Multnomah County Animal Services is escalating its efforts to keep its practices secret, once again promoting personal attacks on those who seek to examine the agency’s public records and practices. The goal is clear. MCAS does not want the public to know the facts about shelter practices that occur behind closed doors. Transparency interferes with propaganda. One way to hide those facts has been imposition of high costs, now $800-$900 monthly for records that can be provided electronically for $5-$10. Another is the delay that results from cumbersome procedural requirements, delays that often prevent access to the information that can save lives and prevent needless killing. The newest attack on the public’s interest in the truth is the agency’s sponsorship of anonymous attacks against activists, including those seeking to save animals’ lives. As recently deployed on Craig’s List, these personal attacks are clearly intended to deflect the public’s concerns about agency practices and recently disclosed financial mismanagement. If the message is true, kill the messenger. But those concerns require attention. No county or state governmental department should be able to hide the facts from the public’s knowledge. That is why the records needed for the information sought to be hidden by MCAS are called “public.” Those records belong to us and must be accessible. They do not belong to the managers who want to keep all gates to the truth closed. Over the years, MCAS has attempted nearly everything in its effort to make public records harder and harder to get. Affordable access to electronic “read only” electronic data bases was ended to prevent what a former director called the public’s “rummaging” through his records. Direct access was replaced with a process that increased monthly access costs from $10 to $800. When that did not succeed, when the public persevered and continued to pay (under protest) what MCAS demanded, the current director, Jackie Rose, stopped keeping the records that disclose the truth about practices and the lack of care provided the animals for which MCAS has responsibility. Clearly MCAS knows that it has much to hide. Even the Shelter Review Committee – the anonymous group determining whether animals live or die – now keeps no written notes and reaches its fatal conclusions without providing any reviewable information. Almost all animals are labeled and killed as “Unhealthy/Untreatable” despite contrary evidence and a refusal to consult or enlist outside rescues and professionals. The entry “Under Behavior Modification” seldom is accompanied by a written plan. Death sentences have been automated. Rescues and professionals are not included in decisions. Justifications are too general – “killed for behavior conditions” is common and should be questioned. The gates to the public’s information are closed as securely as the gates to the shelter areas where some dogs remain jailed for months and years. Two recent examples from earlier this month follow. Many more can be provided. Brooklyn (Public Record: https://www.scribd.com/document/362320261/Brookyln-s-Record?secret_password=e1I0h8W2m0u6hN28exCb) a stray two year old blue and white American pit bull mix found with a prong collar and black leash was first taken to Dove Lewis Emergency Veterinary Hospital on April 24 2017 and immediately transferred to MCAS . She was anxious, soon began to show obvious symptoms of shelter stress. She died of inattention to those symptoms. Her behavior was “assessed” twice, first three days after her entry into the shelter, when she was recommended for adoption. After two more months in the agency’s care she was again assessed and this time described as “aroused/vocal/jumpy/mouthy” and in need of access to more interaction with other dogs on leash and in the play yard. We can’t know what minimal socialization was provided but on September 15 on a “Dog to Dog Assessment Parallel Walk” the agency reported it ended on a “good note.” That good note never sounded again. On October 05, the animal care record read “Brooklyn is deteriorating in kennels and noted yesterday and today that dog is smearing feces all over the kennel with constant barking, drooling, and fence fighting with neighbor dogs. Spoke with Aids ad she has been smearing feces for quite a while now.” They only just noticed. She was killed as “unhealthy/untreatable” on October 7, 2017, for behavior. MCAS entered the wrong euthanasia code (DM) for medically unhealthy/untreatable. Nothing was done to reverse the deterioration that MCAS itself caused nor was any rescue or option sought. Piper, a 3-year-old energetic Boxer mix (Public Record: https://www.scribd.com/document/362320017/Piper-s-Record-Multnomah-County-Animal-Services?secret_password=SlUC5HRgzotLr6TLCMTc) entered MCAS on June 03, 2017 and remained on the adoption floor until August 18 when she “air snapped” at a shelter volunteer, described as the third incident of air snapping within the last several weeks. Piper’s eligibility for adoption was immediately retracted because of a perceived need for “behavior modification.” There is no documentation of any efforts at behavior modification and no response to a rescue’s offer to help by paying for expert training. On 10.05.17, the Shelter Review Committee recommended euthanasia “due to severity of behavioral conditions,” falsely reporting that “Appropriate rescues have been contacted and either declined or have not responded” even while advertisements soliciting fosters by one rescue that was contacted were still running in the community papers (https://www.scribd.com/document/362323863/Piper-s-Advertisement?secret_password=h8wqDTxQZ4FSkkDlEMLW). On October 06, 2017, Piper was killed as “Unhealthy/Untreatable”. Killing is MCAS’s preferred means of modifying behavior. It should come as no surprise that MCAS seeks to hide realities from the public. Closed doors and smoke and mirrors are needed to keep the public unaware of what truly transpires on a daily basis. Those doors must be open. Transparency must be required.