Mission animal shelter facing new state order, may be forced to close

MISSION, Kan. (KCTV) – A neighborhood animal shelter that’s been facing a flurry of grievances is now going through a state order to revoke its license.

That order, from the Kansas Office of Agriculture, was issued Tuesday to Unleashed Pet Rescue in Mission, Kansas.

Heather Lansdowne, the department’s director of communications, mentioned the tipping issue came in November when the agency embarked on a months-lengthy investigation. Previous week, the agency issued an emergency order for Unleashed to stop using in any new animals. Then arrived the buy looking for revocation of their license. With a contentious attractiveness hearing probably on the horizon, Lansdowne would not depth what distinct violations prompted the shift.

KCTV5 acquired inspection records from July 2017 to Oct 2022.

The word “satisfactory” dominates until eventually 2020. In 2020, it has just one “unsatisfactory” inspection. In 2021, there were being two. In 2022, there had been 3.

Usually, when one particular inspection effects in an “unsatisfactory” outcome, the abide by-up will be marked “satisfactory.” That changed in the slide of 2022 when the shelter had back again-to-again unsatisfactory inspections, which include a report of roaches through the shelter.

The severity of violations is rated from to 5, with 5 currently being the most significant. The shelter experienced two severity amount 5 violations cited on Oct. 24, 2022.

Just one reads as follows: “Throughout the facility, there were several types of what appeared to be roaches that were being also observed on surfaces that arrive into direct contact with the animals in this facility.”

The 22 inspection records KCTV5 reviewed uncovered that there have been quite a few grievances more than the decades.

From July 2017 to October 2022, 17 of the 22 inspections ended up linked to issues. Fourteen of individuals issues ended up considered unfounded, possibly in those exact terms or by indicating the mother nature of the grievance and stating the shelter was compliant in those places.

A 2017 inspection report states, “Unfounded grievance – Felt to be the end result of a group of (5) disgruntled staff who walked out.”

Most moments, nonetheless, when inspectors arrive out since of a grievance, they observed other violations, most normally ranging from minimal to average, but on two events, there ended up level 5 violations identified.

Some of the earlier information really don’t present a “final result” evaluation, but amongst these that do, 13 showed a “final result” of “satisfactory” and six were “unsatisfactory.”

The October 2022 inspection, the a single describing roaches, is the most latest report furnished so considerably as a result of KCTV5′s public information ask for. When questioned how several problems had been processed since then, Lansdowne indicated the company has gained at least 50 extra problems since the start off of this calendar year.

Court Kennedy, a lawyer for Unleashed, stated he intends to dispute the revocation order and request a listening to. By legislation, he has 15 days to do so.