When Rep. Doug Clemens (D-St. Ann) visited the St. Louis County animal shelter last year, he was saddened by the conditions in which the animals were living.
“I’m an animal lover so I've got a soft heart when it comes to these things,” Clemens told the St. Louis Record. “I saw some beautiful, wonderful animals that would make any family happy to own as a pet. They were filthy, covered in their own feces. I saw them caged for at least 48 hours.”
Although the animals were happy to see people, Clemens said they appeared attention and exercise-starved.
“We deserve to do a little bit better by any living creature,” he said.
Clemens was among a group of representatives who conducted a surprise tour of the shelter after receiving a string of complaints, mostly from the volunteers who worked there.
“They were busy scrubbing and cleaning in front of us to kind of hide the mess that had happened over the weekend without any attendance to the animals at all,” he said. “What was reported to me was that they are short on staff, the volunteers take up the burden of the work because there's virtually no staff working, the staff that is working is disgruntled with management, that the dogs aren't receiving proper medical attention, that the dogs aren't cared for properly, the dogs aren't caged in proper size cages and that they drive off good employees because of relationships with management.”
Clemens, who had a meeting with county officials about the issue, would like to see a change in management.
“In my opinion there needs to be a contract with a new veterinarian and new employees in order change the whole psychology of the establishment,” he said. “That comes from 26 years of management experience and having to make hard decisions. There's a top-down problem.”
A former St. Louis County animal shelter supervisor has since filed a lawsuit. Amanda ‘Mandy’ Zatorski is alleging she was fired after reporting misconduct at the facility, according to media reports.
“We know her as Mandy and she has been in contact with other state representatives before I was involved in this issue,” Clemens added. “As far as her lawsuit goes, I can't really comment on the merits of her suit or the internal personnel decisions of St. Louis County. All I can say is my observations and the complaints that have been levied to me about the facility don't seem to conflict her claims.”
The St. Louis County animal shelter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.