ORLANDO, Fla. — Some former employees and volunteers claim changes made at a local animal shelter are putting the public, and dogs, at risk.  Shelter leaders say, though, decisions about euthanasia are not made lightly, and their hands are tied by an insurance policy.

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An Edgewater Police report describes injuries to a young girl after a six-year-old lab retriever mix, adopted from the Halifax Humane Society just two weeks prior, bit the little girl on the face and hand.  The family told 9 Investigates that the dog’s adoption paperwork showed no history of aggression.

A trio of women, who have spent extensive time in the shelter, worry more incidents like that could happen due to changes they say were made to the way animals are assessed.

“You can potentially be releasing some pretty dangerous dogs into the public,” Liz Graffagnino said.  She was hired as a behaviorist in October 2021, and says things changed last year; claiming she and other members of the behavior team were told they would no longer be evaluating which dogs are suitable for adoption.

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“Dogs are being moved forward without ever having seen us, or us assessing them at all, which would never have been the case previously,” Graffagnino said.

She, and dog trainer Jessica Owens, who until speaking out against the shelter says she worked with the organization as a volunteer and to help assess at-risk animals, believe the goal was to move desirable breeds up for adoption, regardless of potential behavior issues.

“Dogs are being failed, and families are being failed.  Basically, we have dogs going to homes where they’re not going to succeed, and that can mean an unhappy life for the dog, or at worst, injury for the people or the dog or someone in the community,”

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On the opposite end of the spectrum, some dogs are now being deemed aggressive and flagged for euthanasia automatically under the shelter’s newest insurance policy.  It flags any dogs believed to have a history of causing injuries, animal control investigations, or any dog surrendered with a history of biting, for euthanasia.

“There need to be professionals doing those evaluations in a systematic way,” Dr. Elizabeth Congdon said.  Congdon is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Bethune Cookman University, which held an agreement with the shelter to allow students to do research projects inside.

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Shelter leaders denied an interview request, but told 9 Investigates in a statement that ‘A snapshot assessment by someone who has no relationship with the animal is not an accurate predictor of behavior,’ going on to say ‘the field of animal behavior is unregulated, and unfortunately, anyone can call herself a behaviorist, regardless of her training, ability, or background.’

We asked the shelter about specific incidents in which the trio claims dogs with histories of bites or aggression were adopted out, but shelter leaders denied that part of our request.  You can read their full response below.

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