This letter was sent to all elected officials of the three counties, New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. November 16, 2011 [am writing all of the County Council members in the three Delaware counties regarding Animal Control in your jurisdictions. As you know, your contract with Kent County SPCA for Animal Control means that the stray dogs in your county are taken to KCSPCA. You are probably aware that many stray dogs picked up in your County are killed at KCSPCA, but you may not know that many of the dogs could be saved if KCSPCA complied with the Shelter Standards law. (For the full text of the law, go to our web site. http:/nokilldelaware.org/id3.htm ) ‘The Delaware's Attorney General has initiated an investigation into KCSPCA violations of the Shelter Standards law, including the killing of the dog Neo, a case that was the subject of a two- part news story by WMDT (youtube link and description on our web site: http://nokilldelaware.org/id34.html) Because of your contract with KCSPCA, the County has the right and responsibility to find out about all of the issues being investigated by the Attomey General and take action to protect the dogs and pet owners in your jurisdiction. We have summarized some of the issues below, which wwe believe are just the tip of the iceberg. The Attomey General investigation will surely uncover ‘even more violations of the law by KCSPCA. Many dogs are killed purposely on a routine basis at KCSPCA because there supposedly is not ‘enough space. However, people who go through KCSPA tell us that there are no dogs doubled up in kennels, as required by the law before killing animals.[see Section 8004 b (iii))] Apparently Director Murrey Goldthwaite doesn't like to double up animals, so he violates the law routinely. In addition to the animals killed purposely, there are also cases where dogs are killed by mistake before the owners could come to pick up the dogs. The killing of Taija is a classic example. The story was covered by WMDT last year: http://nokilldelaware.org/id17.html The Shelter Standards law requires that “the animal shelter shall make every reasonable attempt, to reunite the animal with its owner.” [Section 8003 ¢(iii)] The Neo case was a clear violation of the law because KCSPCA failed to contact the owner of Neo who had a microchip and then proceeded to kill Neo without notifying rescue groups who might have saved him, as required by law. Unfortunately many citizens of your County may not even know that stray dogs picked up by Animal Control are taken to KCSPCA, and therefore do not go there to pick up their dogs. That makes it even more important that KCSPCA read microchips.etc.and make every effort to contact owners so they can pick up their dogs.The failure to read a microchip was also a factor in the case of Cody. KCSPCA Animal Control officers did not read Cody's microchip and therefore failed to return him to the owner who had adopted him from Delaware SPCA. As a justification for this failure, KCSPCA Director stated that the Shelter Standards law does not apply to Animal Control. (See article and Goldthwaite emails on our web site: http://nokilldelaware.org/id41,html ) Goldthwaite's reasoning is absurd since It is clear that Animal Control funetions are managed by KCSPCA, which is a shelter, and which is required to comply with the law. ‘Asa Council member, we hope you will be concerned to know about the diseases that run rampant through KSCPCA, where your stray dogs are taken. It is our understanding that many rescue groups which have saved dogs at KCSPCA in 2011 have found that almost all of the dogs are sick with bronchial infections that require antibiotics. This week, we received a youtube link from a woman that documents what happened to her puppy while quarantined for 10 days at Kent County SPCA. The woman was not notified until she came to pick up her puppy that the dog got Parvovirus at KCSPCA and that a contaminated IV caused necrotic (dead) tissue that had to be surgically removed. Here's the link to woman's video documenting what happened to her puppy: http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0yL_7SyYM8&feature=email Also, this week we received the resignation letter to the KCSPCA Director from an employee that includes the following statement: “... you know as well as I do some of the ways the dogs are housed and the condition they are in is horrible. ACOs have even said they have taken dogs from people for them living the way they live in the NB. If you cared you would walk thru daily even weekly but you don’t . Ihave only seen you in the NB 1 time. You know its bad when KCSPCA has dogs die of heat stroke. ACOs charge people for that. The employees responsible didn’t even get in trouble.” (ACO is the acronym for Animal Control Officer. We think that NB refers to New Building, but are not sure.) We hope you will also be concerned about citizens who say that they were bullied by KCSPCA Animal Control officers. For example, Animal Control officers have insisted on coming into peoples’ homes when the officers do not have a search warrant. Citizens have been told that they must let Animal Control officers take their dog after a bite incident for a 10 day quarantine, even if the owner can produce a rabies certificate; owners are not told that they can quarantine the dogs themselves. KCSPCA charges a fee to these owners for the quarantine, which generates revenue, of course. One person was told by Animal Control officers that she must have a 7 foot fence to quarantine her dog, who had been bitten by an animal, and since she could not afford that, the dog must be taken and killed; the Animal Control officers were not telling the truth. Nevertheless, the dog was taken and killed. If you care about dogs and the citizens who love them in your County, you should take action to insist that KCSPCA complies with the Shelter Standards law. The contract you have with KCSPCA gives you the right and the responsibility to ensure that dogs are treated humanely by Animal Control officers and at the shelter; that Animal Control officers treat citizens courteously and tell them the truth about Delaware law; and that KCSPCA complies with the ShelterStandards law so that dogs are reunited with owners whenever possible rather than killed. Please contact the Attorney General to find out more about the investigation into violations of the Shelter Standards law by KCSPCA. You have the right and responsibility to protect the dog ‘owners and the dogs in your county.