LONGVIEW, Wash. (KOIN) — A Longview veterinarian is alleging that animals are not treated humanely at the Humane Society of Cowlitz County, causing the city to reexamine its contract with the shelter.
Dr. Aaron Gilbertsen wrote a letter to the city on Jan. 17 detailing conditions he’s seen at the shelter, where he is contracted to spay and neuter animals before they can be adopted.
Gilbertsen said he already had a low opinion of the humane society before he started services there in May 2017 but now he refuses work there again.
Gilbertsen claims there is “much more than the ‘usual’ shelter sadness in that facility.” His allegations include the shelter euthanizing animals with treatable issues, animals being left in kennels all day and not getting walked and injured animals not getting proper medical treatment.
“They live in their 6′ x 6′ kennels, urinating and defecating where they eat and sleep, covering themselves in urine/feces, and only leave the kennel to be moved next door while it’s cleaned. “
Gilbertsen said the final straw was when he arrived at the shelter to spay and neuter cats and found one dead in a carrier with a note on top that said, “Hit by car, in bad shape,” but no one had been called to take care of it for more than 12 hours.
“Instead of seeking medical treatment with their contracted provider, calling me, or calling in someone that could euthanize the cat to end its suffering, they let it suffer in a cat carrier until it succumbed to its injuries. Sounds pretty ‘humane’, huh?”
He attributed many of the issues to an interim director with “no interest in improving it.”
At a packed meeting at city hall Thursday night, the crowd wore purple in support of the animals.
One woman who testified at the meeting said she rescued 2 dogs from the shelter and one had its tail amputated due to bed sores.
“They felt that the fact they had been in the urine and feces had made them worse,” Leah Brown with Lucky Paws Rescue, said.
Messages for HSCC Director Rick Johnson were not returned but board member Cindy Nordstrom said things have changed.
“In the last 45 days we have gone through tremendous change to make positive adjustments to better our humane society,” Nordstrom said.
Despite her promise, the city council added wording to the extension of the contract that will require the city to have a third party review the operations.
“We love that idea, we have been working with SW Washington on this, they have been helpful about instrumenting our program, finding us a new director as well as helping us with our volunteer program,” board member Don Cianci told KOIN 6 News after the meeting.
He also said the cat’s death is still under investigation and as for the accusations about dogs not being walked, he said too many people were getting their information from Facebook and that was before changes were made.