The Horry County Humane Society’s board of directors issued a press release Thursday; three days after the Horry County animal shelter was closed after cases of distemper were confirmed in animals at the shelter.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT
Read the Horry County Humane Society's release on the current shelter situation, click here.
Read our coverage of this story, click here.
The shelter’s director, Renee Macklen, was not aware of the Oct. 27 case of a possible distemper virus in a pet a Conway family adopted from the shelter in October, according to a statement the board’s vice president Suzer Sachs handed to News13 Thursday.
The board denied knowing about the Oct. 27 case even after the dog’s adopted owners told News13 on Wednesday that they hand delivered the diagnosis to the shelter following the Conway vet’s findings.
Sachs would not answer any questions about the distemper situation or the shelter’s closing during her visit to the shelter Thursday to meet with Macklen.
The shelter has met with the county since early in 2008 to find a solution to the overcrowding issues at the shelter, which is a contributing factor in the distemper situation, the board’s press release stated.
Another issue at the shelter deals with the inability to quarantine animals brought into the shelter, according to the release.
The board said the county has a plan to “renovate one building and to build another, but due to a lack of funds, they have been unable to put this plan into action,” the release stated.
The quarantine issue is one of two reasons the board will not reopen the kennel.
A second issue deals with dogs placed in the shelter on a “legal hold” from the courts.
These animals are placed in the shelter until cases involving the dogs, or the dog’s owners are resolved in the judicial system, then the dogs are either released to their owners, or to the shelter.
The board said in the release that several “legal hold” dogs remain in the shelter and will require a judge’s order to have them released, which means the shelter will be closed until the issue is resolved.
The “legal hold” dogs may be infected with the virus, but the shelter can’t touch them until the courts allow them, according to the release.
The board has scheduled a public meeting for 6 p.m. December 17 at the Chapin Library in Myrtle Beach.
You can count on News13 to continue to follow this story as details become available.
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