4 Investigates: Former animal shelter employee speaks out on deplorable conditions

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HIGHLIGHTS
Workers say some gentle dogs are becoming more and more dangerous. In fact, one employee was recently mauled by a dog that behavioral scientists said was safe. 

KOB 4 Investigator Chris Ramirez reveals a precarious situation inside the shelters. 

Throughout the summer, past and former employees and volunteers reached out to 4 Investigates, asking KOB 4's team to look into the situation, inside the animal shelters, that is turning ordinarily non-aggressive dogs into dangerous ones. 

'My level of concern is very high. I left my job, so I can speak out for the animals,' said Deana Case, a former Animal Welfare Department employee. 

'They haven't had a lot of human contact during their stay in the shelter. And often their body chemistry is so elevated, that it causes actual permanent changes to the brain. Physiological changes happen from stress and trauma to people and animals,' said Case. 

Case believes the dog mauled this shelter employee because it had lived in an untenable situation for too long. 

'She went in to scoop his kennel and this very young herding breed dog who had been there for months without enough exercise, no enrichment level human contact, he mauled her.' 

Case said the employee had nearly three dozen punctures, the dog nicked a vein and the employee was taken away by ambulance. That dog's fate -- euthanasia. 

Deana Case, along with several others, told KOB 4 dogs are becoming more stressed because of two major issues: there are simply not enough people to care for all the animals and there are just too many animals. 

'So this is how full the shelter is right now. These dogs are living outside because there is no room inside the physical shelter,' said Case. 

Cell phone video and photos provided to 4 Investigates show animals are in areas meant for short-term use, like the intake area, where animals are supposed to be for a few minutes, but dogs would live there for days. 

'The overcrowding issues cause all of the animals to be anxious they have digestive problems. They develop hyper kinesis where they are doing stereotypies such as spinning finger-painting with their poop. The cats tend to hide in the back under their beds, they don't come out and socialize. The noise level is just overwhelming and it increases aggressive and anxious behavior in the animals,'said Case. 

Right now, the Animal Welfare Department has a 30% job vacancy rate. The people who should be working with the dogs simply aren't there, and that has led to dogs staying inside their cages for 23-24 hours a day for weeks or months. 

'They are not getting human contact, they are not getting walks. And again, it escalates aggressive behavior, and also depression. Some of them just give up,' Case said. 

And the shelter has a rodent problem, staff have expressed concerns that animals are eating poisoned mice. 

An email obtained by 4 Investigates reads: 

'Cash has become ill and I suspect he may have ingested a poisoned mouse. He eats the mice often and I fear this may become an issue. Gerty in B01 had dying mice in her kennel this evening.'  

Click here to read the entire article. This article highlights many of the problems occurring in animal pounds across the country due to the pandemic. Animal Pounds are finding creative ways to hide the facts. In this story, you see a few heroes stepping up and exposing what is actually happening to our homeless animals. Sadly, it's humans that are causing the harm and the neglect.