Shelter Faces Abuse Claims, Investigation Ensues

January 19, 2009 | By Amy Lieberman

The Cecil County SPCA faces "severe" abuse claims, including unjustly killing animals. Pictured above is one dog who initially survived an alleged shooting at the Maryland facility. (Photo Courtesy of Natasha Ewing)

The Cecil County SPCA is advertised as a place where the "homeless are sheltered and the abandoned are giving care," according to its Web site, but former employees, clients and one Maryland delegate are accusing the shelter of unjustly abusing and killing its animals. An investigation is now underway.

ELKTON, Md. -- The Cecil County SPCA is being investigated for approximately 20 individual, and often overlapping, claims of abuse from former shelter employees and volunteers.

The incidents date back to several years ago, but continue to surface in a "snowball effect," said Cailey Locklair, chief of staff for Maryland Delegate Michael Smigiel (R-Upper Shore).

"At first, we had three ex-employees come forward, then two more," Locklair said. "Soon, everyone was just coming forward with some very disgusting, horrific allegations of abuse."

Smigiel has tried to publicize and document the allegations on his blog, Smigiel.WordPress.com, which has received 33,000 page views since it was created last week.

The stories paint stark, grizzly images of the "modified no-kill" facility, which placed in the top 20 category in Zootoo.com's shelter makeover contest last year.

"I am shocked to hear about these allegations of one of our shelter makeover finalists," Richard Thompson, Zootoo.com founder, said in a released statement. "We obviously don't condone these behaviors, if they are found to be true, and we look forward to see the outcome of the investigation."

The claims include instances of unjustified shootings of dogs; shooting of a wandering, non-aggressive pet dog; employees beating, kicking and punching animals; euthanizing animals because of their breed or appearance; and faulty veterinary procedures, administered by unlicensed employees.

"Obviously, we had questions about the veracity of such serious claims, but we got a sworn affidavit from all of the people, and a lot of the stories overlap," said Locklair, adding that all witnesses have agreed to take polygraph tests.

Former employees point blame to shelter executive director Jeanne Deeming and animal control Capt. Jerry Hawkins. After repeated attempts, neither Deeming nor Hawkins returned Pet Pulse's calls as of press time.

The CCSPCA, though, has issued several public statements countering the claims. In the most recent one, signed by CCSPCA board president Nancy Scwerzler, it says it is "unfortunate" Smigiel has initiated a blog open to "people who may or may not have credible information."

"Most of them [allegations] have been reviewed previously, including by outside independent parties that apparently found insufficient evidence to support them," reads the statement, found on CecilCountySPCA.org.

Locklair says that to the best of Smigiel's knowledge, a third party has not interviewed any of the citizens who supplied statements to the delegate.

On Friday, however, the CCSPCA posted on its Web site that its board voted on Wednesday evening to allow the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States to visit the facility and "examine conditions and practices." A date for the inspections has yet to be set.

Natasha Ewing worked at the SPCA until September, when she was fired for taking pictures of the facility, she said. Before then, throughout her one-and-a-half years of employment, she "cried every day," and "got into trouble countless times for speaking my mind."

According to Ewing, she saw the shelter manager kick and choke dogs on several occasions. All cats that came into the shelter without a collar were killed within days, she said, as were all Pit Bull puppies. People were instructed to drop cats off behind the shelter, Ewing said, which were then killed before even being admitted into the shelter.

"I told them what they did was wrong, and they said this is how every shelter does it," she said.

Both Ewing and Erin Miller, a former veterinary assistant, witnessed a German Shepherd mix being shot behind the shelter. The dog was scheduled to be euthanized, but an animal control officer shot him in the chest because "the dog was unable to be properly sedated because he was too out of control," Miller recalled the officer telling her.

According to Ewing, the dog survived the shooting, and then had to later be sedated and euthanized.

On its Web site, however, the CCSPCA states it "does not 'shoot' dogs or cats routinely on its property in Chesapeake City as alleged."

