Accountability must be held at Humane Society

Add my voice to the growing list of many citizens concerned about the Cedar Valley Humane Society. Four years ago, I became an active volunteer for the CVHS. I believe the facility has been well managed. Recent directors improved the facilities.

How absolutely dismayed I am, now, to find that some individual, who seems to have a mysterious vendetta, can manipulate board action to cause such havoc in this agency, with absolutely no public accountability, even though public dollars and gifts of labor have helped make the society a success. Now, no one knows if animals are being euthanized, how animals are being cared for, whether new animals in need are being turned away?

Why? What is going on? A former veterinarian who served the shelter raises an alarm about euthanasia. She would know if the published mission of the society has not been served by the actions of the current board of directors. The board president will not comment. Who can we believe? I am told that the Iowa Department of Agriculture has ultimate authority over such operations? Where are they? I've tried to be open-minded, but the clandestine actions of the board chairman look like a personal coup for power.

I feel so badly for people I know to have been dedicated who were summarily dismissed, and I am very concerned about the animals who may be the most innocent victims. For anything so traumatic to have happened to an institution we've come to trust, there should be reasons. Those accountable for recent actions should be answerable to the public.

Deborah Brown

Cedar Rapids