Shelter employee placed on administrative leave

Elizabeth Gist

The controversy surrounding the Rushville Animal Shelter just got hotter.

Friday evening, shelter whistleblower Jamie Glandon was placed on administrative leave with pay.

“She was placed on leave just like Jack Hill was, with pay,” city attorney Julie Newhouse said. “The investigator really wanted a clear field with no one down there, to take a look at shelter with neither Jack nor Jamie, so he could investigate.”

In the meantime, a hodgepodge of individuals, including Mayor Bob Bridges, city councilman Darrin McGowan, assistant chief of police Tim Williams and Dr. Fred Phillips and staff have been manning the day-to-day operations of the shelter, which has been at a standstill since last week.

The team have been feeding and watering animals, cleaning kennels and scooping litterboxes following a chain reaction of events which surfaced last Wednesday, leading to the paid suspension of both animal control officer Jack Hill and assistant Glandon.

The suspensions came on the heels of Glandon’s discovery of a puppy that had supposedly been euthanized, alive in a freezer full of dead animals. According to Glandon, incidents similar to this had happened twice before, except the animals involved were re-euthanized and not pulled from the freezer.

Glandon said she blew the whistle on her own shelter because she felt that things were being swept under the rug and that she, as well as the mistreated animals, were not being taken seriously. It was election time, Glandon said, and any controversies arising just before weren’t given proper attention — with the promise of being remedied after the votes had been tallied.

The city disputes this claim, stating that investigations, done properly, take time and that any and all concerns brought forward by Glandon were addressed immediately, including training at a local veterinarian’s office to show how to properly administer euthanasia to an animal via a vein.

Glandon said that late Friday afternoon RPD investigator Mark Mathews asked her to leave the shelter so that they could continue their investigation, and that they would call her when done.

At 3:20 p.m. she went to the mayor’s office to ask when she could get back into the shelter because she had work to do before the weekend, and she said she was told to be at the shelter at 3:40 p.m. Once there, she was met by Williams, who told her she was being placed on administrative leave. Her keys to the shelter and her city-issued truck were taken. She was then informed that she was not to be anywhere near the shelter without a uniformed officer escorting her.

“I asked him then if I could come in as a volunteer to take care of the animals if an officer was there with me,” Glandon said. “I was told that if I was needed I would be called.”

Glandon said she then took Williams around the shelter and gave him a rundown on the animals, including an overview on animals there that had “special needs,” cleaning procedures, and which animals could be handled versus which couldn’t.

“I also asked about animals that I had going into rescue, which was approximately seven, and was told that all shelter operations have ceased, and until the investigation was complete the animals were staying,” Glandon said.

The city is requesting that Gabby, the German Shepherd-Mastiff puppy pulled from the freezer, be brought to Rushville to be examined by an independent veterinarian.

“I was devastated when they placed me on leave because, as a volunteer, I have spent a lot of time and money going back and forth from the shelter to Indianapolis,” Glandon said. “I didn’t take the job for pay, I took it for the animals. I would give up my entire paycheck to go down there and take care of them instead of leaving it up to people who have better things to do, like protect and serve our community.”

Since the shelter’s closing, Glandon reports that calls have been received from rescue groups all over the United States, offering to pull every animal that is in the shelter now to keep the police department from having to use their time and energy to care for the animals, but the city is reportedly refusing.

Newhouse reports that the investigation is slated to be completed in the next 24 to 48 hours, and a press release on the situation will be issued at that point.

“This has been an extremely devastating situation for everyone involved,” she said. “We’re really ready to put this all behind us and hopefully reach a resolution.”



Elizabeth Gist can be contacted at elizabeth.gist@rushvillerepublican.com or at (765) 932-3111 ext. 109. Add a comment to this story at www.rushvillerepublican.com.

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