A dogged issue for community

Many times I have visited the Humane Society, and every time I went

there, I saw clean, not cramped cages; healthy, excited animals; and

clean premises. Once, I did see sick kittens.

They had a disease that they could’ve picked up anywhere. That was

a while back, and all the animals were healthy the last time I went

there.

The cages never hold more than two small animals unless it has a

litter of kittens. Cages that consisted of larger animals only had

one animal per cage. Whenever I look in the cages, I see food and

water bowls full and the litter boxes (if it is a cat cage) clean. I

have also been at the shelter while the workers were hosing and

cleaning the cages and entire shelter.

HEATHER HAMACEK

Huntington Beach

I work with several different rescue groups, and one day a friend

of mine who did a lot of volunteering for the shelter for several

years asked for my help. The shelter gets puppies dropped off from

time to time, and puppies need around-the-clock care, so she asked if

I could take care of pups.

I went to the shelter to pick up the pups and was told to go into

the back room. There were the cute, tiny puppies approximately 2

weeks old, stuffed in a dirty cage not big enough to house them.

There was no water in the dish and poop in their food bowl. I

wondered when the last time the pups had received fresh water or

food.

I took the pups home and gave them a warm bath, food and water and

cleaned their area like every two hours.

Puppies do poop and spill water and food all the time.

Some puppies had to be bottle-fed for awhile until they learned

how to eat from a dish. I loved the pups, held them, let them run in

the backyard on grass, played with them.

The only thing the shelter did was give me the deworming pills for

the pups. When the pups were ready to be adopted out, I took the pups

to the shelter and sat outside the front of the shelter with the pups

until people adopted the pups. The shelter charges $90 a pup. I took

care of four sets of puppies and one time even a mommy. So you figure

if each litter had four to eight puppies, and I did all the work,

bought all the food, how much clear profit did I make for the

shelter?

LINDA TROWER

Huntington Beach

I would go to the shelter on Tuesday and walk dogs. The shelter

was filthy. The Tuesday routine became another volunteer, and I would

walk dogs, and the third volunteer would remove the igloo and clean

behind it and sanitize the runs, while we had them out.

They had two dogs in almost every run. You would see 60- to

70-pound dogs in a small run, with only one igloo. I personally

witnessed dogs fighting at meal time.

During the winter, I went to the shelter twice a week and would

take five to six bags of dirty laundry to the Laundromat, using my

own money, because the washer and dryer at the shelter weren’t

working, and the dogs and cats would not have clean, dry bedding.

That lasted all winter.

One Tuesday, a dog was returned to the shelter. A family, and the

kennel employee, picked the dog up and threw it in the run. I

understand the people show up for a paycheck, but a little compassion

would be nice.

There were so many sick dogs. They moved dogs around and didn’t

change the bedding. They have a run in the middle that when they

rinse the stuff out of the end runs, it runs into the middle run, and

that dog’s run is full of the urine and everything else. I could go

on about how filthy it was, but it’s clean now.

LORETTA FLEMING

Huntington Beach

As a former employee at the Orange County Humane Society for six

years, I can verify the allegations made by the volunteers. The last

straw was when I took the picture of the deceased dog put on top of

the freezer. During my employment, there were two freezers, but on

the day of the picture, one had been broken for a couple of weeks and

the other was full. In the six years that I worked there full-time, I

never saw or heard of the disposal company coming twice in one week

to pick up the deceased animals. The shelter animals received only

the bare minimum of veterinary care. After constant asking of the

doctor to examine the shelter animals, it was always a struggle to

get a doctor to walk through the shelter partly because he could not

even stand how the shelter smelled.

LINDSEY NEWTON

Huntington Beach

I want to share with you a dreadful experience that I had at the

Orange County Humane Society. On July 22, 2003, I was at my

veterinarian’s office in Costa Mesa when I observed a kitten being

transferred to the custody of Costa Mesa Animal Control. When I

inquired about the kitten, I was told that she had been found on

Bristol Street and was injured.

I was also told that it was standard procedure to transfer the

kitten to animal control. I asked that the kitten be retrieved at

that time, but the officer, who was still in the parking lot of the

veterinarian’s office, refused to relinquish custody. The kitten was

taken to the Orange County Humane Society.

I asked that a hold be placed on the kitten under my name in the

event that no owner came forward. Later that day, I began making

telephone calls to the Humane Society in an attempt to inquire about

the kitten’s condition. My calls were routinely placed on hold for

extended periods of time and transferred between the Humane Society

and the animal hospital. Ultimately, I gave up and called Costa Mesa

Animal Control asking to speak with the supervisor.

The supervisor assisted me in obtaining information about the

kitten and in ensuring that the proper hold had been secured so that

the kitten would not be euthanized.

On July 23, 2003, I again attempted to make inquiries about the

kitten’s condition. Again, my calls were transferred between the

Humane Society and the Animal Hospital multiple times, and placed on

hold for extended periods in between transfers. Ultimately, I called

back and asked to speak with the veterinarian, Samir Botros. When

Botros finally took my call, it was with obvious anger. He told me

that the kitten’s condition and the treatment that she was receiving

were none of my business and that the kitten’s prognosis was poor. He

further informed me that he could euthanize the kitten if he so

chose. I was further told that the kitten would not receive X-rays or

treatment unless I chose to pay for that treatment. Botros ended the

call so abruptly that I did not have the opportunity to arrange for

care.

I called back immediately and supplied my credit card information

so that X-rays could be taken of the kitten’s legs. This was

accomplished, and the resulting diagnostic information from the

X-rays was given to me over the telephone by a technician. I had no

further conversation with Botros.

On July 25, 2003, I formally adopted the kitten and paid the

adoption fee. I returned the kitten to my private veterinarian.

According to the medical record, the kitten was provided with no

treatment, even following the X-rays. The kitten was found to be

severely dehydrated and severely anemic. The broken leg was minor and

was repaired. It should be noted that the kitten is thriving and is

now grown.

I attempted to seek legal remedy through a private lawyer. I was

told that because the kitten survived, it would be difficult to prove

damages. I also filed a formal complaint with the Veterinary Medical

Board. Their finding was that Botros had other records documenting

care that the kitten had received. He has refused to supply copies of

such records.

ALISON E. STANLEY

Long Beach

I volunteered for five years at the shelter. It is so old, has no

hot water, kennels are old and broken, with the potential for dogs to

cut themselves and/or get heads caught and strangle themselves.

Drainage is poor; often urine and feces wash back up into kennels.

Since a new manager (from June or July 2003 through present), came

aboard, conditions are much worse. There are too many dogs rescued

from other shelters, brought in sick, loaded with ticks, fleas, etc.

The shelter rarely had disinfectant or even soap or paper towels.

Poorly trained kennel attendants who never washed out dogs’ bowls and

would disinfect with full-strength bleach (bad for animals). Workers

would often forget to give water to animals. Workers were not trained

on how to feed and gave the same amount of food to small, medium and

large animals. Animals often are hungry.

Cats should have dry food accessible at all times; they were at

one point only feeding them at 4 p.m., just a can of food the cats

didn’t even like.

Feral cats often didn’t get anything, as they “were just going to

be put down anyway.” No vet checks were given to newly arrived

animals. I have to stop, as I could go on and on. This shelter and

its animals desperately need new management.

Someone who really cares about the welfare of the animals would be

the answer.

SUNE GILLIN

Huntington Beach