The Patsy

There's always a guy who takes it for the team. The fall guy. In some cases they land on the sword to save the rest of the troops. The Captain who goes down with the ship. The Emmett Till open coffin that puts a real face on the brutality of racism. In others they are set up without volunteering. We call this..

The Patsy

definition;

noun

• 
  a person who is easily taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something

A patsy is often used as a scapegoat or fall guy by someone else who wants to avoid responsibility or consequences for their own actions. This term can also refer to a person who is taken advantage of in a scheme or scam. The word 'patsy' often carries a negative connotation, suggesting that the person is foolish or gullible, and has been made a victim of someone else's scheme or plan.

How many patsy's are out there that don't know their lives are being set up behind their backs?

Zoey, Pyometra surgery 4/9/25

To explain where this is going I need to catch you up. There is a place that is the safety net for the animals to go when they are unwanted, unable to be cared for, on hold to be used as "evidence" in an investigation, or just plain old 'found' in our county. This place is also designated as an "open admission" shelter. It is what I refer to as a "necessary" institution. No one wants to need a shelter, and yet if we don't have one we will end up with animals on the streets attempting to fend for themselves, and often meeting pretty horrible deaths and suffering because of this. If you have ever been to a third world country you will see it all around you. Animals trying to survive off of trash. Freezing to death. Walking around wounded. Trying to raise offspring under very demanding, and unkind conditions. It is cruelty married to neglect via poverty.  We no longer live in a country that provides care to people who love pets yet have financial limitations. We used to be a profession that put pets first. We no longer do. We are all to blame for this. Lost and found pets have very little good options. The safest option is to be brought to a shelter with a microchip so their owners can be notified immediately. Once at the shelter they have a minimum, (guaranteed by law, every place is a little different on time), holding period. This is about the only right they have. We hope that they are treated kindly and compassionately, but, this is not a guarantee and this is also in the eye of the beholder.

On March 10, 2025 a press release was delivered to my veterinary clinic notifying the county of a parvovirus outbreak at the shelter. As soon as we were notified we reached out to the shelter to offer help. We were notified a day later that all of the dogs had already been euthanized. What has ensued is a series of strategic missteps to try to avoid public scrutiny.  

See the series of videos on this outbreak unfolding

here;

I remain determined to have a few questions about these dogs answered openly and honestly. This has yet to happen. The parvo puppies (from what I have been told) were brought in by Animal Control. They were sick if not on arrival, very shortly thereafter. One was so sick it was not given its intake vaccines and was sent to the ER. This (I thought was case 1, was really case 2). This is the only dog that I know of who was under veterinary oversight. The rest remain still unaccounted for as to whether they ever saw a veterinarian, were on their stray hold, (which is supposed to guarantee them the time for their family to show up to claim them), or be euthanized by one of only three people; the Sheriff, a veterinarian, or the Executive Director of the shelter. The current ED has no animal care experience. It appears that she decided to euthanize these dogs. It is difficult for me to accept that she made a decision on their denial for medical treatment when she has no credentials to assess them. She absolutely should have had a veterinarian oversee this outbreak, and these dogs. 

These questions remain. When did each of them arrive? Under whose oversight were they brought to the shelter? Who authorized their care? Who authorized their euthanasia? What are their credentials in doing so? Why wasn't this infectious disease outbreak overseen by a veterinarian from start to finish?

For the whole time I have been a veterinarian at our practice (20 years) the shelter has seemed cursed. For about 2 years, (a few years ago), I volunteered once a week to help provide rabies vaccinations so pets would be protected and be able to find homes. We cannot adopt out a pet without a rabies vaccine. I was a volunteer. I never got paid for my time. I also adopted out at least 12 animals who needed homes, were too sick to be housed there, or were slated for imminent euthanasia. I understand personally and professionally the difficulties of the shelter.

This shelter, well, it's always had its challenges. Every place does. And yet, they still seemed to be cursed on top of that. I have spent the last three weeks trying to understand how things got so bad. I spent 3 weeks talking to people who work there, volunteer there, donate there, got fired/terminated/resigned from there. The stories people shared had so many common themes that my idea of cursed turned into inevitable. It is inevitable that things have turned out the way they have. Just like expecting parvo to hit when you bring 33 puppies in together. (See previous parvo puppy blog here). Disease is just waiting for you. The only, (yes only), way a shelter can be run as the community that supports it wants it to be, is to be a reflection of that community. All communities are different. Areas of the country view pets/animals differently. As a practice owner in this county I will say that people love their pets like family. They expect their pets, even if they are under their a different entities roof, to be treated as such. This is called trust. We inherently want to trust in the system, and people, put in place to provide this care. (See open letter to HCHS on trust here).

