Wednesday, July 14, 2010

DAS employees allow trapped cat to die - IN the shelter

This story made me feel physically ill.

There is a video here (the URL will probably only work for a day or two):

http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=56073@ktvt.dayport.com

Grand Jury Sniffing Out Shelter Cruelty Allegation

Some longtime supporters of the Dallas Animal Shelter are demanding firings and criminal charges after an allegation that a cat was tortured at the facility.

The allegations have led a Dallas County grand jury to convene and consider cruelty charges against several employees.

Sources tell CBS 11 a cat escaped from a cage at the facility and became trapped in a wall, and that employees continued working for days while the animal could be heard trying to free itself.

It's also alleged that some employees reported the problem to managers, but nothing was done and it wasn't until the cat died and created a stench in the building that someone had it removed.

Elaine Munch, a longtime supporter and donor to the shelter, is outraged over the incident. "I know the cat had to have cried, cried and cried it just breaks my heart, instead they let a cat die a horrible death. It's despicable."

Munch and others want a housecleaning by the city of employees who knew about the incident and failed to take action.

"The people that knew and didn't do anything need to spend time in jail or prison, This is the fault of a lack of leadership and it goes to the top."

The city says that it is aware of the investigation and is cooperating. The Dallas County District Attorney's office declined comment, but some shelter employees have been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury over the allegations.

4 comments:

PJBoosinger said...

Anybody with half a brain is going to know that cat is going to die and then stink. Wallboard (or whatever) is cheap and easy to fix. Good grief, they'd have had to arrest me to keep me from busting out that wall!

"This story made me feel physically ill."
I'm right there with you and getting more sick every time I see a story about those who seize, kill and harm other people's animals while having such VERY low standards for their own conduct.

Unknown said...

This is heartbreaking but these people "in charge" of animals in Dallas are the ones who passed an ordinance to eliminate animals and animal ownership (N/S and LIMITS) instead of just enforcing the laws they already had.....remember it was "loose" and "dangerous" dogs that was the "reasoning" behind it. Aren't they still killing as many in the shelter as before?

Feline Provocateur said...

To the best of my knowledge, the euthanasia rate at Dallas animal control is still 75 to 80%. But Kent Robertson and Co. are too busy passing stupid, unenforceable laws and alienating the public to actually do anything about it.

Anonymous said...

Why don't that target the neighborhoods that produce most of their problems? They have stats, they know where the problem areas are! Not enough courage? What is it?