13 Investigates: Problems continue to plague The Animal Foundation

Millions of your tax dollars continue to pour into The Animal Foundation, a place 13 Investigates exposed as a shelter in crisis. There's a new leader, but are the pets any safer? Darcy Spears investigates.

[wackOslimO]

This place is INFURIATING. Thank you for exposing the situation and for the follow up report.

[nadezhdawall-rossi]

There is no bigger betrayal than that of abusing, neglecting, exploiting animals.

[yssync]

There is no reason for someone who sits on their butt in there office to make 6 figures! Raise the actual workers' pay and give those animals more care they need! I have been donating via. Amazon Prime, too as many others. Please get it together Animal Foundation!!!

[louise]

Get a grip you guys, if staff are saying it's bad, it's bad. Just disgusting from so called animal shelter. The CEO is responsible.

[chasingsunsets]

We are having such a crisis in animal care.

[louise]

Someone is ripping the place off. Audit. 6 figures for bosses, just appalling.

[thhousealchemist]

This place is heart breaking. So many abandon their pets. I was there for 10 minutes and people just giving up on their pets. The CEO should be jailed.

[dodieodie]

SIX figures???? Dang. Animal welfare is lucrative. Ms. Grey sounds like a politician. She's got their responses for questions down pat.

[MajesticPeacockVibes]

My whole life I worked as a pet professional & seen many behind the scenes 😳... the physical endurance you need everyday to care for these dogs & the training... love & passion is the only reason why you make it through every single day & get paid dog shit

[Slick_Lithium]

Just finished volunteer training to start here. Wish I had watched this first but the animals need help none the less. I really hope I can do as much as I can in volunteering to make a difference for animals and people who come to and work at the shelter ❤

[introvertsrock]

Adoptions take hours on campus, if one was able to.
While an adoption off-site took 30 mins. How are they making this better?

Should do an investigation on what ppl have to do to volunteer ? They have to now watch videos and takes quizzes before.

[woodbrick]

Rich people stealing money from animals.

Underground pet trafficking ring. Sometimes microchips are removed and they get sent out of state.

[willieverusethis]

This is why privatizing animal services is such a bad idea. Lots of money to the CEO and VPs, nothing for the workers or animals. At least if the shelter is run by the municipality there are civil service pay scales and evaluations, etc.

[tracylndsy]

This breaks my heart. I adopted 2 of my dogs from here. I do notice that on the web-site they have alot of dogs listed with "behavioral issues. May not be suitable for adoption." Am glad I got my babies out. This is sad.

[silverlily]

These evils will go to hell 😡😡😡. Please get justice for the animals who can’t speak up for themselves 😡

[woodbrick]

I'm wasting my money on shit that doesn't work. Someone is stealing money from tax payer. Rich people taking tax money 🤑💰.

[ritacampbell]

I had a problem with the main shelter in Las Vegas, Nevada in the late 1990s. He was picked up with the driver, my relative. He was a small dog.

They told me they didn’t have him and I wouldn’t give up. I was there four hours or more. I cried, I begged, I argued, I refused to give up.

Only at the very end, they admitted they remove collars on all animals as they go in!

After several times walking through the kennels, at long last, I don’t recall who suggested it, but there were outdoor, small patios where the dogs relieved themselves.

I asked to go look through there. So we went outside and very quickly, I found him there. They had put him in with all the super size, huge dogs, Great Danes, dobermans, etc.

He was cowering and shivering in the “poo patio, ” covered, I mean horribly covered in feces.

Fortunately, they agreed to let me borrow a carrier! That was the one kindness. I washed and returned it later. I was grateful for that much.

So, I did bring him home. The groomer refused to touch him. They were rather rude and cold in fact. They handed me a bottle of dog shampoo, rather shoved it at me, disdainfully.

I took him home to my uncle, and I had to hose down the dog in the yard and wash him with the shampoo, myself, before he could be allowed in the house.

But, if I had given up, and I had by the way also had to call all over the city for hours on the phone before any of this, calling all over the city. Finally the police promised me if an animal was picked up during a traffic arrest, they would only ever take the animal to the city pound, and they guaranteed that. So I was sure he had to have been there.

So I would not give up. But they told me for four hours at the pound that they didn’t have the dog!

Only after I refused to leave and I was crying in their faces for hours and begging, did they long last admit they take all the collars with the identification off, as soon as they get there. And they allowed me to look through the collars.

I had to go through boxes of ID collars, until I found his. Then I knew he was there somewhere and I demanded to find him.

They walked me over the whole facility. We could not find him until I was able to be taken outdoors, to look in the small patios where the animals were to relieve themselves.

And that’s where I found him, a tiny little dog put in so cruelly with huge unfriendly dogs and shivering in fear.

And he was cowering, absolutely covered with urine and gobs of fecal matter! It was horrible! He had been there for several days. None of it was my fault at all.

My uncle had been kept in jail, and I guess he was too ashamed to call me and tell me where he was and what had happened! I had gone to his house and not found him or the dog home, and the security people at his community refused to tell me anything! It was appalling.

A kind neighbor saw me there day after day, and came and told me where my uncle was. So that’s when I knew that I had to locate the dog for him. I got him out of jail first.

He was only driving erratically out of boredom. He told me he was “driving wheelies, ” and I had never even heard of that until then. I was just trying to help.

So I was trying to locate the dog for him, which was also my late aunts dog! And the shelter REFUSED to help me, or admit they had him for four hours!

I am extraordinarily persistent. Most people would have left, and the little dog would have almost certainly been put to sleep, not long after.

They never explained to me why they TOOK OFF the identifying collars the minute all the animals arrive. Not all animals are microchipped. So I can’t understand why they would remove their only ID!

They never specifically apologized for LYING TO ME for four hours, insisting he WASNT THERE, when of course he was! I don’t understand how or why shelters can be so cold, cruel, and utterly inefficiently run. Aren’t there laws? If not, maybe there should be laws and regulations to make sure they are run in the best way, and they don’t operate so horribly.

[TheDoconnor]

These animals are in trouble. We need volunteers to hold them accountable. I’m sure many animals have owners.

[susantwombly]

Talk about...?!!!! Fix is simple: more decently paid employees. Duh!