DHEC executes Horry animal shelter euthanasia drug audit
Jody Barr/WBTW
Two inspectors with the South Carolina Bureau of Drug Control went through drug records inside the Horry County animal shelter Wednesday in a “routine audit” of the shelter’s euthanasia records and drug use. The state Department of Health and Environmental Control told News13 the agents found no irregularities in the audit.
Published: February 11, 2009
Updated: February 11, 2009
Drug control agents with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control spent more than two hours at the Horry County animal shelter as an investigation into the shelter’s drug usage started Wednesday.
Agents were inside the shelter pouring over drug inventory documents and euthanasia records in a “routine audit,” according to Jim Beasley with DHEC.
The agents found nothing in the audit, according to Beasley.
Sources within the Horry County Humane Society told News13 drug agents conducted the audit after reports that unlicensed shelter staff used euthanasia drugs to put down dogs at the shelter.
DHEC said the audit showed no wrongdoing.
The shelter resumed pet adoptions last month under supervision of the Horry County Police Department Sergeant Gary Gause and officer Kelly Benome, after closing for a month on Dec. 8, 2008 after documents showed the Horry County Humane Society adopted 36 dogs from the shelter that were later returned to the shelter and euthanized, according to shelter documents.
Those adoptions happened after the shelter received confirmation of a case of the deadly and highly contagious Canine Distemper Virus in a dog inside the shelter, shelter records showed.
The HCHS fired the shelter’s executive director, Renee Macklen, on Dec. 17 for her handling of the outbreak, HCHS president Kate Philips said.
On Jan. 9, Horry County agreed to run the shelter for 30 days while the HCHS hired a new executive director and reorganized the shelter’s operations.
Meanwhile, the HCHS fired the shelter’s director of operations, Rita Rhodes and vet technician Tina Mills, days after the women interviewed with News13 about what the women called a cover up of the outbreak by the HCHS board and Macklen.
Since Gause and Benome took over at the shelter, all kennel floors are sealed, cracks in the kennel walls repaired, and all walls inside the kennels are repainted. Plus, adoptions restarted last month.
In one month since the take over, the shelter has averaged an adoption rate of eight dogs a day and the shelter adoption rate reached an all-time high of 17 percent, according to Gause.
The highest rate recorded since the HCHS took the shelter over was 14 percent according to Philips.
The HCHS hiring committee is set to meet Feb. 17 to interview the three finalists for the shelter’s executive director position.
Reader Reactions
We wont be that lucky..
Ya’ll just watch..with our luck those two DHEC boys will have accepted bribes from the HCHS board and lied about their findings..and this soap opera will run on into next season..
It’s a fair indication when you have to start changing the wording in your headline..that you have hit the bottom..
I couldnt help but notice that the words “raid” and “drug probe” have been changed to “executes” and “audit”..routine audit at that..
Damn shame too..cause this particular reporter is awesome in the courtroom or in situations that other reporters have trouble getting a foot in the door..
I hope he gets some direction in his life before his career suffers for it..
will y’all please give us a break on this animal shelter stories. every day, every nighty. i am sick and tired of it. there has got to be something else happening somewhere. just give us a break! PLEASE!
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