Letter to the Editor Until February of this year, I was an employee of the Susquehanna County Humane Society. I've been silent too long. I've been afraid to speak out. But after reading Darlene Anderson's Letter to the Editor on April 5, I'm more angry than afraid, and want to tell the truth about what's been going on there.
I have been afraid for a couple reasons. I was made to sign a "Code of Conduct Agreement" in order to get a job at the Humane Society. Part of this agreement was that no employee could talk to anyone about anything going on at the shelter. It said that if we did, we would be "subject to legal action, including a minimum of $500 in liquidated damages per violation…" and "…any and all legal fees and costs…" I have five kids to support. I was afraid of losing my job and being taken to court. But, the agreement also said, "…your first priority is the animal's welfare." That's why I'm writing now.
In her letter, Darlene Anderson asked why nobody who has written letters to the paper has "set foot in the shelter." She doesn't know that - she doesn't even know what these people look like. Besides, all employees were instructed to ask these people to leave if they did come there, and if they wouldn't leave, we were supposed to call the State Police! There was even a list of people we weren't allowed to associate with, even on our own time. These people included former employees (some of them our personal friends) and former Board members. If we did, we would be fired.
Darlene also said in her letter that the people who write are "not concerned about the animals, just the manager." It's the manager who is responsible for all the terrible things that happen to the animals there. The manager has made so many enemies that I was even afraid to wear my Humane Society T-Shirt in public, afraid to be associated with the place. Even some former Board members who were supposed to be her friend have said she is not a good manager.
Here are some things I observed while working there.
The cement floors in the kennels were always wet. The ventilation system didn't work, and nobody tried to get it fixed. So, they left the back door open, even in the winter. A former Board member came in one time and pointed out that puppies in a cage near the door had red feet - probably from frostbite.
There were so many sick cats! The break room was full of cages with sick cats- we could hardly move in there. The manager would not get veterinary care for them. She would say that she would get medicine for them, but never did. Or, she would have me give them injections of the antibiotic Baytril. They never got better, and she never consulted a veterinarian. She just made her own decisions on how to treat them, and they never got better.
In the brutally hot August of 1998, a dog was left in the outside kennel in the sun with no water. When it was discovered around noon, suffering from heat stroke, it was brought inside and the manager wrapped it in a blanket! When another employee attempted to call the vet, the manager got mad. The dog was left there, without vet care, and died several hours later.
The crematory broke down. It wasn't used for many months. Dead bodies were packed into the freezer, and when that got too full, they were thrown into a van in the parking lot. This was during an unusually warm period in the spring. Later, when the crematory was dismantled, they discovered several dead bodies inside that had been there since it broke down.
There was a large room attached to the house that we called the "cat house." At the time, the manager lived in the house. I don't know how she could
stand the smell. And, the poor cats were crawling with fleas. Sometimes the cats weren't taken care of for days - litter boxes weren't cleaned, no food or water. There was also a small block building near the kennel that we called the "puppy house." We called it that because so many puppies were stuffed in there in tiny cages. In the summer, the building got so hot and smelled so bad, you couldn't stand to be in there. The window was broken, so in the winter, it got bitter cold. But the manager kept instructing us to put puppies in there.
A while ago there was a story in the Independent about how funds had been raised for surgery on a dog with hip dysplasia. It turned out the dog did not have dysplasia, and this made the manager look very bad so she said she would call around until she found a vet who would do the surgery anyway. When I left, the dog was still in the kennel.
A dog was brought into the shelter in very bad shape - it had been removed from a home as a result of a cruelty investigation. The dog was sent to the PA SPCA's veterinarian who treated the dog and returned it to the shelter in good shape. I was amazed at how good it looked. The manager put the dog in a kennel, never paid any more attention to it, and it died. The vet was very upset!
If we had a mother dog whose pups had been weaned, the manager made us withhold food and water for 48 hours so the mother would "dry up." To me, that is cruelty!
When I was hired, it was made clear that all of us had to do euthanasia at one time or another. As time went on, I was the only one told to do it. I euthanized over 1000 animals in the time I was there. There were two drugs that were mixed together and used to relax the animal before being put to sleep. One of the drugs is now a controlled substance, and we could no longer have it. So, the manager instructed me to use the remaining drug alone. This drug caused the animals to shake and vomit. It was horrible to see. I argued with the manager, and told her I could do the euthanasia without that drug, but she insisted I use it.
The shelter can no longer sell dog licenses because of poor record keeping and late payments to the County Treasurer's office. That meant that if someone wanted to adopt a dog on Sunday, they couldn't do it until Monday, because a dog wasn't allowed to go out without a license. When I left in February, there was still money owed.
All these things and many, many others went on while I was employed there. I witnessed many of the incidents that were described in Letters to the Editor of this paper, and, based on all I have seen on my own, I believe what was written in the letters before I worked there.
You may wonder why the PA SPCA hasn't done something about the conditions. When the PA SPCA Executive Director, Erik Hendricks, would call to say he was coming for a visit, a lot of dogs and cats would disappear for a few days. They would be sent to people's homes, including homes of former Board members, until the Director's visit was over. There was a lot he didn't see.
Finally, I would like to say that the Letter to the Editor that appeared in the Independent last October, signed by all the kennel technicians (my name was included) was written by Elizabeth Anderson. She has also written letters that have appeared with others' signatures, including a former Board member. I suspect that she also wrote Darlene Anderson's letter.
If what you have read here is appalling to you, let the PA SPCA know. Call Erik Hendricks, Executive Director at 215-426-6300, Fax 215-426-5848, or the President of the Board of Directors, Paula Kielich at 610-293-0505, Fax 610-687-1107.
Rebecca Jones