ANIMAL HOUSE
Good intentions aren’t enough to save Clark County animals from their deplorable conditions
BY HEIDI HARRIS
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Heidi Harris hosts “The Heidi Harris Show” weekday mornings, 8 to 10 a.m., on NewsTalk 720 KDWN in Las Vegas. Visit her website www.heidiharris.com.
Other stories by Heidi Harris
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The disaster that is the Lied Animal Shelter was predictable. Those who have worked in the animal-shelter business knew it was a terrible idea to allow Mary Herro to have the contract to run the county’s four-legged sanctuary. Everyone who had ever worked for her (myself included) knew that there were problems with the way the shelter was operated, causing untold suffering for the animals.
In 2003, animal activists from all over the valley protested the awarding of the $15-million contract to Lied at several public hearings. A March 27, 2003 article stated: “An October 2001 city of Las Vegas audit found Animal Foundation management controls were inadequate, poorly trained employees had illegal access to controlled substances, and thousands of dollars had been stolen. Lax accounting and improper practices also led to animals being lost, stolen or unnecessarily euthanized.”
I have firsthand knowledge of the situation. When I was a volunteer coordinator and adoption counselor at the then-named Animal Foundation, I was not allowed by Mary Herro to hire staff to assist with adoptions. Mary insisted that those positions be volunteer only, which led to constant turnover, understaffing and unnecessary deaths for animals who waited in cages while people who provide good homes walked out in disgust.
You may think, “Wait a minute. Shouldn’t animal shelters do their best to keep expenses down?” Excellent question, which is why I went berserk when Herro’s daughter, Stacy, would pull into the parking lot in her Mercedes, strut into the building with go-go boots on, and proceed to check off on her clipboard which animals should die that day. That was her sole contribution to the operation of the Animal Foundation. Oh, did I mention that she was on the payroll? Cruella DeVille had nothing on this heartless girl.
After Mary Herro was run out of Las Vegas, Stacy Herro, realizing how much money could be gleaned from the shelter business, moved back to California and fooled another shelter into hiring her. In 2006, she was arrested for fraudulently obtaining 36,000 vicodin pills, using the shelter’s license to do so. But I digress.
Checking online, I found this little tidbit on MaryHerro.com, posted a few years ago: But success has strained the Animal Foundation’s limited resources. Last year, more than 19,000 animals came through the doors. By 1996, Herro admits, “major problems began to result from the fact that we want to save as many animals as we can.” Herro’s ultimate goal is to build a “no-kill” shelter.
As anyone with a brain knows, you cannot possibly run a local shelter which takes in as many as 100 animals a day, and still maintain your no-kill status. By Herro’s own admission, 19,000 animals were taken in one year. Most of those were not claimed by their owners. Local animal activists knew that, and warned officials, but Herro forged ahead.
Mary Herro succeeded only because she conned the wealthy and influential Janie Greenspun Gale into believing her lies. Greenspun Gale is a true animal lover, who as far as I know, doesn’t even wear leather shoes. She’s also easily manipulated. The influence Greenspun Gale and her cronies wielded allowed the Lied Shelter to gain the county contract to run a regional shelter.
Fast forward a few years (and many complaints), and the Humane Society of the United States produces a scathing report on the deplorable conditions at the shelter. Several months ago, nearly 1,000 animals had to be killed at one time due to illness and overcrowded conditions in Clark County’s facility.
As KLAS TV reported, “When the Humane Society asked why animals lived in these conditions, the report states, ‘The understood policy at the shelter was to wait for “gravely ill” animals to die on their own, rather than provide euthanasia, which is the standard of care at animal shelters.’”
Disgusting, but predictable. When you combine a heartless, conniving crook with a rich bleeding heart who can’t accept reality, you’ve got a recipe for disaster. After all was said and done, those responsible tried to shrug it off, saying that they “meant well.”
Tell that to the suffering animals.
