Alachua County Manager, Commissioners, and Residents Discuss ACAR at Public Meeting
At the Alachua County Commission meeting on December 10, commissioners and County Manager Michelle Liberman heard from numerous public commenters speaking about the recent GnvInfo articles on Alachua County Animal Resources (ACAR).
Numerous emails from former ACAR employees to commissioners were publicized, many alleging abusive incidents perpetuated by Dr. Samantha Stephenson and Director Julie Johnson.
Cheyenne Lukander
Cheyenne Lukander
Prior to public comment, Commissioner Mary Alford left the meeting saying she had a familial matter to attend too.
Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler asked Liberman if she’d like to address the ACAR incidents prior to public comment.
Liberman stated “I know there have been concerns expressed. I will attempt to address those I am aware of at this point in time. First of all, there have been some things about being underfunded and understaffed. There has been an increase in the last several years of both budgets and FTEs. I want to remind the board and the public that there is a difference between full-time equivalent employees that are budgeted for a department and those that are filled. We currently have nine vacancies that are in various forms of the hiring process…. Over the last several years we’ve increased the operating budget by 9%, we’ve increased several FTEs this year alone, almost 400,000 in increases…. We have put significant capital moneys into improvements at the shelter to move things along until we do construct another shelter.”
Liberman went on to say, “We’ve had an offer just recently with all of these things that are going on by the University of Florida (UF) to bring in the leading pain management specialist at [their] veterinary school to come in and review our policies regarding pain management and make sure we are utilizing cutting-edge practices for domestic animals. We have accepted that offer of assistance, and they’ll be coming in here shortly to do that. We’ve also discussed and are exploring the idea of hiring a medical director in the way that Alachua County Fire Rescue does to conduct biannual procedure reviews, audit selected cases, and oversee cases that have unsatisfactory outcomes.”
Liberman said, “As the county manager, I am responsible for all of the operations of county government. The buck stops here. I will also say we cannot review things that we weren’t aware of. When we become aware of them, we go and review them promptly. I’m responsible for those things I’m not aware of, but by the same token, we can’t do anything when we are not aware. As new information comes in, we are actively reviewing those things. We can only make statements based on the information we have at the time…. We are committed to the animals…. We have a lot of dedicated long-term staff that work at the animal shelter. This has been a difficult time because they are very dedicated staff. I just want to express my thanks and my support for them. I emailed them to express my support to them after all this came out because they do work very hard under what are sometimes difficult circumstances.”
Commissioner Anna Prizzia said it's important for the county to build a new shelter and that a timeline for its construction needs to be established.
Prizzia asked how the county is utilizing the animal welfare advisory committee.
Assistant County Manager Gina Peebles walked up to the speaking stand and said the animal welfare advisory committee “will absolutely be invited to participate in these conversations. Moving forward, whenever we feel like there's an issue that needs to be brought to their attention, we're going to add it to their next available agenda. If it rises to even a certain level, I would even ask that a special meeting be called.”
One public commenter said, “During spring break, [my roommates and I] had two sick cats, and [ACAR] said that they would take the cats in for free, like to do their medical care. For a week we were calling to see if we could pick the cats up and if they’d been treated. They actually killed one of them without even telling us. When I called and got this information, I was in Karma Cream, and she nonchalantly said, ‘Oh, we did this with him, we did that with him, we found a cancer in his mouth, and then we euthanized him.’ It was very upsetting…. Then I was like, ‘Where is Fungi, our 20-year-old cat that has lived in our apartment complex for 12 years?' They were going to send him to an animal shelter in Waldo that kills cats…. When I saw the article about [ACAR], it was very upsetting, and I feel like there should be a criminal investigation because it certainly is animal abuse…. Not enough is being done for the animals in Alachua County.”
The public commenter asked the board if they wanted to see their deceased cat Tom, who was killed by ACAR, and Chair Charles “Chuck” Chestnut IV responded, “Your three minutes are up. I’m sorry, thank you.”
One public commentator mistakenly said the information about ACAR “has broken out in a beautiful article from UF.” GnvInfo has zero affiliation with UF.
