*** BEAGLE Killing @ Lapeer County Animal Shelter *** Ire over euthanasia policy - Citizen concerns draws official review of county’s animal shelter. The County News - Front Page Story - Sunday, July 21, 2013, Lapeer, MI BY KRYSTAL JOHNS 810-452-2601 • kjohns@mihomepaper LAPEER — The grapevine is abuzz with questions, commentary and complaints about the way things are handled at the Lapeer County Animal Shelter, and county officials are working to determine if the concerns of certain members of the public are warranted. Concerned citizen Lisa Hogan, a Lapeer Township resident, spoke up Thursday morning during public time at the Lapeer County Commission meeting, never coming right out and saying what the allegations are against Animal Control and Chief Carla Frantz. She had a small packet that she handed out to the board listing her concerns and some information she had gathered. Facebook has exploded this week with dozens of claims, accusations and concerns about how the shelter is being run, particularly as it relates to putting down animals and whether local animal rescue and foster organizations are contacted to take cats and dogs prior to a decision to euthanize the animals. According to Hogan’s letter to the commissioners, she became concerned when, earlier in the week, she saw a large number of posts on Facebook alleging that animals at the shelter were being “euthanized prematurely and in violation of protocol. She then posed a number of questions regarding the capacity at the shelter, the policies, procedures and record keeping, and more. She questioned whether animal rescues are contacted before euthanization occurs, and wondered why rescues are required to pay standard adoption fees for animals that are scheduled to be put down. She also claimed there were discrepancies as far as animals that came in versus animals that were adopted, rescued or euthanized. The commissioners heard Hogan’s concerns and tasked Health Department Director Stephanie Simmons with the investigation into the matter. Frantz was out of the office due to a previously scheduled day off on Friday. “Obviously we are going to investigate all of this,” Simmons said. “We need to sift out the facts from the rumors. We need to find out if there were any violations of the law." Simmons said she has received six or seven emails and two or three calls. They mostly have to do with frustration over the euthanasia and unhappiness with Carla, mostly related to the euthanasia,” she said. There was also a question about some animal food that was donated by a local business but allegedly never showed up at the shelter. Simmons said that was turned over to law enforcement and no charges were filed. Frantz, Simmons said, does regular reports for the Board of Health at least quarterly. In terms of the euthanasia questions, Simmons said, “The state law says that we hold our animals for seven days if ownership is known and five days if the animal is impounded... In many, many cases, we keep animals a lot longer than that." There are instances, for example if an animal is injured and suffering, or is dangerous, that euthanasia would take place sooner. "I think most of the people concerned want a nokill policy, but this is not the Humane Society,” Simmons said. That said, she is looking into the shelter’s practices as far as working with local rescues. “I know we have worked in the past with Paradise and another rescue,” she said. Wendy Yax, a volunteer who heads up Lapeer’s Adoptable Animals, said they were going to plan a sponsor day to help find homes for the animals but, “next thing I know... all the dogs were gone. They were euthanized,” she said. The dogs in question were three beagles, a hound and a pitbull mix. She said she is disappointed that there wasn’t better communication because she feels the animals could have been saved. "I had no indication that any animals were in danger,” she said. If we had known, I did have a rescue that was interested. Give me 24 hours notice. Give me something. I could have had that rescue going the next day. As a volunteer who focuses on finding forever homes for the animals, Yax said she is the one that contacts rescues, and it’s Lapeer’s Adoptable Animals that pays the adoption fees. To her best knowledge, Yax said, the shelter was not full when the dogs were euthanized and one of them had only been available for adoption for two working days. Simmons wants to reassure the public that every concern will be investigated until the answer is found. "Whenever we have complaints from the public, I’m not going to sit on that,” she said. The county Board of Commissioners meets at 8:30 a.m. every Thursday in the commission chambers, located in the lower level of the County Complex, 255 Clay St., Lapeer. There is time allotted for the public to speak at the beginning and end of each meeting and speakers are limited to three minutes. Public time is for the board to hear concerns, but not to respond to them, as further information is often needed. thecountypress.mihomepaper/current/Front_Page
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 08:56:34 +0000
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