Birdie. My kitten. Local rescue

HCHS tactic number one; ignore and hope it goes away. I spent weeks asking for answers. If you do get a reply it is paltry and dismissive. After that, if you keep asking you just get ignored. (references; ED, Head of the Board. Notefull also occurring at AC dept).

There is little argument that the staff turnover is too high in the shelter. There are numerous reasons for this. As someone who did volunteer there, there is an overarching desire among many there that they want to help. They specifically want to help the pets in the system who struggle to find placement. For me it was the elderly, sick cats. The ones that weren't cute, round, cuddly. The ones overlooked. The ones that didn't have a great chance at getting out. It was very hard to go every week, but, the faces that I knew would be waiting for me always tugged me back. I was there for them. There is an incredible sense of purpose that leads to powerful persuasion in helping those without anyone else. 

Why is the turnover so high at the shelter? The answer, (reminder again, this is all my opinion), is that poor leadership breeds poor performance. By the accounts of previous employees it is a toxic (their word) environment. (See their own stories here).

Why does it seem the same thing repeats over and over and over? I have been in this county for 20 years, and it always seems the same. Rumors swirl about the state of affairs at the shelter. Animals are being neglected, denied the care that is outlined in the Standard Of Care manual that is utilized and posted for the public, someone catches wind of it, and a cleaning of the house occurs. (They do get most of their funding from the taxpayers). And yet the overseeing humans who hire top staff and are charged with making the  remains relatively intact with very few animal care experts on it. (How can that be ideal for the animals?). The place is not cursed. The place runs by keeping the staff afraid to ask questions. Afraid to advocate for the residents. They are terminated via an email without an in person explanation. The people, pets and the status quo is disposable. People and pets there are treated the same. When there is accountability being asked for you get silence.

Here's what I am wondering. (Disclaimer time, this is my personal blog. I do not know any of these people personally, and I have no feeling for them one way or the other). How can a place with such an important purpose be inspirational, uplifting, life changing and healthy for all involved? Isn't the answer that it has to be supported, cared for, and believed in? If it has that infrastructure it can create protocols for people to know what is expected of them. But, if it is closed, secretive, and loses its purpose the power plays evolve. Pets are love. Love has to be at the center of every decision, every action and every persons ethos. It has to be. We do not live in a place where pets are viewed as anything else.

Don't we all need to hear this every so often?

Tactic Number two; Bully and intimidate. Secretly hand out termination letters. Post a public announcement that all of the inquiries are for "social media" attention. Every person at the shelter who has spoken to me explains it the same way. The management wants employees to feel that they are permitted there by the grace of the powers above them. If you want to run a magnificently successful shelter this ethos is upside down. The management exists at the mercy of those who get their hands dirty for them to stay in their executive attire. 

The typical scenario is that it is the Executive Director (ED) is the face of the shelter. They manage the facility and its occupants/staff/etc. They are hired by the Board of Directors. (They have a website, you can see for yourself). The Board is smart enough to know, based on decades of Patsy's, to pick someone who won't know they are being set up. When your past two top hires have left on uncertain/unfriendly terms the common denominator is the the people who decide who gets to decide everything that follows after, OR, the directives you give the Director. 

The pattern of behavior is that the Board terminates, or forces out with willing resignation, the ED, the shelter manager follows, and then the hiring process begins again. When it does they say things like; "It's a new day! We have new people. A fresh new approach to wipe the slate clean." Sounds like another deflection from responsibility, and certainly doesn't build transparency. Trust, well, that's another tough nut to put your whole heart and soul into.

It seems that the current choice for ED is a person with little to no animal experience. You don't know what you don't know, and the shelter is a tough place to get your training wheels. We were all young and green once. Some of us realized that growing up fast could be painful. Ask me what being sent to a military academy at 17, with a hatred for women, and an administrations penchant for hazing does to you? 