One public commenter named Tamera Robbins called in and said, “Back two years ago or more, the county quote ‘gave a $1 lease to the army’ for 120+ acres of land that used to be used for the fairgrounds. In that contract, it stated there was supposed to be a piece of land set aside, and the county commission discussed at the time using it for a new animal resources facility. I’ve brought this up at meetings before. It just gets swept under the rug. I don’t know, so I’m asking today for clarification. What's happening to that parcel of land? My feeling is you need to take the offramp with [UF]. I really believe they want to use the animals for research…. I don’t trust [UF]. In the public interest, you should be purchasing land and building our own publicly owned facility. You spend $10,000,000 on a warehouse that Budweiser used to use for a bottling facility. I don’t know where you came up with the money for a warehouse.”
Robbins said that her young stepdaughter was attacked by a dog, requiring ten stitches. Robbins said that ACAR did an investigation and deemed the dog “not dangerous.” Robbins asked why a dog that bites a child unprovoked is considered “not dangerous.” The dog is still wandering around Robbins' neighborhood. Robbins called for an investigation and for ACAR’s director and anyone else involved to be placed on administrative leave.
Hannah Rukab said she helped make the petition to demand improved ACAR conditions and for Johnson and Stephenson to be put on leave for an investigation. The petition has 237 signatures.
Rukab said, “Understaffing and overpopulation are not an excuse for how a lot of these animals have been treated, although it's very important. I had a bad experience once where I was calling their emergency line over and over because I was fostering this baby kitten, and they never got back to me. She ended up passing away. That’s a really common story I’ve heard: the medical line not picking up. I’ve also heard many stories from past vet techs about how cats are kept in overcrowded and dirty kennels. They have soiled bedding, moldy food, and unkempt litter boxes; bottle-fed babies have no structured feeding schedules. There was a kitten with an exposed leg left untreated for over a week, causing tissue decay. There was a dog with a clotting disorder who bled out over the weekend because it was inconvenient for the vet to euthanize him on a Friday. A puppy with a brain injury was left crying in their kennel overnight only to be euthanized the next morning. Many other volunteers and staff have reported ceiling insulation being found in dog’s water bowls due to a rat infestation. Many cases of animal abuse go ignored because of overcrowding. Many animals are released into the parking lot under the guise of ‘return to field.’ Many of these animals are later found dead. It's common that a lot of these animals with treatable injuries and illnesses are left to die because of neglect or inaction. The toxic environment at ACAR affects the staff and volunteers, many reporting having their concerns dismissed or met with hostility when advocating for better animal care…. We need transparency, accountability, and, most of all, better management.”
Prizzia said, “What I want to say to the public is we hear you. We aren’t just dismissing this or sweeping it under the rug. It is a very important issue…. There’s definitely been challenges, and we’re not blameless. We’ve had to terminate employment for people who weren’t cleaning cages appropriately, so we know it's an issue…. If the animal welfare committee sees a need for further investigation after they’ve heard from our staff and looked into these issues, we certainly will take that into consideration…. This issue is always going to be an issue if you don't’ spay and neuter your pets…. We have unwanted animals in our community because animals are breeding and being let go. You're right; it is some people who buy a pet and don’t want it anymore, but that’s rare compared to spaying and neutering issues.”
Prizzia said that anyone bringing an un-neutered animal into ACAR shouldn’t have the animal released back to them until it's been spayed and neutered or they’ve paid a breeding license fee.
Liberman said “We will go back and look at that ordinance. I know that was something we discussed originally on how to handle animals released from custody. I wanna make sure we review that ordinance before I say that’s something we can absolutely do.”
Prizzia said, “Frankly, we do have to return animals to the field. One, we don’t want them to suffer in a shelter; no animal belongs in a shelter; they belong in a loving home…. If an animal can be released, oftentimes we’ll work with catnip, and we have them spayed or neutered, we clip their ears, and have them released back into the community. That’s been a regular practice, and it's gonna continue to be a regular practice until we start to reduce the population of unwanted animals in our community.
Wheeler said, “Folks, I would just encourage you to go see for yourself instead of believing everything you hear. Go see what’s going on out there. I’ve adopted three animals; two of them have three legs…. I’ve spent quite a bit of time out there doing what I could to work with those folks, and I’ve been quite an eager ear…. You can’t believe everything you hear or read. I would encourage you to get a volunteer form and do your own investigation rather than just tagging onto something that you hear.”
Commissioner Ken Cornell said he appreciated Liberman’s comments and that he’s open to hearing more of the public’s suggestions going forward.
The next Alachua County Commission meeting is scheduled for January 14 at 11:30 a.m.
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