said.
"This shelter has been trying to rescue as much as possible, and I think they have hung on to too many animals," McCormick said.
He praised Reiter as a "very educated, smart woman in animal control" as well as Evans, who is also the director of the Kenton County Animal Shelter.
"A lot of things ... have been resolved. You don't fix it overnight," McCormick said. "Anne (Gryczon) is working her tail off. The board is trying very hard."
County attorney McCollom, who was present during a meeting with KACCA on April 21, said no one is pushing for charges to be filed against the shelter. In his mind, any problems at the facility should be worked out by the community.
"I feel it would be better to sit down and discuss these things with the city or county or whoever is going to oversee this thing," he said.
-----------------------------------------------------
Soon there will be no more suffering for these poor animal TRAPPED in that shelter
males mixed with females , BREEDING IN AN SHELTER
RUMORS of abortions on the animals because they are to dumb to know make from female
NO MORE MISTREATMENT!
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
papaspank:
it's bad enough people make other people suffer. But I really hate it when they make animals suffer.
cultchylde:
There is something that I don't understand. The shelter said that the place was a mess because they visiited at a bad time. That doesn't explain away the sick animals and the male and female animals that are put in the same cage. That is absolutely terrible. I worked for an animal shelter for quite some time, and we were INCREDIBLY understaffed, but it NEVER got the way that place is.