Las Vegas (KTNV)-Insiders after another have come forward to 13 Action News, claiming that the Animal Foundation in Las Vegas puts pets in danger.

What we keep hearing is "overcrowded, understaffed and unhygienic".

Remember two things: your taxes pay for this, and if your pet is lost, this is where your pet will end up.

We interviewed 17 current and current former Animal Foundation employees at almost all levels: veterinarians and veterinary technicians, animal care, admissions and admissions-workers, managers and supervisors. After claiming that their concerns have been ignored, they all want to expose their so-called crisis.

Watch the full series: 13 Animal Foundation investigating allegations that pets are in danger

Liz Wade, a licensed veterinary technician who resigned from the Animal Foundation on November 1, said emotionally: "I don't want it to be like this. I really enjoy working at the Animal Foundation."

"I can't do it there anymore," echoed Dr. Mindi Roberts of DVM, who until recently was a rescue veterinarian for the Animal Foundation.

"Everything that happened recently is preventable and unacceptable," adds Vanessa Yoakum, former TAF animal care director.

Whether it is lost, lost or turned in by the owner, Animal Foundation dogs, cats and other creatures may want to leave. Many workers now feel the same way.

"When I first started there, I was impressed," Liz Wade said. "When I left, I felt disgusted, disappointed and heartbroken."

Before: Pet owners seeking to retrieve their lost pets at the Animal Foundation face heartache and frustration

"Admit? Yes. Action? No," Vanessa Ukham said.

The Animal Foundation is a contracted municipal shelter for cities, counties, and North Las Vegas, accepting an average of 25,000 animals per year.

"We are the largest open shelter in the country, and it's just... too much," said Dr. Roberts, who has been a rescue veterinarian at TAF intermittently for 20 years.

"Can you respond appropriately to the condition of all the animals in need of care?" Darcy Spears asked.

"No. Too many," Dr. Roberts said.

"These animals depend on us. As a shelter, we should provide them with basic necessities: clean food, clean water, and clean shelter. At this point, the Animal Foundation cannot even provide these three things consistently. They are unwilling to admit it," Wade said.

When we started our investigation last summer, so far, the employees you have heard are still working at TAF. They have been documenting the situation in photos, internal records and videos shared with 13 investigators.

In the past two months, they have given up in frustration, saying that they can't bear to see animals suffer any more and need to go where they think they can make a difference.

"Have you recorded your concerns to management more than once?" Spears asked Liz Wade.

"Absolutely. Yes. I have sent photos of the black mold I found in the cat litter, cockroaches, maggots in chickens outside, flies infested in bunny bungalows, usually just dirty kennels with no food or water. Animals are more than 24 hours old," Wade said.

An animal care manager who resigned in September wrote to the leadership about the toxic work environment, lack of training, a large number of animal deaths and overworked employees.

The timetable we obtained shows that one person is usually responsible for cleaning, feeding and caring for about 100 animals every day.

Dr. Roberts was at TAF in 2007 when a team led by the Humane Society of the United States came to Las Vegas to evaluate the shelter when it was in crisis for the first time.

"The conditions were too crowded and dirty, causing thousands of animals to suffer, including many people who were sick in the shelter," Dr. Roberts recalled. "It's happening again."

She reminded the leader that things are going backwards.

"I can't tolerate letting animals die just because they are in the shelter. I try to let them know that these things are happening via email, but it's not good," Roberts said.

She said that lack of manpower would lead to neglect, and recalled the story of a puppy. "Somehow, his tail was taken off the bone. He sat for two days without taking any painkillers."

Liz Wade, a licensed veterinary technician, reported the same type of incident.

"Before we do anything for them, the animals will stay in the kennel with broken limbs for a few days to a week," she said.

The medical team also blamed the lack of manpower for the situation in the shelter: the kennel was full of feces, the bedding was dirty for several days, brown water, animals escaped, and a large-scale outbreak of upper respiratory disease in cats.

