New MAS Head Vows Change at City's Animal Shelter

Thank you, ABC24, for your brief coverage of the advisory board meeting. You're right, MikeP. There are many changes that could have been instituted immediately without waiting weeks and months for training. Your example is a good one - take a picture of every animal that comes in the facility (decent pictures), upload to PetHarbor or Petfinder on the City of Memphis account (NOT some account set up by "Friends" of MAS and NOT just on Facebook). Pictures posted immediately mean that more lost animals are reunited with their owners and that more animals are seen by a wider audience, thereby increasing their chances for adoption. Speaking of wanting some immediate changes - Alexander was in charge about 19 months, Pepper about 18 months, and now we have Rogers. Each time the deck chairs are rearranged for leadership at MAS we are asked to "give the new boss some time, they can't make changes overnight, they need to work with the employees." What many of us wonder, however, is what would need to be seen on a videotape that is so horrible and clearly indicative of abuse that when a supervisor sees it the employee would be immediately arrested and charged with animal abuse. What many of us also wonder is why the MAS Advisory Board was so silent on the recently released videotapes obtained through a FOIA, given that the first and foremost mission of the board is "to serve as advocates for the humane treatment of animals in the City of Memphis' animal shelter facility." That the board's chair and most board members seemed more intent on controlling the meeting and defending the shelter versus advocating for the humane treatment of animals at MAS speaks volumes ... and not in a good way for the animals at MAS.

Changes have been promised before. Transparency was promised too, but we all know what happened to the webcams... Until there are people at the shelter who make getting the animals adopted out alive and well (without the physical and mental damage of abusive handling by staff, without the sickness brought on by filthy cages and neglectful treatment, and without being half starved because no one thought to adjust food amounts to match animal size) their TOP PRIORITY, nothing will change. Right now, the animals are not even being posted on Petfinder or PetHarbor. Why not? The software is there - USE IT. Such an easy fix and yet it goes unattended...how can Memphis believe that the animals will be better cared for, better marketed, and have reduced kill rates if MAS cannot even managed to post every, single animal on intake like it should?