Animal shelter whistleblower investigation
Hello from Gainesville, Florida. It's Monday, July 13, and you're listening to StreetSmart. I'm Seth Johnson. StreetSmart is a weekly podcast from Mainstreet Daily News, where we cover local news that informs, engages, and inspires listeners like you. A big thanks to our sponsor, Forest Meadows Funeral Home, where compassion meets experience. Check out their beautiful gardens, funeral home, and tribute center. Formations, funerals, and memorials all in one trusted place. With exceptional care and personal attention, Forest Meadows is here to honor every life with care.
Seth:Here's the top headlines we're rounding up.
Seth:Celebration Pointe is still in bankruptcy and has a major hearing tomorrow. Court documents show the attorney for the bankrupt companies is trying to get creditors to support a third restructuring attempt. But to be successful, the bankruptcy plan will need an injection of $50,000,000 from Celebration Point's biggest investor.
Seth:Alachua County commissioners voted to add aids during a special meeting last week. The county manager also presented how she plans to rearrange the top staff following two key vacancies.
Seth:High Springs reinstated its police chief after an internal investigation into payroll and overtime policy. Community members rallied behind the chief and decried the way the complaint was handled, but the city manager said he followed policy.
Seth:A lot of tasty morsels will be coming for foodies in Northwest Gainesville. Mainstreet Daily News got the scoop that Max Drive Thru will open a walk up location in Thornebrook Village this fall. Plus, DJ's Cast Iron Burgers and Luke's Bagels each launched a new location along Northwest 39th Avenue in the last week.
Seth:Even recent rainfalls haven't brought Florida out of its drought, but the low levels along the Suwanee River led to the discovery of two previously undocumented springs. Staff from the Suwanee River Water Management District named the two springs, and you can find those names at MainstreetDailyNews.com. Just click the link in the show notes. Thanks to our generous members, our journalism stays free for the whole community with no paywall.
Seth:Thanks for joining us here on StreetSmart. I'm Seth Johnson here with Lillian Hamman, and she's been reporting all of those food stories you heard about in the top headlines, including Luke's Bagels moving from downtown to off of Northwest 39th Avenue.
Seth:And Lillian, you were there on Friday when they served the final bagels at their downtown location. What was that like?
Lillian:Yeah. I pulled up just as they were closing up because they had sold out of all their bagels, and I ran into one of the workers. He said they're excited for the new location. You know, this one downtown has been their mainstay for the last six years since they opened in 2020, and it will be missed. But employees are ready for the larger space, and apparently, they had to make the bagels downtown around 1AM.
Lillian:Bakers would come in, and it would take them until, like, 4AM to get everything ready for that morning. At this new location, they now have enough space to just be making them all day and you can actually go in and watch them being made, kinda like a Krispy Kreme experience.
Lillian:But I do get really excited about being on the food beat. Sometimes I get to try the different things and stuff. I have had Luke's bagels and it is quite tasty, but you just never know what you're gonna be covering as a reporter. It could be bagels, it could be a whistleblower complaint into Alachua County Animal Rescue. Right, Seth?
Seth:Yeah. Great segue into our future story for today. Alachua County launched its whistleblower investigation to its own Animal Resources back in March. So an email landed in commissioner inboxes along with local media inboxes, kind of detailing some issues previous staff had with animal resources and specifically at the shelter off of Northwest 53rd Avenue. And that investigation, which was done by an outside legal firm, finished up and actually heard about it finishing and so requested the document, was able to get it a week ago, today, actually, and get that out first and let people know what they concluded.
Lillian:And before that investigation and what they, you know, found out from it, what were some of the complaints?
Seth:Yeah. There were about 27 different claims arranged from dogs not being able to get out and play outside of cages each day to, you know, water in cages and unsanitary conditions, to a rat infestation and a couple different euthanasia cases that they had issues with on why, the dogs were put down. And a lot of complaints against the new leadership at Animal Resources. They had a director from 2022 until August of last year before she was fired. And then new leadership came in in an interim role.
Seth:And a lot of the complaints seem to focus on that interim leadership and how they acted. And we posted the entire complaint on the story. So if you want to just read the whole thing yourself, we posted the entire 15 page complaint and the 31 page kind of report from this outside investigative firm. And that complaint really clears electric county staff for mistreatment of animals, any of those type of questions. You know, they said they were following practice of care that's pretty standard across the nation at animal shelters.
Seth:They brought in an outside expert in kind of animal care from Louisiana to come and see the shelter and see some of the claims and talk with staff. So according to the report, you know, current staff are following procedures and following, you know, best practices across the board and certainly not in violation of federal, state, or local regulations. There were three complaints that were sustained. Two of them were kind of non issues, would say. One was concerning the rat infestation.
Seth:They said, yeah, they have had rats at the shelter. The reports said that's fairly common for animal shelters where there's a lot of pet food and conditions. However, they said that's been getting better with, you know, weekly treatment that hadn't been there before and rat traps, and, that it's gone down according to the staff they talked to. The other one was concerning just, leadership, the fact that there hadn't been a director since August, and there hadn't been a kind of on staff veterinarian for several months. According to the report though, staff said that they felt like they could always get the animal care they needed because of rotating veterinarians that they would have come through.
