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| 5/14/2008 11:59:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Shelter investigation finds no cruelty
BRAD STUTZMAN
Editor
A lengthy law enforcement investigation into the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter wrapped up recently, with the Williamson County Sheriff's office ruling no animal cruelty took place and the County Attorney's office declining to file charges.
In June 2007, two shelter employees filed an animal cruelty complaint against the facility. The complaint alleged two cats died from neglect (starvation and dehydration) at the shelter on June 19, 2007.
A sheriff's office report provided to the Leader states: "On April 1, 2008, Det. [Mike] Cowie discussed this investigation with Williamson County Assistant Attorney Dee Hobbs. Hobbs advised after reviewing the case the County Attorney's office concluded there was not sufficient evidence for a prosecutable violation of the law."
The report details employee and volunteer complaints of overcrowding and understaffing - which have since been corrected - at the shelter.
"[An employee] stated at the time the cat was found deceased the shelter had a lot of cats, so at the time there may have been 120 cats ... she stated more staff and not hording the animals [would help]."
The report states Cowie and another Sheriff's office investigator toured the facility - located off the Inner loop in Georgetown - on June 27.
"Upon completion of the tour, nothing was noted out of the ordinary and all of the animals appeared to have water and food and the facility was clean," Cowie wrote in his report.
At Cowie's request, Dr. Beverly Nix, zoonosis control veterinarian for the Texas Department of State Health Services, on July 16 inspected the shelter.
Cowie wrote: "Dr. Nix's inspection of the shelter lasted approximately two hours. At the conclusion, Dr. Nix found the shelter to be clean, well-managed and all the animals cared for. The shelter received a satisfactory rating."
Officials have said the investigation took so long to finish because numerous hours of security camera film had to be reviewed.
"After reviewing ... seven days of videos, I observed nothing that would lead me to believe cruelty to animals was occurring," a detective wrote in his report. "I observed nothing that would lead me to believe that any of the animals in the videos were being mistreated."
The shelter, which marked its first anniversary in March, is operated by Williamson County government, plus the cities of Round Rock, Hutto, Cedar Park and Leander.
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