Alcohol Abuse Advice

Question by Bella: Animal abuse lawsuit? HELP!!?
I worked for an animal shelter for 9 months. During those nine months, I witnessed the abuse and neglect of stray animals by several of the staff members, all with more authority than myself. Examples of this was “passing over” animal cages during cleaning (leaving the animals without food, water, or sanitary living conditions), mixing up paperwork and inadvertently euthanizing the wrong dog, etc.etc. I went to the Human Resources department several times and was ignored, getting responses like “So, what seems to be the problem?” after I outline issues. I even tried to file a sexual harassment charge against another employee that was finding ways to lean on me or grab me and that was ignored. The head of the HR department is not only un-educated, but is non-responsive to issues because it would be “too much work”. But wait, it gets worse.

While I was working, I tried my best to maintain the facility and ensure that every animal was cared for, but since I have left (I was offered a job with 2x the pay elsewhere), I have stayed in contact with a colleague of mine that still works there (one of the few that actually works to ensure animals are well cared for).

She informed me that the conditions had worsened to stages we’d never seen. I went in to volunteer yesterday and was startled by what I saw. I decided to clean the stray cat room and found that at least half of the cats (roughly 100 cages + overflow cages in the department which are all FULL) did not have anything in their stainless steel cages. There were dead cats that I had to remove and then bleach the kennels. There was mold growing in the kennels that DID have food. Several of the cats were developing sicknesses. And what is more astonishing is the fact that these cats only stay in the stray department for a maximum of 5 days, which means these conditions rapdily degenerated since they were introduced.

What can I do to bring this shelter to justice? Can I take pictures of these conditions? Would that be admissable in court? I want to begin stockpiling evidence ASAP. I think the biggest source of this problem is the fact that they fired five employees, but never replaced them, so there simply isn’t enough staff to go around. However, the staff that does exist isn’t even putting in an effort to get work done.

The supervisor also is not present. Instead, the supervisor sits across the parking lot and only makes appearances when there is a customer complaint.

What can I do to help these animals? They are worse off than on the street. This is not a no-kill shelter so these poor animals are living in a hell before they are euthanized. This is the source of much disgust on my part and I cannot simply sit back. I work full-time, but I volunteer on weekends as often as possible. Even still, there are issues that go beyond cleaning.

Please, any advice or ideas would be much appreciated.

My biggest challenge is the fact that the county animal control is a part of this shelter. These are the officers that are supposed to be ensuring animals are NOT abused. This is what makes my mission 10x more difficult. The staff members at this facility are not only lazy but they just don’t care. Many of them have drug or alcohol problems and another problem is the fact that the head of the facility has several of his family members working, which means they are given “immunity” from discipline. HELP!!!

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