MEMPHIS, TN – Memphis Mayor A C Wharton announced that the city will wrap up its own investigation into the Memphis Animal Shelter by Friday, and until then, no animals will be euthanized. Last week, sheriff's deputies raided the shelter after complaints of emaciated dogs and charges of neglect. It's all captured in search warrant photos. The pictures are graphic, but animal lovers in the Mid-South say they prove the city needs to take a hard look at how animals are treated.
"We've sent numerous emails to city officials, city council members,” said Cindy Sanders, co-founder of Community Action for Animals.
She said the emails were about problems at the city animal shelter, from overcrowding to budget problems to a lack of proper training for shelter employees.
“The Memphis Animal Shelter has many wonderful, wonderful workers,” Sanders said, “and in light of the recent photographs it appears the Memphis Animal Shelter has just as many not so wonderful workers."
And while Wharton has pledged to install cameras and set operating standards for the shelter, Sanders wishes the city had taken action long ago.
"Even though it has become kind of a catchword, transparency really does pay off in the end,” she said. “It’s always the best route to follow.”
But she said people who take home animals bear some responsibility too.
"The overcrowding at the shelter is not the shelter's fault,” she said. “That is the fault of the citizens of Memphis who don't spay or neuter their animals.”
The problem hits home for Thomas Dosier, who adopted two-year-old "Banger" after finding him dirty and bruised at a park.
“Maybe he was unwanted as a puppy, maybe he was part of a litter that could have been avoided if the dogs had been spayed or neutered,” Dosier said.
Sanders said stressing that message helps the shelter, and the community, in the long run.
"There is no reason that a city of Memphis' size and tax base can not have a progressive modern shelter,” she said.
