Robeson Co Animal Shelter Inspections

The following info is snipped from state inspections of the Robeson Co Animal Shelter over the past two years. These snippets are summaries - not direct quotes. You can click the links to view the original reports (pdfs). My notes are in parentheses.

April 16, 2008 inspection: 108 enclosures with 54 dogs and 4 cats in the shelter. Cross contamination issues.

April 22, 2008 inspection: 108 enclosures with 33 dogs and 4 cats in the shelter. Pets need resting surfaces. Use large feed trays for resting surfaces if size appropriate.

May 15, 2008 inspection: 108 enclosures with 55 dogs and 15 cats in the shelter. Cross-contamination and resting surfaces issues remain.

August 25, 2008 inspection: 108 enclosures with 43 dogs and 19 cats in the shelter. All runs now have resting platforms. Cross-contamination issues. Sick/injured pets are not being treated or euthanized in a timely manner.

October 2, 2008 inspection: 108 enclosures with 43 dogs and 5 cats in the shelter. Sick pets being euthanized in a more timely manner than previously. (No mention made of sick pets receiving veterinary care.) Cross-contamination issues.

December 16, 2008 inspection: 108 enclosures with 24 dogs and 2 cats in the shelter. Cross-contamination issues.

(No inspection reports listed for 9 month period - were any performed?)

September 8, 2009 Euthanasia inspection report: Animals being killed without being checked for tattoos, identification or microchips first.

September 8, 2009 inspection: 108 enclosures with 27 dogs and 15 cats in the shelter. Awaiting new kennels to address cross-contamination issues.

November 17, 2009 Euthanasia inspection report: The shelter is converting their feed room into a euthanasia room.

November 17, 2009 inspection: 108 enclosures with 29 dogs and 1 cat in the shelter. New kennels have been installed and no issues of cross-contamination.

March 1, 2010 inspection: 108 enclosures with 75 dogs and 10 cats in the shelter. Shelter is using Ajax mixed with Clorox to clean kennels, resting boards and food/water bowls. The Ajax label says the product should not be mixed with chlorine bleach. Irritating fumes present in shelter. Dogs and inspector suffered from eye irritation and discomfort as a result.

March 9, 2010 inspection: 108 enclosures with 30 dogs and 10 cats in the shelter. No longer mixing Clorox and Ajax. Every animal now moved to a clean pen daily. Staff no longer cleaning with animals in cages. (The shelter manager, Jeff Bass, apparently provided the inspector with copies of e-mail complaints he received at this visit. The e-mails are not shown in the pdf. Mr. Bass refers to the e-mails in this letter: "[...]the messages continue to come like "chieu hoi” pamphlets falling from the sky in Vietnam".)

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A few observations: At the time of the above inspections, the shelter was never at capacity. The population ranged from 26 to 85 pets during the time span. With 3 AC officers and 3 employees, I have to wonder why they are killing pets (without checking for chips/tattoos!) when there are empty cages at this facility. And yet:

Bass said that at one time, the shelter was putting down 90 to 95 percent of the animals that came through its doors because of too little space and too few adoptions.

Where is this "too little space" issue? It's not evident to me from these inspection reports.

I also wonder why there is no mention of getting veterinary care for sick/injured pets. Has the shelter tried to get veterinary care for their pets?

Mixing Ajax with bleach - duh. Even if your mama didn't tell you to never mix ammonia and bleach and you didn't bother to read the label on the bottle, you could always check the internets (search for "homemade bombs"). Didn't it burn the staff's eyes too?

At any rate, the inspection reports appear to corroborate at least some of the allegations made by eyewitnesses in various online postings about the shelter.