The St. Louis County animal shelter euthanized 19 dogs during a parvovirus outbreak without informing the director of the county's Public Health Department, Dr. Kanika Cunningham said Thursday.
The county took back control of the shelter from the Animal Protection Association in February after concerns about euthanization and facility management. Earlier this month, the shelter had its worst canine outbreak of parvovirus ever and euthanized the 19 dogs. A non-staff member told Cunningham about the plan to euthanize the dogs, she said in a St. Louis County Council meeting Thursday.
“I was devastated. I was heartbroken. I was concerned about the staff, the volunteers, the community,” Cunningham said. “Honestly it hurt. It was a major setback for the shelter, and it was hurtful.”
Cunningham said Thursday the choice to euthanize did not follow proper protocol, and a human resources investigation is in progress into this and other issues. The county shelter had previously drawn criticism for widespread euthanization of animals in 2019.
The shelter is currently operating without a license due to multiple failed state inspections. It failed its first inspection by the Missouri Department of Agriculture when it was still under the control of the APA on Feb. 13, and Cunningham said she did not receive the information from that inspection until much later. An inspection in March found that some of the initial issues, including expired medications and cages that were too small, were resolved, but Cunningham said the second review uncovered new problems. The shelter also failed its most recent inspection earlier this month.
Division Director Malik Johnson started in the position 2½ weeks ago. Councilman Dennis Hancock raised concerns about Johnson not having experience with shelter management; he previously worked in operations for Edward Jones Investments.
“When you’re in the middle of a crisis, if you’re going to bring somebody in, you want to bring somebody in that knows how to handle that type of a crisis,” Hancock said.
Cunningham said it is challenging to find candidates that have shelter experience.
She stressed during the meeting that she believes that her newly hired leadership team will be able to improve the current issues.
Shelter volunteers who spoke at the meeting along with Cunningham told the council the current facility is not suitable for the number of animals being housed there.
Sara Foster volunteers at the shelter every day.
“When we are in a state of animal welfare crisis right now, that we can rise to the occasion and we can take care of these animals,” Foster said. “The facility that we have right now is not adequate.”
Cunningham is being sued for allegedly telling a county employee to lie in response to a Sunshine Request seeking to uncover a proposal to mass euthanize animals. Cunningham initially denied seeing a proposal but later said she saw it and rejected it on St. Louis on the Air.
After ending the volunteer program as it existed under the APA, the shelter launched a pilot program to resume volunteering in February and is now reopening volunteer applications.
During the meeting, Cunningham said she hopes to expand the volunteer program.
