For the past 20+ years, the Brazeau County animal control officer (ACO) has had dozens of complaints made against their contracted ACO to the SPCA for various infractions, including animal neglect, animal abuse, failing to provide the basic necessities for the animals under her care, theft of unaltered purebred animals, breeding of said purebreds, and profiting from the sale of puppies that are bred from animals in her care. The response from Brazeau County to these complaints is that unless someone else bid for the position of ACO, they had no choice but to accept the current ACO's bid. They have acknowledged that they need a new ACO. In September of 2014, an outcry on social media from concerned citizens throughout Drayton Valley and Brazeau County prompted an unbelievable response about this sad situation. Dozens of stories poured in, alleging stories of horrific abuse and neglect of the animals in her care. Citizens relayed firsthand accounts of the atrocious conditions their pets were found in on her property. Much of the time, their ACO makes no attempt to contact animal owners. Desperate owners searching for beloved pets call her and are often told that she does not have that type/breed of animal in her care. Many of these people decided to drive out to her land to double check, and found that their pets were indeed in her care and were housed in deplorable conditions. People shared eyewitness accounts of pets found in the canopy of her truck in sweltering heat with no water while she worked at her air-conditioned full time job at a local grocery store. One man shared a story of finding animals almost dead in the canopy of her truck while she had gone fishing. He returned to his vehicle at the end of the day and found the dogs in extreme distress while she continued to fish. These are but a few of the shocking stories told. Following the recent story on social media, it was discovered that the ACO position was up for tender. In December 2014, Brazeau County received at least three bids for the position. One bid was put forth by Cause for Critters out of Drayton Valley. One was put forth by a family offering to build an actual facility with their own funds on their property 7km outside of Drayton Valley. The other was from the current ACO. Despite the other bids, despite the history of dozens and dozens of complaints against her to the SPCA over the years, and despite the county’s insistence that they simply needed other bids in order to hire a new ACO, the same ACO was hired again. The willingness of Brazeau County to hire her again in the face of so much evidence of animal cruelty and neglect is shameful. It’s embarrassing. It’s criminal, really, but our animal cruelty laws are lacking. Shouldn’t your taxes go towards hiring competent personnel to perform their jobs safely, effectively, and within the confines of the law? Do you know what her kill rate is? For Brazeau County alone in 2013, her kill rate for dogs was 68%. Let that sink in. 68%. This means that if she picks up your dog and it ends up in her hands, there is a significantly better chance that she’ll kill it than try to get it back to you. If she n is the ACO, you won’t be able to check online to see if your animals have been safely captured and are safe and warm and fed. Instead, in Brazeau County, there is a good chance that after 3 days an animal will be killed if the owner is unknown. It will be killed in 5 days if the owner is known and doesn’t come to pick it up or pay any fines that are due. That is, unless she decides to keep it herself to breed it. She is supposed to have each animal in her care humanely euthanized at a vet’s office at a cost of $100 per animal. Instead, she shoots them in the head and burns their bodies. Imagine your dog has been shot in the head and then tossed in a barrel and burned to ashes. Imagine finding out that your beloved dog shivered, paced, and cried pitifully for help as she laid in an uninsulated barn in -30 degree temperatures with no food, frozen water, and no bedding aside from a thin layer of wood chips. Alternatively, she may have frozen to death tied up to an old truck in the yard, or frozen to death in the corner of some small shack on her property while desperately wondering where you were and why you didn’t come to find her. Sadly, this is preventable. Unclaimed animals can be rehomed. In this day and age of animal welfare and social media, extensive networking can be done to make every effort to locate owners before putting them up for adoption—they don’t have to get a bullet in the head after 3 days of being unclaimed. How shocking and saddening that this has gone on for so many years with Brazeau County's ACO . Please sign this petition if you agree that this treatment of animals is UNACCEPTABLE in Brazeau County. Sign it if you feel it is shameful that Brazeau County continues to allow the same ACO to get away with abusing and neglecting lost animals in their time of greatest need. Please sign if you demand that Brazeau County immediately terminate her and follow in the footsteps of Drayton Valley, who just hired a new ACO. Sign it if you want to show Brazeau County that we won’t allow this animal abuse, cruelty, and neglect ONE SECOND LONGER. Demand a change and demand it now.