07.14.07

Conditions Still Bad At WCRAS

Posted in Animal Shelter, Had Enough Yet?, Williamson County at 12:08 am by wcnews

From this AAS article today, Shelter struggles with disease, turnover, we learn that there are still major problems at the Williamson County Animal Shelter.

Cedar Park City Council Member Cobby Caputo said he has questioned the shelter’s size and staffing from the beginning.

“I just have the sense that there’s not enough staff there,” he said at the council’s meeting Thursday, later questioning why the interim director is charged with hiring staff members on top of her other duties. “Why isn’t (the county’s human resources department) filling those positions?”

And at least one shelter employee raised concerns about the potential spread of disease. Kathy Abdella, a veterinary technician and staff supervisor at the shelter, said conditions were so bad Thursday that the only solution is to close the shelter for several days, monitor illness and consider a mass euthanization, if necessary.

There are no plans to take such measures, county officials said.

“We have no intention of shutting the shelter down,” said Commissioner Valerie Covey, the county’s representative on the shelter board.

The shelter has temporarily closed on Thursdays to train new workers.

Abdella said she found several highly contagious animals when she reported to work Thursday after two weeks of medical leave.

As soon as she entered the building, she said, she could smell parvovirus, a highly contagious malady that attacks an animal’s digestive system. Abdella said she found one dog in the isolation area that was suffering from parvo but wasn’t being treated. Abdella said other dogs in the hallway had “kennel cough,” a highly contagious upper respiratory illness.

Interim director Dana Boehm confirmed that two dogs with parvo were euthanized and said that potentially infected dogs were isolated and tested negative for the disease.

On Friday afternoon, most animals were clean, had food and water, and appeared healthy during a visit by the American-Statesman. However, in the adoption areas, one dog was coughing heavily and two others were panting and shaking, despite the air-conditioned room. The isolation area was not available for examination, the staff said, to prevent the spread of disease.

The towns - Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Hutto - that got suckered are involved in this deal are not happy either.

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