Problem

[JamesVincent]

Like Gregg said awhile ago, I am in a quandary. I have had something come up that puts me in a serious dilemma. There is a situation within the charity animal rescue that I cannot resolve.

Last Wednesday one of the board members came to the kennels where the shelter dogs are kept. While she was there for some reason she moved some of the dogs and did not re-pin the gates where the dogs are kept. The result? Several dogs knocked their gates open. When the people who own the kennels woke up Thursday morning they found one of the dogs, Wizard, on their front porch half dead and three others running loose. Wizard now has breathing tubes running out of his neck where he was operated on for a crushed trach.

Thursday evening this person was there again to drop off dogs. She completely re-arranged the dogs, including putting a healthy dog in the same room as several dogs recovering from Parvo. Again, she didn't re-pin the gates. Friday morning I show up after a nasty storm to find the people's basketball hoop blown over and the fence crushed and three dogs (same three) running around their yard where they had slipped their kennel and then gone out through the fence where it was broken. I recovered the dogs, put them away, fixed the fence and pinned every kennel gate securely. I also sent a scathing email to the president of the charity telling her what happened.

Saturday morning I arrive and find ALL the dogs running around. Every single gate in the front had been un-pinned and swung wide open, towards the inside. As you probably know if a dog is fighting to get out they will push the gate outward. I also find all of my pins laying in the yard about 10' away from any kennel. I, again, get all the dogs put away and all the gates but one re-pinned. The one I left open was for a bigger dog that stays out in good weather and goes in when it storms. His gate had the pin stuck through the fence so it would ready if he did go inside. The other 5 gates were securely pinned. (As an aside these kennels also have cross gates which I had ziptied shut after they were left open several times and caused another dog to get torn up.)

This morning I show up and find all the dogs in different kennels. I start to get to work feeding them when I notice one of them is bleeding. I immediately let the vet know and take her to the vet clinic. She has a slice in her side that looked about 5" long and went straight to the muscle underneath. When I get to the clinic (another aside: I also work at the clinic as a vet tech.) the vet starts bitching at me, telling me that he came home last night and found every dog running loose, asking me why the gates weren't pinned. He had put them all away after dark which is why they were re-arranged and how the girl had gotten sliced open.

Here is my dilemma. It is pretty clear, to me, that someone deliberately opened those gates. There was a transport that went out Saturday morning at around 5am. There was also a person from the shelter out there at some point during the day Saturday to drop off food. Both of these actions happened AFTER I went to the President with complaints about how the dogs were treated or managed.This deliberate action, along with some possibly unintentional actions, has put several dogs in danger and has also put several into the clinic. At this point whoever has done this (and I have a pretty good idea, I no longer do transports after getting into an argument with a board member over the way she did things.) is guilty of at least animal neglect or cruelty and reckless endangerment.

The problem is I have no other income coming in right now. If I report them then I will probably be fired and I can't afford to be, I am still trying to restart my business out here and still have to get the rest of my tools from Maryland. I talked to the State Police and let them know generally what happened and told them I was going to allow the President to handle it internally. I have an ethical and possibly legal obligation to report them. But we need to eat and have a house.

[JamesVincent]

Well, part of the problem was solved. I was just fired from the vet's office.

[Arthur Rubin]

Well, part of the problem was solved. I was just fired from the vet's office.

I guess you might as well report them, then.

[The Observer]

I would have suggested a surreptitious video camera placed to record what was happening on the site. Given the appearance that these events happened after you left, that you have a problem with another member of the staff, and that you have now been fired, do you think you were being set up to take the fall?

[JamesVincent]

Turns out that the person who did the transport Sat. morning was indeed the board member whom I had words with. And, yes Observer, I was blamed for the gates when I was fired. I was also blamed for creating an issue and accusing someone else of my incompetence, even though me and all three kids were there when we found the gates open and all four of us were there when I put the dogs away that morning and re-pinned the gates. I have not been fired from the kennels, only from the vet's, as a matter of fact I was given MORE responsibility. I pretty much got the entire thing dumped on me.

[Number Six]

You should be in contact with animal rights organizations on the issue, the local ASPCA, etc., they can be quite assertive, and I would think that your kennel staff would have those who share your concerns.

[webhick]

You can call the labor board. You were wrongfully terminated and it sounds like you can prove it. If they spread around town that you were negligent, then your reputation is going to be sullied and you may find it difficult to find work.

[Judge Roy Bean]

I hate to say this, but unless you have a Fairy Godmother waiting in the wings to save you from the evildoers you may only do more damage to your local reputation by trying to prove you're right - even if you are more than 100% right.

Trying to win isn't always rewarding and unlike what you see in the movies, successfully standing up for what is right often requires allies you may not have.

Words of advice - in all such matters, take the time for considered response as opposed to your first reaction.

Or as my long-deceased grandmother would say, sleep on it. Then bite your tongue.

[JamesVincent]

I hate to say this, but unless you have a Fairy Godmother waiting in the wings to save you from the evildoers you may only do more damage to your local reputation by trying to prove you're right - even if you are more than 100% right.

Trying to win isn't always rewarding and unlike what you see in the movies, successfully standing up for what is right often requires allies you may not have.

Words of advice - in all such matters, take the time for considered response as opposed to your first reaction.

Or as my long-deceased grandmother would say, sleep on it. Then bite your tongue.

Advice well given and received. I try very hard to back up, take a breath, and keep trucking. There are few things in life that make me flat furious and abusing an animal is one. I just cannot stand back and watch it happen. Only thing worse to do would be putting a hand on one of my kids. That would not end well for anyone.

[Arthur Rubin]

I hate to say this, but unless you have a Fairy Godmother waiting in the wings to save you from the evildoers you may only do more damage to your local reputation by trying to prove you're right - even if you are more than 100% right.

Trying to win isn't always rewarding and unlike what you see in the movies, successfully standing up for what is right often requires allies you may not have.

Words of advice - in all such matters, take the time for considered response as opposed to your first reaction.

Or as my long-deceased grandmother would say, sleep on it. Then bite your tongue.

After taking your "Words of advice", I can't say I agree with the first paragraph. There's a chance of repairing some of the damage to "your" (the OP's) reputation. And I don't know if he could live with himself if he didn't try further to protect the animals.

No advice, here. I've never been in that position. I think I'd want to do what is best for the animals, regardless of damage to my own reputation, but I have no idea what that is.

Good luck.

[Arthur Rubin]

You can call the labor board. You were wrongfully terminated and it sounds like you can prove it. If they spread around town that you were negligent, then your reputation is going to be sullied and you may find it difficult to find work.

I am not a lawyer, but it sounds as if this might not work. If the vet reasonably relied on "information" from the kennel, then she (the vet) could have been acting reasonably. If you could prove your case, you might have a slander case against someone in the kennel, and there might also be related criminal cases which could be brought against the kennel, in addition to animal abuse.

Any local "muckrakers"? Although often wrong (morally*and legally), they do have their uses. And it might not make anything worse.

* Does what they find out justify the invasion of privacy?