Sick puppies, filthy kennels: Volunteers accuse animal shelter of neglect

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Seven Hall County Animal Shelter volunteers sat down with Channel 2's Justin Wilfon to discuss what they call neglect.

One of those volunteers, Dean Sileo, has been donating time at the shelter for five years and runs new volunteer orientations.

He told Wilfon it’s been an uphill battle with shelter staff.

“(The animals) don’t get out until us volunteers take them out,” Sileo said.

He said dealing with bowls that aren’t clean, cages that aren’t cleaned properly and dogs with feces stuck in their fur isn’t unusual.

“It’s a mess in there,” he said.

Katie Grant, who takes pictures of the animals for the shelter’s adoption page told Wilfon a similar story.

“I’ve seen animals on the floor with fleas on them, feces in the cages, no water, sticks in their fur,” she said.

Grant said she believes there’s a general disregard for the care of the animals.

The volunteers aren't alone. Several individuals who pull animals from Hall County told Channel 2 animal records are often mixed up or wrong. Sonja Ender runs Perfect Pets.

Ender was the only rescue operator willing to speak on the record. Perfect Pets pulls animals from multiple counties.

“In Hall County, it’s different because, over the years, it’s become a fight, like an uphill battle,” Ender said

She gave Channel 2 Hall County documents from 2014 for Elmo, a 4-year-old Shih Tzu mix. According to the paperwork, Elmo came into the shelter at the end of September with a broken leg. When Perfect Pets was able to pull him in November, the leg had to be amputated.

Ender said things haven’t gotten better.

“It’s been harder to get the dogs out that really need us most as a rescue,” she said.

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The volunteers and Ender said they blame a lack of leadership by shelter director Mike Ledford. Sileo said he’s never seen him at the shelter.

“It’s obvious to me that he doesn’t care about what goes on at the shelter,” Sileo said.

Ender said she has relationships with directors from other counties, but in seven years of pulling from Hall, she’s only seen Ledford once or twice.

“For such a small shelter, such a small space, yeah, it’s very unusual,” she said.

In an email, the county defended Ledford’s management, claiming Ledford’s schedule is Monday through Friday and many of the volunteers come in on the weekend. It also explained that because he runs animal control as well, he may be out on calls when they are there.

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Last July, the county reorganized and brought in Walt Davis, the warden at the Hall County Jail, to oversee Ledford and the shelter.

Channel 2 obtained an audio recording of Davis in his first meeting with the volunteers. In it, he told them he didn't care what happened before July 1, because he was not responsible, but that he was responsible now.

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Three months after he took over, volunteers sent Channel 2 images of puppies in the adoption room. The animals appeared to be underweight, unable to reach the water in their bowls and infested with fleas.

A 12-year-old volunteer and her father pointed the animals out to the shelter staff and the puppies were taken to the back.

When we approached the Warden in an email about the puppies, he told us one of them had Coccidia, a contagious intestinal tract infection, and had to be euthanized. He told us proper procedure was followed and denied any neglect. He also told us the puppies were owner surrender and were immediately examined for Parvo. He also said the litter was given a flea preventative.

Documents we received show the puppies were stray and not examined until two days after intake. We also saw no indication of a flea preventative or Parvo testing.

THE COUNTY’S RESPONSE

We asked the county to sit down with us multiple times to discuss the discrepancies. It declined. A spokeswoman sent us an email stating information about the animals was exempt from the open records act. She also told us the allegations had been investigated and there was no evidence to support them.

Through an open records request with the Georgia Department of Agriculture, we learned an inspection was completed at Hall County after a consumer complaint regarding the puppies. In the report, Ledford stated his staff had not seen any animals infested with fleas and that the puppies were aged inaccurately upon intake. Ledford also stated one of the puppies needed to be euthanized because of Coccidia. The inspector noted all animals in the shelter had access to fresh food and water and that he had not noted a violation of this in past inspections.

Lauren Kovalchick told Wilfon she is hopeful for change, and until it happens, she and the rest of the volunteers will keep advocating for the animals.

“You kind of see something that gives you a little bit of hope and then that’s the point where it goes right back to just not caring again,” she said.

Cox Media Group