Residents angry over animal shelter condition

Putnam County Animal Shelter closed to be cleaned

PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – Many animal lovers in Putnam County are outraged Tuesday night, at what they're calling poor living conditions at the Putnam County animal shelter.

Tuesday night the shelter was shut down for a week because of a parvo outbreak which is a very deadly dog virus. Residents in the area said it's just another example of the poor care the animals are facing every day.

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Right now the shelter is not releasing or taking in any animals because of the outbreak and residents said that even though the county is trying to clean up the problem, the issue is much deeper and they are asking the state for help.

Bonnie Carollin is just one of the concerned citizens who came out to the Putnam County Legislative delegation meeting Tuesday night. Her mission was to let state representatives know about what she calls the poor living conditions that animals at the shelter deal with every day.

"I'm here to represent the voiceless animals that have no representation at our Putnam County Control," Carollin said. "We have parvo, we always have upper respiratory problems in our kitty population. We have gunshot wounds that come in. There is no veterinary care for these animals. The county does not budget for them."

Carollin alleges that the shelter is overcrowded and animals aren't given proper medical attention. She said that employees that work there need proper shelter management training, a statement Mary Kirkland, a recent adopter, said.

"In my opinion, an animal care and control worker that can't even tell if a male dog has been neutered or not probably needs to be doing some other kind of a job," Kirkland said.

Concerned citizens are now asking for help from the state, but State Senator Travis Hudson said they must go through the local process first.

"I trust the local county commissioners and the public to get together. They're asking for state money, they're asking for more funding, but until we solve some of the issues with the employees and some of what's going on behind the scenes with the regulations, I don't know if the money is the right thing to do," Hudson said. "But hopefully the two groups can get together and come up with a plan and we can move forward with that plan from Tallahassee."

"There's no accountability with these employees now. I think that they have just kind of done it their way for so long that they don't want to change and I think that they need to be held accountable. There needs to be major change," Kirkland said.

The shelter will be cleaned twice a day with full strength bleach during the closure and will reopen on Tuesday.