GALAX, Va. – Leaders of the Galax-Carroll-Grayson Animal Shelter are responding to claims of negligent management that led to permanent injury and several dead animals.
The accusations were detailed in a complaint sent to Galax officials on Dec. 1.
Keith Barker, Galax City Manager, said he was unaware of some issues but that they are working to correct some wrongs.
Notably, Barker said the new director, Bernie Rector, is working with staff to better address the cleaning issue the state inspector called out in the September report.
“I think our relationship with a number of rescues we work with is fairly good, but we can always work to improve those,” said Barker in an email Thursday.
Accompanied by several documents, the group made several accusations from a mishandled dog attack to the shelter’s previous manager endorsing the community to shoot cats.
In response to the dog bite, Barker says he was not notified until Homeward Trails, the leading organization behind the complaint, contacted him.
“The bite issue actually falls to the locality where the bite occurred for investigation. The dog was not in shelter control or ownership at that point and had been transferred to another rescue group, Fur-Get-Me-Not Rescue, who did offer to assist with his payments,” explained Barker. “If the dog was a bite risk, we should not be transferring it under any circumstances, even if cages or volunteers knew the dog was a bite risk or not. We do not provide direct transport ourselves so any animal leaving the shelter is actually under the control of another group at that point. Due to the number of animals we take in and transfer, we simply do not have enough staff or resources to do the transports ourselves.”
10 News learned the average shelter budget is approximately $150,000. The yearly operating budget, which is split evenly among Galax, Carroll, and Grayson, is irrelevant to how many animals are brought in. The animal count average is typically about 50% Carroll, 35% Grayson and 15% Galax.
A September inspection report found the shelter in violation of several sanitation codes. Moving forward, Barker says the shelter is seeking the assistance and advice of their veterinarian of record and state inspector.
Since that state evaluation, Barker says the shelter closed for two weeks in October to control infection of panleukopenia among cats.
“We also received funding to assist in some treatments for cats on intake,” explained Barker. “We have been closed a few days recently simply to get caught up on cleanings, removing unneeded items, etc.”
“Part of our issue is simply the number of animals we take in, about 1,100 dogs a year and around 1,500 cats,” stated Barker.
The former shelter manager, Jessica Boyer, was reassigned to Shelter Technician effective Dec. 10. The new manager, Mr. Rector, also serves as the Galax Animal Control Officer.
Shelter technicians are assigned duties by the shelter manager related to cleaning and feeding, according to the email sent to 10 News.
Barker did not comment on whether Boyer’s new role was related to the complaints. Citing personnel matters, he also did not comment on allegations Boyer encouraged the shooting of community cats.