LAURENS COUNTY, Ga. — Several months after the state hit Laurens County Animal Control with a stop order and released findings of its investigation after a dog died, animal activists are calling on leaders there to take accountability.
"When you don't have answers being given to questions, it’s even more concerning, especially when you're asking what's being done," Mimi Steger said.
Steger is an admin for Saving Dogs and Cats for Laurens County, a Facebook page that aims to give updates on the shelter. Steger says there have been no formal statements, just the county quietly mentioning "independent animal advocates."
"Nobody knows who they are or how you can join them or how they were selected, what it is they're monitoring, what improvements they're making, so that's the big question," she said.
The facility shut down earlier this year after the Georgia Department of Agriculture found it in violation of several requirements like failing to provide sufficient shelter, violation of humane care, and separation and classification. A state investigation showed a dog lost weight over three weeks and died, but the shelter could not prove that a vet ever cared for the animal.
"In my opinion, for them to step in and pull a stop order, it must have been pretty severe," Kerri Fickling, President of SOS Rescue, said.
Fickling runs SOS Rescue and says she's pulled animals from several local facilities.
She says in rehoming dogs from their Laurens facility, the dogs were emaciated.
"Both dogs were taken immediately when they were pulled to our vet here in Macon and she did a body comp analysis, did bloodwork, and says they were suffering from severe malnutrition as a result of starvation," Fickling said.
Now that the shelter has agreed to follow state rules going forward, rescue groups want something else -- communication and transparency.
"Even if people didn't want to volunteer, even if people couldn't adopt animals, this is a taxpayer-funded municipal shelter and people are asking questions and they aren't getting answers," Steger said.
The shelter is currently operational.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s stop order against the animal shelter was lifted in April.
If the shelter gets a major violation during its three-year probation the state could revoke its license to operate. If it successfully makes it through the probation, the state will waive the $12,000 fine.