Inside one of the newest animal shelters in the Midstate is a silent problem that the Corlews of Gallatin say is punctuated by visual proof. Jason Corlew explains, “The vet basically said he’d been laying in his feces and urine for 10 days. Julie Corlew adds as she points to the dog’s raw elbows and belly, “That’s what ate off the hair off his elbows.” The couple has a $600.00 vet bill just to treat urine scald they say their great dane got here at the Sumner County Animal Shelter, along with swollen joints and legs and blistered feet, plus a blood infection and a 40 pound weight loss.
The Corlews showed us the sores between Chief’s toes and say, “You bring him out and he’s a bag of bones and he’s covered in feces and urine and sores.” Chief had been at the Sumner County Animal Control shelter after biting a neighbor’s child while the Corlews went on vacation. They showed us this picture of a healthy Chief taken before his 10 day stint in the shelter. Sumner County’s mayor openly acknowledged the problem is down on the floor.
When taxpayers spent $1.3 million dollars on this state of the art shelter in 2011, complete with its own flushing system, concrete crews poured a flat floor— a $52 thousand dollar mistake. The Sumner County Mayor says, “There probably wasn’t enough grade initially on the floor.” I went to the head architect on the project and asked David Brown what the slope should be. He explains, “It is 1/8 ” per foot within 4 feet of that drain. So, within 4 feet of that drain it begins sloping 1/8″ down every foot it is.” Inmates had just cleaned the floors when Fox 17 toured last week, but prior pictures show the problem of moisture and urine pooling.
Volunteer Lee Sanft exlains what it was like when he used to volunteer there, “As soon as we went in there, my eyes started burning.” This retired American Airlines pilot saw what he calls a taxpayer funded mishap first hand adding, “He hoses everything to the back with the dog sitting right there and everything just comes back and puddles right there half inside the cell and half inside the walkway and he goes, ‘I dont’ know who built this place, but they didn’t build it right.’ ”
This is the same shelter, you’ll remember, still trying to shake this image of its vet caught on hidden camera improperly euthanizing animals with shots right to the heart. The vet ultimately lost his license and reform put animal control under Sumner County Sheriff’s Department. So, any problem here now upsets rescuers like Nina Ground, for the animal’s sake. She says, “So they’re bearing the burden for something somebody put a lot of money in their pocket for and that taxpayers paid out the (bleep) for… not to be blunt.” (continue reading)