Union Co. Supervisor Addresses Shelter Video

Union County Supervisor Donnie Betenbaugh visited the county's animal shelter Friday morning to address issues that were highlighted in home video shot by a citizen and broadcast earlier this week by WSPA and other media outlets.
The video shows someone cleaning out the dog kennels by spraying water from a pressure washer without first removing the dogs from the kennel. Many of the dogs appear to be wet and a black lab could be seen with feces or food covering its face after being sprayed with the filthy water. It also shows an unlocked freezer which sits behind the shelter, accessible to the public. The citizen lifted the lid to reveal the freezer filled with dead cats. The citizen filed a complaint with the sheriff's office alleging mistreatment of animals.
Betenbaugh says the kennels were being cleaned by a jail inmate who is assigned to help with shelter upkeep. He says normally animals are removed from kennels before they are cleaned and placed in an empty kennel, but on the day the video was shot the shelter was at capacity and so the inmate did not remove them. Betenbaugh says the inmate has now been told to always remove the dogs, even if it means putting them in a temporary holding pen while the kennels are being sprayed out.
"That will not happen again," said Betenbaugh.
As for the freezer full of cats, Betenbaugh says cats are euthanized and then held in the freezer until a company picks them up and distributes them to universities for studies. He says the freezer now has a lock on it to prevent people from being able to open it and see inside.
He says vast improvements have been made at the shelter in the last two years since the city of Union and the county agreed to operate the shelter jointly. The city gave $10,000 to the county which Betenbaugh says was used to enclose the back portion of the shelter, create a separate area for cats, add a euthanasia room, an office, a restroom, and other improvements. A full-time shelter manager who is certified to euthanize by lethal injection was also hired.
But he points out that the shelter has no other employees and is always in need of volunteers, so anyone who was outraged by the video can always come volunteer their time to help take care of the animals.
And if you would like to adopt a dog or cat, call the shelter at (864) 429-2808, or email shelter manager Heather Sealy to set up an appointment at hsealy@countyofunion.com. The shelter is open from 7am - 4pm Monday through Friday.
Click on the video tab above to watch Chris Cato's interview with Betenbaugh and the home video of the shelter.