"It's very dangerous," Dr. Roberts said.

"I had a very healthy cat-the veterinarian agreed to her adoption-when she was sitting on the side of the shelter instead of adopting it, she ended up so sick that she really was going to die. Staff Bring her to me to see her," Roberts added. "I had to euthanize her. The number of animals we had to euthanize... is more than normal... to make them suffer, die in their kennels, in their trash cans, this is not right.... wrong."

In at least one case, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police noticed and initiated an animal cruelty investigation, which is still ongoing.

"It's a very quiet thing, quiet," Wade said.

She was talking about what happened to a dog named Martin who was left outside in the hot summer.

That day, former employee Nicole Staples was also present.

Staples said: "They cleaned the kennel and apparently no one inspected the animal. He died in a mess because he was cooking outside and trying to get back inside, grabbing things, basically for his life. War.".

A few days later, “it happened to a dog named Bandit again,” Staples said.

"Why don't these bungalows be inspected before everyone leaves at night? We have caused great harm to these dogs. They died because of our lack of care," Wade said.

"We did have a husky puppy that was thrown into the trash can," Wade said. "It was accidental. It happened when a waiter was cleaning the doghouse."

Staples added: "Her task is to clean the entire part, and she does it very quickly."

"This employee is hard of hearing," Wade said. "She can't hear the screaming of the puppy in the trash can."

"It died eventually," Staples said.

Vanessa Yoakam added: "I was the one who found this puppy, so it's very rough."

"I have recorded all of this," Wade said. "I have brought it to the attention of my supervisor or animal care supervisor. I have even brought it to the attention of chief operating officer and chief executive Christine Robinson. Like everything else with the Animal Foundation, it It was incorporated into the carpet. I have been working with animals for 10 years and it was heartbreaking to see some of the conditions I saw while working at TAF."

13 investigations | 13 more investigation stories from the Investigates team

Staples said: "These animals should take refuge here to ensure their safety. They are dying and becoming seriously ill due to negligence." "I call it cruel, because no one takes any action on it."

In a recent outcry, CEO Christine Robinson, with a salary of $240,000, announced his retirement, which will take effect at the end of this year.

Her deputy, chief operating officer, John Coogan, resigned abruptly on November 1.

"This means to me that everyone can see that there is a huge problem, and even the superiors can't solve it. Therefore, they didn't stay and try, but jumped like everyone else," Wade said.

Apart from Robinson and Cogan, Dr. Joanna Jared, the only remaining full-time veterinarian at the shelter, said that she left on November 30.

13 Investigators obtained an email from Dr. Jarred to the Animal Control Center. She wrote:

"I am Dr. Jarred, the chief veterinarian of the Animal Foundation. I want to contact you because my priority has always been the animals I take care of. This is the only reason I stayed for so long. My last day will be November 30 day.

"As you may know, I am the only full-time veterinarian here. When I left, there were no veterinarians other than part-time rescue surgeons. The quality of care will inevitably drop sharply. There is currently no application for a full-time veterinarian, given that We have been unable to fill any vacant positions since April, and I don’t think this situation will change until December.

"I don't pretend to understand the ins and outs of the contracts we have signed with various animal control departments. What I know is that we are ethically obligated to be transparent about the care we can actually provide. I and other members of the organization seem to disagree .

"I really appreciate your caution after my time here, but if it helps to bring the animals where they need it in the long run, please share with anyone."

The TAF leadership rejected our request for a camera interview and instead sent a statement from Chris Robinson, which was written almost verbatim from a Facebook video posted by the shelter on October 25:

When we started the investigation in June, the city provided records showing that their last official inspection was in 2017. After we requested a record, they began to arrange monthly visits.

"Usually in those days, it was a situation where all the crew were clean on the deck," Wade said. "They will send an email,'Make sure your station is cleaned, make sure it's deep clean, make sure it's done.' Then you always say,'Oh, someone must come to the shelter today.'"

