Wednesday, October 28, 2009

MEMPHIS AREA! Animal shelter is being investigated for cruelty! ADOPT NOW!


There are a lot of things I read that make me sick, just sick, but this has to be one of the most disgusting reports of ALL time. People who were supposed to LOVE animals hurt them and starved them. What kind of people did Memphis hire? Don't tell me that there weren't good, kind people who applied for employment at that shelter. A city the size of Memphis should be ASHAMED, TOTALLY ASHAMED!

IF YOU LIVE IN THE TENNESSEE AREA FOR HERE TO CHECK OUT THE ANIMALS AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION.  If I wasn't two days' drive from there I would be on my way NOW to bring one of those sweethearts home with me.

Memphis Animal Services
3456 Tchulahoma Road
Memphis, TN 38118
Phone: (901) 362-5310

ASPCA Forensics Team Sent to Tennessee

posted by: Sharon Seltzer 13 hours ago

The Forensics Team and Emergency Responders from the ASPCA were sent early Tuesday morning - October 27th to assist with an investigation being conducted by law enforcement officers at the City of Memphis Animal Shelter. The request for help came after a raid was made on the shelter by the local sheriff’s department because of allegations of animal cruelty.

The ASPCA Team was called in because of their expertise in collecting forensics evidence for criminal animal abuse cases. Their team is being run by Dr. Melinda Merck, who is a leading forensics veterinarian.

The Memphis Animal Shelter

This municipal shelter which opened its doors in the mid 1950’s is responsible for housing and adopting abandoned and abused pets throughout the entire city of Memphis. Their website states that they hope for a day "... keeping animals safe from mistreatment and abuse. Promoting, motivating and enforcing responsible pet ownership is our number one goal." But ironically, the cats and dogs in this shelter have allegedly suffered severe abuse from the very people who were hired to protect them.

The Investigation

The investigation began earlier this month after District Attorney Bill Gibbons received a tip from a concerned citizen about the conditions at the facility. He ordered a search warrant and contacted the sheriff’s office to conduct the raid.

According to the search warrant, “detectives have learned that some animals have been deprived of food and water while at the Memphis Animal Shelter..” and while in the shelter’s care, “some dogs have been starved to the point of requiring euthanasia.”

The warrant further accuses shelter employees of keeping “dogs that are to be quarantined for rabies with dogs that are not required to be quarantined in the same kennel.”

The ASPCA will scour the animal shelter for possible evidence that hopefully will lead to criminal charges against the facility and its employees. They have set up their “Mobile Animal Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Unit which will help them process the evidence. The unit is equipped with medical equipment that is specially designed for animal patients.

The Emergency Team will focus its responsibility on helping the animals at the shelter. They will see that each pet is examined by a veterinarian and that every animal has a safe and clean living environment. It is unclear yet, if the pets will have to be moved.

“Work like this is central to our mission, and the ASPCA is encouraged that Shelby County is raising its voice against animal cruelty,” said ASPCA President and CEO Ed Sayres.
National Canine Cancer Foundation

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is just disgusting! It really baffles me on how cruel and heartless that people can be. I say that their punishment be that THEY are deprived of food and water until THEY require euthanasia!

The Kitty Krew said...

Oh that's just horrible...we're glad that they're going to get the help they need but very sad that it's so late for some of them. :(

Purrs and hugs,
The Kitty Krew

Gemini and Ichiro said...

How horrible that such things can happen.

Brian's Home Blog said...

I really don't understand stuff like that either. I thought the humans were supposed to be the more intelligent species...hmmmmm, gotta wonder sometimes!

Cats~Goats~Quotes said...

Terrible, just awful.
We don't understand how someone can harm innocent animals. So sad.
Thank you for making us aware of this.
~ The Bunch

meowmeowmans said...

That is horrific. How can some people be so cruel and heartless?

Amy & the house of cats said...

They really need to start doing a better job of screening people who work at and especially run these shelters - these are horrible people. I wonder how much oversight this place got to slip through the cracks with this horrible situation for so long - even one day it too long for this to slide by.

Sweet Purrfections said...

That is terrible!

(angel) Grrreta and Fam said...

That is really awful! We're glad the concerned citizen reported what was going on.

Mark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq) said...

This kind of situation always seems odd. People that spend their time tryin to care for abandoned pets are not likely to be deliberately cruel. We will hope that the investigations show that the shelter was doing the best it could with a lack of funds...

But if not, it needs to be taken over by caring people and remanaged.

The Big Thing

Jans Funny Farm said...

We were upset when we read that too.