Saturday, January 24, 2009

Transparency and Organization Still Lacking at Secretive SC Shelter

Last month, I wrote about a shelter in Myrtle Beach, SC (run by the Horry County Humane Society) which closed to kill dogs en masse after a Distemper outbreak. The apparent attempts by the shelter director to mislead/hide from the media regarding the handling of the disease outbreak got her sacked not long after the story hit the local news. The shelter reopened after a month long closure (how long does it take to thoroughly clean a facility which should be thoroughly clean to start with?) but now Board members are jumping ship:
There are currently 8 members on the HCHS board with seven seats unfilled.
One of the 8 occupied seats was just filled this past week:

The board voted Wednesday to appoint Carol Bourne-Hunt to the HCHS board after Hunt was voted off the Grand Strand Humane Society’s board days ago.

Hunt told News13 she spend 13 years as a member of the GSHS board, but lost a re-election bid in January after the Myrtle Beach animal shelter staff campaigned for another candidate.

I couldn't find any available facts regarding the failed re-election bid but it doesn't take a genius to realize if the staff at this lady's former shelter campaigned for her ousting, they must have had a reason. Shelter staff are generally the hands on people who try and help the animals in their care within the limitations set for them by the Board of Directors. They see the day to day effects that board room decisions have on the lives of shelter pets. I tend to give their opinions significant value. At any rate, the Horry County Humane Society (half) Board won't be writing their own ticket indefinitely:

Some members of Horry County council cited the seemingly high turnover at the agency’s shelter and board as reason to take a closer look into the shelter’s management and finances.

The county’s Public Safety Committee voted on Jan. 14 to conduct an investigation into the shelter’s finances.

The HCHS received $535, 613 in county tax dollars to run the shelter in a contract with Horry County.

Yeah I'd like to know what exactly this (half) Board is doing with that half-a-million in taxpayer money too. I mean besides adopting out dogs during a known Distemper outbreak, killing dogs in their care and bringing on board someone who just got the boot from her own shelter staff. Accountability, anyone?

1 comment:

Caveat said...

It's always bad when board seats are vacated at animal welfare orgs because the animal liberation crew moves in and takes over. It happens a lot, and I'm told that's how the h s us was taken over in the late 80s.

We used to hear, back when distemper was still fairly prevalent (unlike now), that we should wait for 6 months before introducing a new animal if we had a pet with the disease. Mind you, that was back in the 50s.