"So, this is not a surprise check? Did they know it's coming?" Darcy Spears asked.

"As far as I know, yes," Wade said.

In fact, 13 Investigates received emails between city and county leaders and the Animal Foundation, in which they discussed arranging site visits. Prior to this, a series of e-mails were sent between animal control officials, confirming that there were "considerable complaints" about the conditions and operations of the Animal Foundation.

"I don't think they are fully aware of its depth," Wade said.

The city said it would let the Animal Control Center investigate the allegations of employees.

The county issued the following statement:

"We had to take shortcuts," said Vanessa Yoakum, the former head of animal care.

She contacted others to request improvements, but Yoakum said that some fixes caused more problems.

"It's heartbreaking," she said, citing an example when the enrichment team was reassigned to help with feeding and cleaning.

"This means that the game group is stopped," she said. "This means that socializing has ceased. And there are so many...I can say that in the past two to three months at least five dogs had to let go because no one was able to socialize with them."

Wade believes that in shelters, animal care and welfare are always everyone's responsibility.

"The satisfaction you get from helping homeless animals with no one is beyond your description," Wade said. "Then you will go from that overwhelming feeling,'Wow, I have done so many good things for the community' to'Am I helping these animals or hurting them because of the conditions in the shelter?' until I leave. At that time, I was 100% convinced that we were just hurting these animals and we were not helping them at all."

Last year, Animal Foundation vigorously promoted the realization of its "possible mission in 2020: save the life of every healthy and treatable animal."

Nicole Staples called it "a myth because it's their way of using wording for their benefit. They want to feel that they are doing this great thing."

Dr. Roberts said that animals that enter healthy and treatable become unhealthy and untreatable:

"For dogs, I think it's more overcrowding. Many of them have behavior problems because they spend too much time in the kennel."

Euthanasia of animals for "medical or behavioral" reasons enables Animal Foundation to achieve its goal of "saving the life of every healthy and treatable animal."

Dr. Roberts said: "We have sitting cats and dogs. When their time is up, they will not be transferred. This is a lack of space."

The last straw that overwhelmed her came from a realization: "Sterilization and sterilization have not been completed for all adoptions that are about to withdraw."

The government contract stipulates that shelters must “neutralize or neuter every cat or dog they transfer or adopt, unless their health does not permit it.”

Insiders who spoke with us said that the time for local leaders and shelters to reassess their agreements has passed.

"Contract with the city, county and North Las Vegas-is this no longer a viable or sustainable business model?" Spears asked Liz Wade.

"No, it is not feasible. It is not suitable for Animal Foundations now because they are at a loss for the number of animals they receive," Wade said.

"When you are very large, the fluctuations in the normal shelter are quickly amplified," said Dr. Kate Hurley of DVM.

Dr. Hurley is responsible for the Koret Shelter Medicine project at the University of California, Davis. In 2007, she led a team to inspect the Animal Foundation, and was recently asked to come back again for evaluation and consultation.

In addition, she is organizing an online boot camp to help TAF and other large shelters across the United States

Hurley said: "It's about setting priorities very strictly and ensuring that the work undertaken by the shelter is consistent with what they can actually handle."

This may mean downsizing.

"It's time to renegotiate this contract," Hurley said. "Even if it means you will compensate us less this year because we can do less."

If it is not too late, we can refocus on key customers-animals.

"At the beginning of this crisis, it may still be salvageable," Wade said. "But at this point, I do think the Animal Foundation should be closed."

The private non-profit animal foundation receives approximately US$4.8 million in taxpayer funding each year. Our local government’s contract requires them to "provide humane and reasonable care and shelter."

As the story unfolded, City Councillor Victoria Seaman met with the city manager and staff and asked for a full investigation and audit.

As we continue to update this story, we will talk to her and other local leaders in the coming weeks.