Ardena Perry Requests Oversight from the BCC On The Relationship Between The Nevada Humane Society & Washoe County Regional Animal Services

Ardena Perry went before the board of Washoe County Commissioners this September as she has for the past three years. Her concerns were legitimate, the relationship between NHS and WCRAS has become a case of the tail wagging the dog. During her brief presentation, Mrs. Perry provided the commission with a printout depicting a dog, complete with WCRAS # ID that had been brought in for an owner requested euthanasia. In the standard operating manual agreed upon by the BCC at the opening of the regional services, it is very specific that all owner surrendered animals go to the Nevada Humane Society. After changing direction in 2006; based on the unilateral decision of the board of directors; the nonprofit organization voted to hire a No Kill, CEO. Washoe County had not made a contract with a No Kill nonprofit, the Nevada Humane Society changed the rules and abandoned their duties as a public intake facility. This is what Ardena has been fighting for three years.

In the picture was a 15-year-old German shepherd, the picture depicted the dog barely able to stand and clearly out of place in that environment. The new policy selected by the Nevada Humane Society requires any owner surrendered euthanasia to go to the county side of the building, and they cannot euthanize the animal until NHS has decided whether or not it could be adopted. We believe state law prevails, and dogs are property in the state of Nevada, and can be disposed of, humanely by the owner. Whether or not one agrees with the law, it is the law. After receiving a call from a concerned citizen. I contacted staff at WCRAS. The employee I spoke with told me the dog came in nine days earlier. It was unable to walk, but it had not been observed by NHS until that morning. For nine days, this crippled animal struggled to walk, and laid on concrete, unable to escape its own excrement. I'm sure it was fearful in that threatening environment. I also believe that animal control staff treated this dear animal as caringly and lovingly as they could. The dog had finally been cleared for Euth later that day, nine (9) long days, the last on this earth, spent alone in a kennel... Clearly, this is the case of an owner trying to do the humane thing for his dog, and the Nevada Humane Society ignored its contractual agreement with Washoe County and sent the dog to WCRAS. Perhaps the new animal control manager finds it easier to acquiesce to NHS; however there are still those silly little county codes, ordinances and statutes and commission approvals that are bad things to ignore.
Later Oreo hopes to have an interview with Ardena Perry