News-Record.com

The Guilford County Animal Shelter has a reputation for not doing the right thing. They refuse to cooperate with animal rescue groups and 'volunteers' who publicly disagree with the management. Rather than helping the animals who are supposed to be in their care, the jeopardize the animals' chance at survival by finding a happy home where they will be taken care of. Either whoever is in charge there needs to be fired and replaced with someone who will actually care for the animals welfare and not for their own selfish motives or the placed needs to be permanently closed and replaced by a shelter run by people who know what they are doing like the aspca or like the Animal Protection Society in Orange County. Guilford County should be ashamed of the sham they call an animal 'shelter'.

The shelter has good days and bad days. Half the time I've been in there, I've been welcomed and treated nicely. Other times, I've been treated like a criminal.

Years ago, I took my grandfather in there to look for a dog. His dog had died of old age a few weeks before. They acted like he had to pass a lie detector test to adopt a dog. In the end, they did not allow him to adopt the dog because they thought the environment wasn't suitable. The man lived on about a 100 acre farm in Randolph county and had cared for many dogs there in his lifetime. They insisted that large dogs should always be in a kennel or something stupid like that.

Here a kind man with a lot of land for a dog to play was willing to lay nearly $100 down for a stray mutt and they wouldn't let him.

I am an ex-shelter employee that resigned after a one-year stint at the Guilford County facility.

The unsanitary conditions and "by the book" management in that facility repulsed me to the point of seeking out other employment options, and ultimately putting in a 2-week notice. There were a number of incidents that made me wonder...is this place a sanctuary for unwanted animals, or are they ultimatley here suffering more inhumane treatment than they would if left on the street??

While there, I saw dogs being underfed and some appeared to be clearly malnourished while I worked there. I later found out that the "kennel help", that feed and clean up after the animals, did this intentionally, in effort to keep the dogs from defecating "too much" in there cages. Some emaciated dogs would remain skinny for weeks before customer complaints forced authoritative actions.

In addition, the "kennel help" would pressure wash the floors of the cages in the "dog adoption area" with the dogs still inside, blasting them with a painful spray of water, urine, and feces. I had to personally inform several kennel workers that dogs must be removed from a cage before aiming the high-pressure water pistol at the walls and floors.

Not to mention, the shelter dogs would constantly have bleach-burns on their paws and genetalia from sitting and standing in puddles of a water/bleach mixture used to clean the adoption kennel floors. Sometimes the bleach would not be diluted properly, causing the dog's skin or the pads of their feet to be red, blistered, and raw.

Sharing this information with others is imperative, because animals have been tortured behind the walls of the Guilford County Animal Shelter.

When stories like "Raleigh's" escape into the general public I am very, very grateful to the whistle blowers. These animals depend on us to tell their stories and defend them, they have no voice. I encourage everyone to question the management at our animal shelter and push for new ownership beyond The United Animal Coalition that currently operates the facility.

The complaints have been rolling in over the years...but where are the checks and balances??

I am a CURRENT for the Guilford County Animal Shelter.
Everyone has there bad days and no one is perfect. I highly doubt that anyone one at the shelter would allow an animal to be sent to a home "covered" in blood. I was actually still working at the shelter during the time in question and the dog was not "covered in his dead owners blood.”

Every time there is a good story to post about the shelter every news station and newspaper bumps the story for "breaking news," or they just forget to show up. But when someone claims that a dog had blood on it the news reports flood the shelter with phone calls and show up unannounced to interview for the stories that SELL PAPERS! And that is what this is all about. I don't see anyone trying to make a difference by helping to build a new shelter to house all of the animals that everyone keeps bringing in because they "don't have time to take care of the animal" or "they are moving and don't want to pay a pet deposit." Get real people, if you cared about your animals so much then the shelter wouldn’t be so overcrowded and you would have your pets spayed and neutered. You wouldn't have your dogs tied out and your back yards while you are gone on vacation and come back 2 weeks later and be SHOCKED that animal control picked your dog up and it was adopted to a family who has the brains to board their pets while on vacations rather than leaving it outside unattended and neglected. You "feel so bad, I'm so sad to bring it to the shelter," then don't take it there, take it to the vet and take it home. But no one wants to hold that burden do they? That's why we have an animal shelter that has a caring staff that comes in after hours to care for animals such as this dog. Although under paid continue to come to work day after day and be berated by ignorant customers who think that the shelter "took" there dog. Well you know what they didn’t. Animal Control picks up the animals and drops them off at the shelter.

So the next time you say well "I'm going to call News 2," go ahead, call Fox 8, and WXII 12 while you're at it it's still not going to change the fact that there are more and more un-wanted animals in Guilford County yet no one is trying to help the problem by building a new shelter or help update the facility. Changing the staff at the shelter is not the problem. Mrs. Williams is an intelligent and compassionate person who cares more about people and animals than herself. So until you have stood in her shoes and had to make the hard decisions that she has to make everyday in such a stressful and important position then you cannot judge. Start your own shelter and see how you like it!

“DottyDot”- there are many people that would leap at the chance to replace shelter director Mrs. Marsha Williams, but unfortunately the opportunity has not presented itself. Quite frankly, the current director is not the best candidate for the position, and this has been apparent time and again.

It requires a lot of love and compassion to properly care for the physical and psychological needs of unwanted animals. The current management, obviously have taken a more unsympathetic approach, using “by the book” methods of protocol, instead of the empathy and kindness that you would expect from a facility such as an animal “shelter”.

The staff simply did what was “required” of them procedure-wise to maintain the animal. They saw the appalling condition that this dog was in, and it is disturbing that not one employee took the initiative, to further care for “Raleigh”. Bathing, treatment of wounds, etc. must be considered “pampering” to the shelter caretakers.

When a staff of animal welfare organization representatives, do the bare minimum in a “high profile” case such as “Raleigh” the Great Pyrenees, it is truly disturbing. Raleigh’s story was broadcast to the public, so essentially the shelter treated a “celebrity” dog with such disregard, that you wonder what sort-of cruel conditions are the random - anonymous “strays” subjected to.

“The CURRENT”… DottyDot, says that it is our fault, as the triad’s pet owners. We are reading too far into the story she says, when we should be singing the praises of the shelter and donating money to improve the facility.

The shelter receives yearly grants of obnoxious amounts of money exceeding $ 1,000,000. Grants like that make the other county facilities accessible funds look like “chump change”.

The use of these monies should be subject to some form of audit if additional monetary donations are still needed to repair the buildings current dilapidated condition. Donations of food, litter, bedding, and other necessities are donated by the public daily as tax deductions, or just a kind act of philanthropy. Even their official website was made for them absolutely FREE of charge. Either way, this must help significantly with the cost of maintaining such a large volume of animals…so where is the money going? Aside from salaries, monthly utilities, and medications for the cats and dogs, it’s hard to determine where their “cool million” has truly disappeared to.

Anyone that has visited the shelter has experienced the stench of the adoption areas, multiple dogs crammed into small cages, dogs covered in a feces/urine cocktail, bloody stools in the cages, and animals with severe upper respiratory-tract infections. Once again, with grotesque sights like these in areas that are accessible by the public, you may wonder what is hidden behind the scenes?!

The Guilford County Animal Shelter should be subject to scrutiny. Our taxes pay for the cost of operating the facility, and the condition of the building as well as the poor care of the animals should outrage everyone. I encourage the public to contact their county commissioners and express their unhappiness with the current state of affairs.

More must be done, every moment we delay the animals continue to suffer; we silence their voice by discounting the atrocious circumstances that surround them.