District investigation of Long Beach Animal Shelter leads to a resignation, a suspension and City Hall’s promise of a massive clean-up

PHOTO by JEFF GOULD

Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown came to the Long Beach Animal Shelter last week to tape an episode of a lighthearted TV contest called The Singing Office—at about the same time City Manager Pat West announced he had accepted the resignation of the shelter’s top officer, suspended one of its employees and launched an investigation into charges of animal mistreatment at the facility.

West’s April 8 announcement confirmed the major findings of an April 3 District Weekly story documenting procedural breakdowns, plummeting employee morale and staffing shortages. The District investigation followed a shelter employee’s tip, and was based on another employee’s complaint of animal cruelty.

The March 15 report by registered veterinary technician Christine Culhno of Long Beach Animal Control describes an incident in which an untrained officer used a rabies pole to drag an out-of-control pit bull from its holding pen. The report alleges the officer inadvertently choked the dog until blood gushed from its mouth and nose.

“The dog was flipping around and fighting so much that my syringe needle bent and I had to replace it before administering the drug,” Culhno wrote in a formal complaint. “I lost my footing on a pool of blood as I walked across the room.”

The scene was so exceptionally gruesome that, when the dog was finally euthanized, workers hosed blood off floors, walls, doors, cages and cabinets in the euthanasia room, the complaint alleges.

West said “management issues” and “breakdowns in protocol and procedure” led to the inhumane deaths of the pit bull and a feral cat. A former shelter officer told The District that the accidental euthanization of another dog due to misidentification was not a unique event.

West promised several big changes are already underway. Long Beach Animal Control facility manager Wesley Moore resigned April 7; days earlier, city officials suspended shelter employee Victor Martinez for alleged animal cruelty involving the March 13 killing of the pit bull.

West said he’s asked an outside investigation firm to evaluate the shelter’s managers, and has temporarily hired two senior staff officials, along with Belmont Shore vet Dr. Loren Eslinger. She started April 7.

Lt. Michelle Quigley will act as the bureau manager until Roger Hatakeyama, a former shelter manager who helped design the shelter, returns next week to deal with employee and internal issues. West says he has asked Long Beach city audit manager John Keisler to deal with more “bureaucratic responsibilities.”

The high-profile press conference didn’t answer all questions. For several months, the shelter has been short at least six staff—an issue West said was unrelated to funding.

The staffing shortage may explain why several shelter employees tell The District they’re overworked and that morale is in freefall. Former officer Carey Macy said he left the facility in October because he could no longer work in “an operation run by fear.”

“Managers would elevate their voices, use intimidation, change your words, and have scapegoats,” Macy said. “They [managers] do a really good job about finding a scapegoat which covers up the problem that management caused to begin with.”

By October, he was “physically sick when thinking about going to work,” he said, and sometimes so overworked that he could barely stand.

Other employees described being forced to work night shifts with little training, and then required to return for yet another shift less than eight hours later. They asserted the shelter operated without key written policies or procedures, and illegally euthanized animals and administered medication without oversight.

Acting facility manager Michelle Quigley did not respond to several requests for comment.

“I can’t look you in the eye and tell you why this has happened,” West said. “It’s something the investigation team will have to look into.”

Nor is it clear whether television can resolve this crisis in just 60 minutes. The Singing Office episode featuring the animal shelter—a show designed, Scary Spice says, to give “people a break from their everyday lives to have some fun with their co-workers”—is scheduled for June broadcast on TLC.

Tags: animal cruelty, long beach animal shelter, the singing office, TV