My personal opinion is that they chose wisely, vs. chose for expertise. Apparently the last guy was recruited by a headhunter, and these days there is (allegedly) still money missing from the operating fund. The rumor mill (always this place,, we also have an issue with transparency,, but more on that later), is that they couldn't afford the head hunter this time. (They are, after all facing a budget crisis. They haven't posted their numbers in a few years, so even this is speculation, hearsay from members who have attended budget meetings, and the staff being told they cannot purchase items, or house sick parvo puppies, or provide "gold standard of vet care" (I actually was sent that email). Turns out they have budget constraints but are sending people to Vegas for a shelter conference. I'm all for investing in your people. I do see them as your most valuable asset. Inexperienced doesn't mean unqualified, but it does beg the question as to motives when the Board consistently provides directives/objectives to the ED, and then claims to not have direct involvement with the shelter or its day to day activities. You can't have it both ways. It appears that there is always enough distance and nescience to keep their hands clean, but, never leadership to be a backstop. There is always plausible deniability.

Plausible deniability is a tactic a lawyer would employ. I think the Board has those?

Stacking the deck with youth and naivety is a great way to deflect responsibility elsewhere. That and the 5th. They seem to employ that often too.

The other thing I hear a lot is the political nepotism in the county. I don't have direct first hand experience of that, but if there is smoke, and if you hear it often enough, there probably is some truth to it. Tomorrow is the day I look into this. If the puppies were picked up by AC they were supposed to be on a stray hold. Was this one, simple, integral right of theirs pardoned? If so was any licensed, credentialled veterinarian at the helm of this decision?

Professionalism. Well, I suppose it is a soapbox others can stand on, but, when you tell me there isn't a guarantee of 100% success with this treatment option, therefore it justifies euthanizing all of the parvo dogs, we might want to reconsider what does offer 100% in life? See post about the shelter declining to treat the parvo puppies with the treatment we offered (for free, just in case we need a reminder) here.

The previous employees I have spoken to all chorus the same things. The patterns repeat themselves.

"I was punished because I cared too much."

"I didn't speak out because it never got the other people anywhere."

"I stayed quiet because if they fired me I wouldn't be able to see the dogs/cats anymore." (How many abused/battered people stay because of this? Trauma is trauma).

"The Board doesn't care."

"They euthanize for space."

"The numbers don't add up." (The No-Kill status and the operating budget).

"The Board never is seen, or heard, or a part of the shelter." (Leadership at its finest, was tagged numerous times).

"The dogs are euthanized for no reason."

"The dogs are set up to have a behavioral problem and then euthanized because of it." Withholding food. Reducing meals to once a day. The stress of the facility. Dogs are going to respond to stimuli. In almost all cases dogs are mis-read and punished for it. Making an assessment of a dogs responses when they are in the most stressful place they will ever be placed in is unfair.

Snoop. Found in a steel leg hold trap. Local rescue.

Tactic Three; The Patsy.

The system will always make the Patsy pay. Until we all unite against political pressures, power grabs, and the insidious nature of wealth accumulation, this will never stop. If you asked me to predict the outcome of this it is; the Board never cared enough to be invested to begin with. They would prefer to save face at the witching hour and will quietly ride off into the night, versus stand up when the challenges meet the pavement. They will leave from embarrassment instead of humility and hope that the next guy can do a better job. Leadership is about passing the baton for the sake of the troops you respect. The Captain goes down with the ship is how I was raised.

The ED will be replaced. After the silent treatment didn't work, the intimidation didn't squelch the mob, the Patsy goes next. (This will supercede the above). If the above doesn't happen the whole cycle repeats again. History loves to repeat itself if you aren't paying attention. At some point I will take the time to do a follow up on the previous ED's. A whole "Look at where they are now," series. Wonder how many of them are going to look back and feel really good about taking one for the team. Or have Jerseys with a new company logo that says; "Hello, my name is Patsy."

The Patsy extends beyond the board and the executive Director. The Patsy extends to those people who are taking care of the dogs and cats on a personal and individual basis. What kind of place fires a volunteer because they’re more concerned about their image their face and their dollar generating ability then the pets themselves. There is no volunteer who’s gonna volunteer with the trauma that it takes to be in a shelter and then worry about being fired. How can you even do such a thing.Why aren’t they treated like the precious valuable commodity that they are. That’s the ultimate Patsy. Their video here.