Seth:The last issue was concerning the interim director who's kind of overseeing the shelter during this time, Gina Peebles. The complaint said that she referred to some volunteer women as lynching ladies, and the report confirmed that and said that that usage was a slang modern usage for kind of online harassment referring to kind of these volunteers who, according to the report, had kind of been involved in some online comments about her and that's what the report put out and said that they would leave it to county staff on how to deal with that.
Lillian:So the rats are just part of the animal shelter, right? They just wanna find a home and have a nice owner and get love?
Seth:Yeah. I think there just haven't been very many rat adoptions and that's contributed There to the had also been a complaint about cats being mauled in the yard, but they said there wasn't any evidence of that having taken place. And the report ended with eight recommendations, and the very first one was to protect current staff, you know, make sure they're supported and they can continue the job they're doing, and not to take actions out of fear public reaction or backlash, but to focus on their policy and the best practices. A couple of the other ones kind of went further afield. Alantra County currently uses the five freedoms of animal welfare as a guide, and the report suggested adopting the five domains instead, and just talked about the live release rate and not being too focused on that as a policy that they're not taking the animal's best interest into account.
Seth:And that's something that came up at a county meeting last week. It might be something that comes up in the future is reevaluating that idea of a no kill shelter that they strive to be, and seeing what's best policy right now, and maybe reevaluating that. So that's something to have in your mind if that's an issue close to you. And another topic concerning animal resources is their new shelter that they are working on. So that's been in debate, you know, kind of back and forth negotiations with the University of Florida for a while now, and they are still moving forward in, I believe, the due diligence type phase on that property, which is the former swine unit just south of really the main campus off of Archer Road.
Seth:And so the county is hoping to finalize that contract and get started on-site plan and demolishing a building that's there, and then constructing the new animal resources shelter. And some commissioners are very excited about that in the central location and hope it increases chances for volunteers since it's not so far outside of Gainesville.
Lillian:Yeah. That's what I was thinking.
Seth:And also having the University of Florida really close for volunteers and adoptions. So we will see how that construction continues and all of these kind of animal resources, topics that have been coming up.
Lillian:We're going to take a quick break and hear from our sponsor before we get into the news forecast and event segment this week.
Sponsor:At Forest Meadows, our commitment is simple. Exceptional care, personal attention, and respect for every family we serve. Forest Meadows offers every option in one trusted place. Visit our beautiful gardens and glass jar niches or plan ahead for cremation, funerals, and memorials at our funeral home or tribute center located on our cemetery grounds. Forest Meadows, where compassion meets experience and every life is honored with care.
Seth:Now for this week's news forecast. Archer will meet tonight for its regular monthly meeting and discuss its proposed property tax for next year, city manager evaluations, and several proposed charter referendums for the upcoming ballot. The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners will meet tomorrow, and the Gainesville City Commission will return from its summer break on Thursday.
Lillian:Now for our event segment covering upcoming family friendly events this weekend. Gainesville's free concert Fridays at Bo Diddley Plaza will feature bands Short Stack, Lowly Worm and the Fantastic Beverages ,and Varsity Tuba Quartet this week. The performances start at 7PM.
Lillian:Visit the Headquarters Library on Thursday to view live bats from the Lubee Bat Conservancy. The event starts at 11AM. Next Thursday, the bats will echolocate over to the Tower Road Branch.
Lillian:Newsies premieres this Thursday at Ripple Theatricals in Gainesville. It's a high energy ensemble driven musical about a group of young newspaper sellers at the beginning of twentieth century. The show will run Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays until August 1. Ticket prices start at $15.
Lillian:Learn what it's like to take care of animals during Zookeeper Day at Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo. The event happens Saturday from 9AM until 3PM with admission to the zoo.
Lillian:The Barbergators and Friends Anniversary Concert will be at 6PM on Saturday at First United Methodist Church of Gainesville. This fifty third annual concert will feature the Gainesville ensemble Resonance and the Time of Our Lives. Tickets start at $16.
Seth:Newspaper sellers in New York City at the turn of the century sounds like a pretty interesting job.
Lillian:It's a lot of work just to deliver those papers and now we can just scroll online and find the stories, pick up a free print copy of Mainstreet around town or put in your headphones and get your news via StreetSmart.
Seth:Yeah. No need to buy your copy for a quarter from, you know, your local street corner newspaper seller. You can just get it online. But that money is still an important part of the work we do and thanks to our members who do put out so that we can produce this quality journalism for Alachua County.
Lillian:Yeah. And if you're interested in becoming a Mainstreet member, you get some really cool perks.
Seth:We'll put a link in the show notes in case you're interested.
Seth:And that's all we've got for this week's StreetSmart podcast episode brought to you by Mainstreet Daily News and made possible by our generous members. We'll be right back next week for more stories that matter to you because they take place right here in Alachua County. Take a minute to share the StreetSmart podcast and help us continue the work. Our theme music is Sunset Sonata by Gainesville's Ska Band, Now Leaving Space.
Seth:This episode is a production of MARC Media.