Ewing says she tried to document the incident with pictures of the gunshots, which permeated the shed's walls. The picture of the bullet holes are now posted on Smigiel's blog.

"I've lost a lot of sleep over the past few years," said Miller, who was fired "for no apparent reason" five months ago. Like Ewing, Miller never voiced her concerns to the police or a governmental authority because "I was afraid of losing my job," she said.

"I have three kids of my own at home I have to be thinking of," said Ewing, whose husband, Carl, also worked at the shelter.

Miller said she witnessed 20 to 30 animals a day be euthanized "just because they didn't want to handle the cost of keeping an animal." Overcrowding was never an issue at the facility, she said, which last year was allocated $674,000 by public funding.

Smigiel has passed his investigative findings onto The Maryland Department of Agriculture's Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and the Maryland Attorney General, which are jointly handling the case.

"The vet board is taking this case up as a priority, and is going to expedite the investigation process because of its seriousness," said Sue DuPont, communications director for the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

The president of the CCSPCA Board has also called the Attorney General requesting a formal investigation of the abuse claims.

"The Attorney General's office will bring a fresh eye to review and evaluate the fired employees' assertions and any new allegations by others to determine their credibility and what, if any, appropriate action should be taken," Schwerzler wrote in the statement.

Aside from the attention Smigiel's blog has garnered in the past week, the case has also gained steam into the non-virtual world. On Tuesday, more than 50 people attended a vigil in Elkton, Md., for the pets they say were abused or died at the hands of the SPCA.

Ruth Anne "Rocky" Sargent was one of the people who turned out to the event, on behalf of her dog, TeTe, whom she says was shot by Hawkins in August.

After the 2-year-old Pit Bull escaped from her yard, Sargent organized a search effort. Twenty neighbors joined in, but the SPCA found the dog wandering in the woods before Sargent could reach him.

Sargent went to meet Hawkins and another officer, who said that "if we don't catch him we will shoot him," she said.

"They saw TeTe running the other way, and Jerry was getting ready to shoot," Sargent said. "I said, 'What are you doing, don't shoot my dog, let me call him and bring him to you.' He said, 'This is how we handle Pit Bulls.' He cocked the gun in front of me and my son and shot at my dog six times."

Three of the shots hit TeTe, who ran away crying, then turned up the next day, near collapse. None of her vital organs were damaged, but there was "a hole as big as a quarter that went right through her," Sargent said.

"I can't understand how somebody can shoot a shotgun not knowing what else is out there," Sargent said. "There were houses nearby, could have been kids playing in the woods."

"Don't shoot at an innocent dog who didn't do anything. Come here today and all TeTe will do is lick you to death," Sargent said of the dog's friendly disposition.

Sargent, as well as all of the former employees Pet Pulse spoke with, said that until the present management is removed, the situation will remain the same.

"It's a shame," said Shirley Thomas, mother of two former volunteers, Tiffany and Thomas Bishop. "A lot of citizens are afraid to take their pets to the vet clinic there."

Tiffany, 15, witnessed cats "not being taken care of, that got very sick," her mother said. Thomas, 14, saw Deeming, who is not a veterinarian, and another employee perform spay and neuter procedures on a group of Pomeranian puppies in December 2007.

The resident veterinarian, Greg McDermott, was not present at the time, said Ewing, who also witnessed the event.

"It was just unbelievable," Ewing said. Several of the puppies became ill in the following weeks and had to be euthanized, Ewing said.

One time, Thomas Bishop asked for help in bringing a dog into a kennel.

"Jerry Hawkins came over, pulled it, kicked it, and slammed its head on the cage," Shirley Thomas recalled her son telling her.

The ongoing investigation, which includes testimony of this alleged event, will eventually be examined by the State Attorney General.

"We will let the normal process move forward before we weigh in," said Raquel Guillory, spokeswoman for the State Attorney General. "It would be inappropriate to do so before the process is complete."

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