AC Wharton is directly responsible for the management of this shelter. He is the one who must be held accountable for each and every animal. The animals are the ones without a voice in the rich environment of ineptitude at this shelter. The animals cannot escape the torture of starvation and other abuses heaped on them by AC WHARTON. What kind of cretin allows this to happen? AC WHARTON-the most moronic, lackluster mayor in history. He will leave behind him a legacy of the most heinous proportions...

once again i see what is wrong with people...when you try and excuse one bad behavior over another...teens shouldnt be on street corners but dogs shouldnt be starved to death either. I find it disgusting that you are trying to overlook the shelter story in this way....neglect comes in all forms..if our society would take the neglect of a dog seriously than imagine how that would transpire in our treatment of one another. cruelty should never be overlooked no matter what species it is directed at..it diminishes all in spirit and mind. This shelter has been a problem for years and THINGS NEED TO CHANGE!! if our city leaders can run an animal shelter any better that this how the heck can you believe they will run this city any better...

I AGREE pastormcd.....35 comments on a bunch of cats & dogs & a handfull about a "mother" making her 13 year old daughter stand on a street corner.....Despicable!

After reading some of these posts we can see what is wrong with our world. When people are silly enough to elevate an animal to the same level or higher than a human being we are in sad shape. When you eat your next steak or hamburger remember to someone that was Elsie or her calf. When you have your breakfast bacon or sausage that was someone's Porky Pig. How sad. Scalettudc I feel for you.

Dear postormcd: Once again DOGS ARE BETTER THAN PEOPLE!!! They don't stab you in the back like people do. If you adopt a dog and give it love and take care of it, it will kill anybody that tries to hurt you. People don't, and that is the primary difference between humans, and dogs! Stupidity and ignorance rules!

First, the history of MAS, then "kill all pit bulls," and now this. I'm going to have to say that leaving the current MAS management in place sounds like a REALLY crappy idea at this point. Get someone with a vision (and who actually cares about animals and is willing to make sure MAS staff do the same) in there. Memphis, animal lovers everywhere is watching.

Mayor Wharton is totally responsible for this horrific repeat of 2009's abuses. Mr. Mayor, how long before you realize that you need to GET RID OF THE BAD APPLES at MAS? That you can't keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results? How long before you realize that your name is going to be forever associated with "dead pets" and "animal abuse" if this keeps up? This is on you, Mayor Wharton. If you want the taint of it to ever wash off, you need to act now. Stop with your ridiculous half-measures and "investigations to nowhere" and start making serious changes.

Our pup that was adopted from MAS last August, just minutes before being put down was just skin and bones. She was never put in the adoption area, never given a chance like thousands of animals that have suffered from the abuse of the Memphis Animal Services (MAS). MAS=Mistreated Abused Starved. Today that puppy has grown into an outstanding health family member that we cherish. Why doesn't the City allow the shelter to be run by professionals that know what they are doing? Why is the City trying to be in the shelter business? They have proven time and time again they can't do the job. When you can't perform, you get fired. Clean house for the good of the animals and the citizens of Memphis and let's move forward. When people ask me where I am from, I can't tell them Memphis anymore, and that's a shame. This was once a great city.

Clean up MAS. It seems that history is repeating itself with the neglect of animals at MAS when Ernest Alexander was arrested back in 2009. What was his conviction again? Oh, right, none because his court case is being reset again and again. Hold the operations manager Chelton Beamon accountable. He is filling in until the director position has been filled, right? Either way, he should be walking the facility daily and should notice that animals are starving in their cages. Not only should he notice but he should correct this. But perhaps they are just so busy euthanizing that they don't have time to feed the animals? *bitter tone of voice* Clean up MAS. Hold the mayor, Janet Hooks and LaSonya Hall accountable for running a shoddy shelter. Again, I am ashamed to be a Memphian.

Saw a "dog catcher" the other day drive by a "PIT BULL" at the stop sign at Holmes and Weaver that I know for a fact that has been there for 3 weeks looking for whoever threw it out. People are throwing food to it to eat.Shouldn't the dog catcher pick up that stray dog?Maybe it isn't part of his job description to catch Pit Bulls.