A resignation, a suspension and an investigation
Animal Control’s top officer is gone, a shelter employee has been suspended, and the city has launched an investigation into charges of animal mistreatment at the city’s shelter following a District Weekly probe, city officials said today.
Animal Control facility manager Wesley Moore resigned Monday after Long Beach City Manager Pat West announced he’s investigating several reports of alleged animal mistreatment at the shelter. Moore resigned after the suspension last week of another shelter employee, Victor Martinez, for alleged animal cruelty involving the brutal March 13 killing of a vicious pit bull.
One thing is certain, officials told a press conference: new leadership is needed at Animal Control. The District investigation followed a shelter employee’s tip, and was based on another employee’s complaint of animal cruelty. That complaint documented the botched killing of a dangerous pit bull.
“The dog was flipping around and fighting so much that my syringe needle bent and I had to replace it before administering the drug,” the employee wrote in a formal complaint. “I lost my footing on a pool of blood as I walked across the room.”
The scene was so exceptionally gruesome that, when the dog was finally euthanized, workers hosed blood off floors, walls, doors, cages and cabinets in the euthanasia room, the complaint alleges.
West said “management issues” and “breakdowns in protocol and procedure” led to the inhumane deaths of the pit bull and feral cat. A former shelter officer told The District Weekly that the accidental euthanization of another dog due to misidentification was not an isolated event.
West promised several big changes are already underway. He’s asked an independent investigation firm to evaluate the shelter’s managers, and has temporarily hired two senior staff officials, along with Belmont Shore vet Dr. Loren Eslinger. She started Monday.
Lt. Michelle Quigley will act as the bureau manager until Roger Hatakeyama, a former shelter manager who helped design the shelter, returns next week to deal with employee and internal issues. West says he has asked Long Beach city audit manager John Keisler to deal with more “bureaucratic responsibilities.”
The high-profile press conference didn’t answer all questions. For several months, the shelter has been short of at least six staffers—an issue West said was unrelated to funding. Additionally, staffers say they’re overworked and that morale is in freefall.
“I can’t look you in the eye and tell you why this has happened,” West said. “It’s something the investigation team will have to look into.”
Contact reporter Heather Reger at hreger@thedistrictweekly
http://thedistrictweekly.com/daily/writing-shotgun/breakdowns-lead-to-animal-control-shake-up/
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