Little Guild will take ‘swift and appropriate action’ following charges

CORNWALL — The executive director and shelter manager of the Little Guild Pet Adoption Center in Cornwall were charged this week with multiple failures relating to the importation of animals from out of state. The charges were made by the state Department of Agriculture (DOA) and resulted in the arrest of the two women, Heather Dinneen and Liz Sullivan, on Oct. 5. 

See story, Page A14, for details.

Both were able to post their $2,500 bonds and were back at work after the arrests. 

Last week, as the center’s cat living areas were being cleaned out, Dinneen said she is not answering any media inquiries and directed questions to John Guenther, who is head of the board of directors.

Guenther said in interview last week that, “We are committed to excellence in all aspects of this shelter.”

He noted recent innovations such as the pet food pantry, so low-income people can get free food for their pets; and the safe pet program with the Susan B. Anthony domestic violence organization in Torrington. 

“Through that program, victims of abuse have a safe place they can bring their animal.” 

He also noted that despite the charges on the warrant, many of which relate to bringing in animals from out of state, the DOA renewed the Little Guild’s importer license in September. He also said that the state has praised the Little Guild, saying that “we have raised the level of care and improved the facility.”

Moving ahead quickly

The Guild’s board met on Sunday, Oct. 30, to discuss the charges against the two employees (which Guenther noted are personal charges, not charges against the facility).

“With less than 72 hours to study the allegations, we are now performing an exhaustive internal review so we can take swift and appropriate action,” Guenther said on Monday morning, Oct. 31. “In the meantime, we’ve taken all steps necessary to ensure our animals receive the best care.

“We are committed to resolving this quickly and putting the matter behind us.”

Ongoing challenges

The Little Guild was founded in 1960 as a small-animal shelter and has grown substantially, especially since 2015. According to its website, it is the only no-kill shelter in northwest Connecticut. The other major animal shelter in the region, The Last Post in Falls Village, does not specifically describe itself as a no-kill shelter.

According to the Little Guild website, the facility has space for 20 dogs and 40 cats and adopted out 515 animals in 2015, which it described as “more than double the previous record.”

The shelter has a devoted following. Volunteers come there daily to walk and play with the animals, and donor support has been strong enough to allow for additional staff to be hired and for the buildings to be renovated and expanded.

No-kill shelters

There was a dip in community support about a year and a half ago, when the shelter euthanized two dogs, named Magic and Marcus. Several people took the shelter to task for killing the animals while claiming to be a no-kill shelter.

Guenther said in an interview last week that people misunderstand the definition of what a no-kill shelter is. 

“A no-kill shelter is one that does not kill for space and that only euthanizes when there are behavioral or serious health reasons that interfere with the animal’s quality of life,” he said. 

He specifically spoke about Magic, saying that, “The state has told us we cannot adopt out a dog with a bite history. Magic had been adopted out five times and bit someone each time.”

Someone then adopted Magic and a year and a half went by before it bit its new owner; Guenther said that she then asked Little Guild to euthanize the dog.

Some members of the community felt the dog should not have been killed. Marshall Miles, a resident of Salisbury and a community activist, also claims that proper procedures were not followed when the dog was euthanized. 

“You have to bring it back to the shelter before it’s killed,” Miles said. “You can’t take it straight from the owner and have it euthanized, which is what they did.”

Miles was also angry at the shelter for killing a dog named Marcus. He said he had found a no-kill shelter in New York that would have taken the dog but that the Little Guild had it euthanized anyway.

Guenther said the Little Guild did not feel that having the dog locked up in a kennel for the rest of its life was a humane choice. 

“We almost never euthanize but sometimes it’s necessary,” he said. “It’s not something that shelters like to talk about, but even the ASPCA agrees with our policy.”

In the past year, he said, the shelter has created “detailed protocols so that when and if we do need to euthanize an animal, a vet and a behavioralist examine it and a member of our Kennel Committee has to sign off on the decision. If anyone says no, then we don’t do it.”

Conflict with community

Miles said that he is not the one who has been filing complaints with the DOA but he  was frank about his anger and his concerns with what he sees as a disregard for rules and protocol at the shelter.

A co-owner of NPR public radio station WHDD in Sharon, he was the first to post news of the charges against Dinneen and Sullivan last week. But he stressed that he is not taking the shelter to task as a member of the media but as an individual.

A year and a half ago, he said, he started a petition against the Little Guild and collected 800 signatures. He sent copies of the petition to the board members, he said, but all were returned to him unopened.

He said he tried to reach out to Guenther, who invited him to take a tour of the facility.

“I don’t want a tour,” he said. “I want to talk to the board and tell them they need to ask for Guenther and Dinneen to resign because they are not following proper procedure. This could destroy the Little Guild and end its donor support.”

Guenther disagrees with the charge that he and Dinneen have ignored proper protocol and noted that the shelter is now better run than it had been in the past. He pointed to a rescue mission led after Hurricane Sandy, when Cohen was executive director. At that time, 78 animals were brought to the Little Guild in a transport from the south and were adopted out.

“None of those dogs had the proper paperwork,” Guenther noted. “And also, there is a law that says you can’t have more than 25 animals in a transport.”

However, he said, what it all comes down to is that, “You need to run a pristine operation.”

As for Miles, he said, “I love animals and I love the Little Guild, but you can’t keep violating the law and not following procedure. I’m afraid that if they keep violating the law, then this area will lose its animal shelter.”