Wantage administrator fires back over pound accusations

Wantage - Wantage Township Administrator Jim Doherty said that the moment had come to fight back in response to what he termed “a concerted witch hunt” being conducted against the Wantage Township Dog Pound Operation. Doherty’s response came after The Advertiser-News published a story last week citing allegations Fredon veterinarian Linda Grau had made against the facility. In August, Grau wrote to Doherty to complain that Wantage was operating the dog pound as all-kill facility, and that the shelter is understaffed, too small, keeps slipshod records, has inadequate facilities to keep sick animals in isolation, and had been releasing animals before the end of the legal seven-day waiting period. Grau said that she had treated an unusually large number of sick cats Laurie Walsh of CLAWS cat shelter had rescued from the Wantage pound. In an Aug. 18 report, state inspector Gwyn Sondike cited the pound for having dirty buildings, grounds and enclosures; flies in the cat room; dirty feeders and pans; incomplete or inaccurate records; and improper quarantine facilities. Wantage resident Ann Smulewicz said that she, too, had observed such conditions when she visited the facility in May. But Doherty said that he thought the inspector may have been overstating the case. He added that he would submit to a lie detector test to prove that he has been forthright in accepting responsibility for the minor deficiencies identified, prompt in assuring that problems are corrected and diligent in investigating the truth of all complaints. Before August of this year, Doherty said, the N.J. Health Department never had cited Wantage Township for failing to have a dedicated isolation room for sick animals; never mentioned any concern about the pound being overcrowded; never cited Wantage Township for any serious deficiency. “Recent allegations against the Wantage Township Dog Pound Operation fall within the category of being baseless, and are clearly designed to impugn the good name of Wantage Township and its employees,” Doherty stated in a letter e-mailed to local newspapers and posted on the Wantage Township Web site. On Monday morning when a reporter from The Advertiser-News visited the Wantage Dog Pound, the facility appeared immaculate and smelled fresh. The dogs, over half of which were wearing collars and tags, were barking loudly, but looked clean and well fed. The cats and kittens were snacking from fresh bowls filled with kibbles. Each cat cage contained a clean litter box, which animal control officer John Abate said typically would be replaced several times a day. A Christmas tree decorated with dog treats local boy scouts had donated stood in front of the dog runs. Although Doherty says that the township is looking into keeping animal control records on computer, today the records are kept by hand in a logbook and in quadruplicate on a form. A perusal of the 2006 animal-control records Doherty made available for press review showed that of the several hundred cats interned in the facility 2006, 14 were adopted and 10 returned to their owners. The majority of the cats that passed through the Wantage facility were euthanized, most of them at the Port Jervis Humane Society. The records also indicate that Walsh’s CLAWS no-kill cat shelter removed and kept alive 80 cats and kittens from the Wantage pound in 2006. For a time, Walsh served as a volunteer at the Wantage facility, where she said she witnessed conditions that sickened her. Walsh said that she had spent more than $12,000 for medical treatments for the cats she had rescued. CLAWS receives no municipal or state funding, but adheres to all state regulations for the proper care of cats and kittens, including having a separate isolation area for sick cats, Walsh explained. The cat shelter also has an active adoption program and advertises constantly on Pet Finder. “If we can follow the law with no public financial backing, then there is no excuse for any facility not to do so,” Walsh said. Abate said that the pound has limited space, and finding homes for cats or returning them to their owners has been more problematic than it has for dogs. “When large numbers of cats come in all at once, we have no choice but to make room,” the animal control officer said. Wantage is expected to increase its capacity by adding ten more cat cages in January and a wing with two more dog runs and an isolation area later in the year, Abate observed. “We want all the animals here to be adopted or returned home,” he said, adding that cats present a greater challenge than do dogs. Sussex has a large population of feral cats, many of which are nearly impossible to offer for adoption. Today, Wantage has no formal adoption program, although until last spring, the pound was able to offer cats and dogs for adoption through the Pet-Finder Web site with the help of a former volunteer, Abate said. The township administrator said that both the 2005 and 2006 dog pound records prove that some 60 percent of the animals housed at the Wantage Township Dog Pound are either successfully returned to their owners, or adopted by new owners. Among the animals return home or adopted are three goats, one ferret and a pig. Doherty also noted that a state-level survey in a seven-county New Jersey sampling Wantage scored below average for the number of animals euthanized as compared with other shelters and pounds. “Wantage Township only euthanizes cats (or dogs for that matter) if they are unadoptable, or if their illness or injury is so far advanced that it is the humane action to take in that situation,” Doherty said. “If a cat is “untamed,” that categorization would mean the same thing as saying it was “unadoptable.” Calling for an apology from Grau and Walsh for “false statements,” Doherty also said that any legitimate concerns regarding the Wantage Township Dog Pound Operation have always been fully investigated, and where problems have been discovered, immediate action has been taken to rectify the problems.   “We’re certainly not perfect,” Doherty said. “Mistakes get made, and when they do, we own up to those mistakes and correct them. By the same token, if and when false testimony is given, we will do everything in our power to expose the situation.”