Residents are calling for more oversight and funding at the Rhea County Animal Shelter after some say a dog was dropped off and left in a cage outside during after hours.
The controversy started with a social media post showing the dog left outside the Rhea County Animal Shelter.
The dog is one of more than a hundred in the Rhea County Animal Shelter right now. But, his entrance drew a lot of attention.
A Facebook post by the shelter says someone dropped him off outside in a cage after hours. (The post has since been removed.)
Jack Kauffman says there needs to be a way to tell when animals are dropped off here.
"We just need to staff this one correctly, so that the animals no longer have to suffer like this one did out in front of the animal shelter," Kauffman says.
The post shows the dog sitting in crate outside the shelter, but the animal shelter's director says there's no way to tell exactly how long it sat out front before workers found it. And Kauffman says it's part of the problem.
We took his concerns to Rhea County leaders who say otherwise.
"As far as I know, there isn't any major problems. But, you know, we'll look into his complaint. And I know that the people personally that are in charge of it love animals," says Rhea County Executive Jim Vincent.
Rhea County Sheriff Mike Neal oversees the animal shelter, and says there’s an expansion planned to increase how they help the community.
"Taking care of the shelter is not a Monday through Friday, it's basically 24 hours a day," Sheriff Neal says.
He says the volunteers and staff do the best they can.
"Somebody's made accusations as far as an animal at the front gate in a cage overnight. The animal was picked up at seven o'clock in the morning as they came to work and and it's taken care of, there's no problem," Sheriff Neal says.
Sheriff Neal and the shelter workers walked us through the facility, which appeared to be operating in a humane manner for the animals.
The Sheriff believes there are more to Kauffman’s concerns, considering his current campaign for county commission.
"It's election time, Mr. Kaufman's running for county commission and as far as I know, he's not been in my shelter, nor has he contacted me about my shelter," Sheriff Neal says.
But Kauffman says, it has nothing to do with the campaign, it has everything to do with the animals.
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