Where Dogs Go To Die
Critics of the MADACC animal shelter say it doesn’t do enough to prevent dogs from being euthanized.
Inconsistent Leadership and Policies
A pregnant dog.
MADACC has gone through several periods without an executive director since Melanie Sobel left in 2010. MADACC Field Officer Supervisor John McDowell served as interim director from November 2010 to October 2011 and again from October 2012 to February 2013.
According to Annaromao, who served as a volunteer for two years, there were no written policies or procedures to cover most issues, and policies often varied.
Kraft offers an example. While volunteering for MADACC, she raised $500 to help a rescue group shelter a pregnant dog, and she was informed by MADACC staff that this dog would need to be spayed prior to leaving.
“It seems like a policy that was made on the fly, because you can take any other dog out of there and they are not spayed or neutered first,” says Kraft. “That is really crazy that they can make a decision like that on one of our community’s animals since it’s the taxpayer’s money paying for this facility.”
In the end, the dog’s puppies were aborted and Kraft says she never received the written policy she asked for regarding transferring out pregnant dogs.
While McDowell was in his second term as interim director, he and the staff banned Remember Me Ranch, a placement partner, as well as several MADACC volunteers (including Annaromao) from working with MADACC for various reasons.
Remember Me Ranch, founded by Cassandra Richardson, was known for consistently pulling pit bulls out of MADACC prior to being banned in November 2012.
According to Annaromao, Remember Me Ranch was not informed of a serious strain of kennel cough cycling through MADACC and had pulled an animal from its shelter it was unable to treat. Someone associated with the rescue group then charged on their Facebook page that the animal was from MADACC and something should be done regarding infected animals being transferred out.
Huber says MADACC staff felt there was not a positive working relationship with Remember Me Ranch. “There were some concerns with how they were representing the animals that were being pulled from MADACC,” says Huber. “There were some statements that were made on their Facebook page about how all of our animals are very sick or some of our animals had died.”
Huber adds that it is a known fact that animals get sick from the stresses associated with a shelter environment like MADACC.
But Annaromao charges that the decision to ban Remember Me Ranch has meant that MADACC must kill more pit bulls.
I am tired of all the bad press for MADACC. Yes they need to fix things but they are in a tough spot. Created because Wisconsin Humane Society (not Milwaukee Humane Society – no such org exists) decided not to do animal control as they had before, it is a municipal organization funded by and led by represetnatives of each community – so it is our community leaders who have out MADACC in the spot it is in not MADACC employees who all along have gone above and beyond what is asked/required of their founding purpose. MADACC was never set up to be an adoption center and they do the best they can with their facilities and staff to get as many animals saved by partnering with other organizations. Furthermore, the US Davis report was funded by Friends of MADACC but actually asked for by Melanie Sobel in order to get the idea of what to improve.
I’m sure the room will be filled with outraged citizens. Meanwhile the Philadelphia abortion clinic will continue to receive little if any mention in the media and the same citizens will stand mute.
This article is fair and balanced on the problems and challenges facing MADACC. I wish the best of luck to Karen Sparapani in her new position. I’ve recently begun to follow the MADACC Facebook page and look forward to seeing improvements in the next year.
Good article. Why don’t most people in Milwaukee know that this is going on? I hope the new Director can make the improvements she talks about here.
Thanks for the note on our error, we corrected and changed “Milwaukee” to Wisconsin Humane Society.
In response to dogtired: Yes, MADACC has gotten a lot of bad press lately, but don’t you think that it’s necessary for change? The things that are going on there need to drastically improve, but if no one knows what’s wrong, who will make sure change happens? It really sounds like the new director wants positive change and I want to believe in her with all of her experience. Thanks for the great article, I can’t wait to see the changes that should be happening in the next year, let’s see some more pit bulls saved!!
Could we leave comments on the Gosnell trial in Philly out of this? There is no correlation between abortion and euthanasia of animals, at all. Good luck Karen. Many of us are pulling for you to succeed.
The unfair part of this article is the name…really? “Where dogs go to die”? Despite the fact that many of the animals euthanized are not candidates for adoption (illness, behavior, neglect), there are still thousands of dogs that make it out of MADAAC back to their owners, to local humane societies and rescue partners. So NO, it is not “Where dogs go to die”. MADACC serves a purpose in the community and, just like anything in the whole wide world, there is room for improvement. No one at MADACC, no Director of MADACC and no Board Member of MADACC wake up with the purpose to kill dogs ever day. It would be nice if the community recognized it’s role as community members and stop placing all the blame on one organization. I urge you to figure out exactly how much in tax dollars you pay to MADACC per year. I know my cut is less than $13. How many people do you know that regularly advocate for spay/neuter? How many people have you recruited to help volunteer with organizations like MADACC to work with dogs that need walking, training, etc. How much time do you spend advocating for legislature against puppy mills? Do you help inform poeple to adopt instead of shop? MADACC cannot solve the issues of animal over-crowding, over-breeding, and over-pricing. They will make improvements where they can, but if every single person who reads this article can be responsible for getting one more dog spayed in the Milwaukee area, you would not be reading this type of article nearly as often. And, for everyone who thinks the problem is MADACC, I urge you to consider what role have you taken on that gives you the right to blame someone else?
First of all, who are any of us to say a dog is not a candidate for adoption and cannot be rehabilitated. Secondly, people who volunteer to help these animals depend on writers who also love animals to advocate for social change through words. It is their way of helping. Furthermore, I do not see the blame. For every acqusation, the opposition is clearly reported upon. It is fair and balanced journalism ending on a positive note for a hopeful future.