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Sheriff asked to investigate shelter By Tessa Moll The sheriff's office is investigating complaints of animal cruelty at the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter, which has been repeatedly attacked for being overcrowded, underfunded and short-staffed since its March opening. “I think that since there is an investigation, they need to follow through with that, but I am not aware of any animal cruelty that has occurred at this shelter,” Pct. 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said. “I am not aware of any such action out there.” Covey represents the county on the five-member governing board for the shelter that includes officials from Leander, Cedar Park, Round Rock and Hutto, which each contribute to the shelter's budget. Volunteers have said they discovered two dead cats when working at the shelter last week and other animals were being held in deplorable conditions. Lori Rogowski of Leander, who made the discovery, filed a complaint with the Constables office in Precinct 1. “We took the initial report, and we called the Williamson County attorney,” Chief Deputy Robert Woodring of Pct. 1 said. “We ran it by them, and they requested that we hand it over to the sheriff's office.” Detective John Foster, spokesman for the sheriff's office, confirmed the agency was investigating but could not comment further because it was an open case. Interim Shelter Director Dr. Dana Boehm, a former Hutto veterinarian, could not be reached for comment. Boehm is serving a 90-day term as director, which began June 1, while the board searches for a permanent director. Rogowski , a shelter volunteer, said she arrived just after noon on June 19 to take photos of the animals up for adoption that weekend. It was busy in the front reception room, so she was asked to take a visitor to the back to retrieve her cat. “I escorted her back into the rooms, and it was horrific filth, cats crying, the bowls empty, just bone dry,” she said. “I could tell something was going wrong.” Once she began cleaning the area, she said she discovered a dead kitten and a dead cat. Rogowski, who said she has volunteered in shelters and adoption sites for several years, made calls to friends, and Ruthann Panipinto of Austin and Gretchen Guyer of the Williamson County Humane Society arrived to help clean the cat kennels. Both Panipinto and Guyer gave testimony to the commissioner's court last Tuesday in front of a crowded room of county residents upset with the photos and stories making their way through media reports. Covey addressed the crowd and explained Boehm's version of the events of the previous week. Boehm had fed and watered the cats the morning of June 19, but several cats did not have food or water because they had just undergone surgery, according to Covey. The deaths were from natural causes - the kitten died when its mother rolled on top of it, and the cat had died from an upper respiratory infection the shelter had tried to treat. “The sad thing is most people don't realize that the shelter is forced to take all animals including the sick, the lame and the unadoptable,” Covey said. Rogowski said she was disappointed by the commissioners' lack of response, and she filed her complaint with the constables office Monday morning prior to the public meeting. “When I get this stonewalling and denial, I get even more mad because animals are there suffering, and it is not being taken seriously,” she said. “The issue is they can't take care of the overcrowding. Nobody is acknowledging and taking care of it, and as a result, there is neglect and abuse over there.” At last week's meeting, the commissioners agreed to add two staffers immediately and increase next year's budget, bringing the shelter staff to nine full-time and three part-time employees.
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