Meth Makings on Petzone Property in Athens Stunned Employees

By Kate Carpenter

Petzone was founded in 2008 by Kate Carpenter, a veteran veterinary technician and dog trainer. Kate has always had a way with animals. When she found out the euthanasia rates were well over 90% in her county-run animal control facility, she decided to do something.

Petzone was started on a prayer and one tax return check for $1,200. It has kept its doors open by the grace of God, kindness of strangers, and blood, sweat and tears.

The first few years were very hard, but very rewarding. Over 1,500 dogs to date have gotten a second chance at life, thanks to Petzone.

Petzone has since moved to Athens and expanded to 3 buildings on Atlanta Hwy. One is the NO KILL Shelter that is set up like a doggie daycare and houses 20+ dogs. The other building is the Thrift Shop and Grooming.

The newest building is the Pet Wellness Center where Petzone helps the public by offering its citizens low cost spay/neuter, dentals and vaccines. Petzone has a staff of only 3, and all of us here run out of day before we run out of chores. The dogs come first and are well cared for, but we need volunteers to socialize the dogs, cut the grass, organize the thrift shop, keep up with maintenance issues, etc. Anyone is free to come up any day 9am to 5pm to volunteer.

PAWS Atlanta is the size of our shelter alone and has a staff of 15. To say we are understaffed is an understatement. We also rely heavily on community service workers. We believe strongly in second chances, for people and pets. Petzone is a private 501c3 Non Profit and receives no formal funding. Donations are desperately needed in these trying times. Now to the details to date....

As the media reported on Saturday July 20, 2013, during a routine sorting of Petzone's Thrift Store donation intake and storage room by a service organization, one of the volunteers found what he believed to be ingredients for making methamphetamine. He told the owner, who immediately contacted law enforcement authorities.

The authorities inspected and confirmed in fact there were methamphetamine ingredients in the Thrift shop donation intake room. These items were safely removed from the premises by skilled professionals. At no point were any of Petzone's animals anywhere in contact with these substances, as they are housed in a completely separate building and location from the Thrift shop donation intake room. No current member of Petzone staff had any knowledge or involvement with this incident. These items were hidden from view, and because Petzone relies heavily on volunteers, the Thrift shop intake donation room had not been sorted for some time.

Law enforcement has confirmed these substances were there for a period of time and have strong evidence to link the items with to an employee no longer affiliated with Petzone.

In respect to the ongoing investigation, no other information has been released to the public or Petzone.
Obviously, this situation has created enormous amounts of stress for the founders, employees and supporters of Petzone. However, we have always and will continue to keep our focus on the nurture and needs of the animals in our care. We ask that people refrain from gossip, rhetoric and assumptions and allow the investigators and Petzone to continue to do their jobs.

We at Petzone have worked closely will law enforcement to resolve this situation and trust in their expertise. We ask the public to do the same. We also want to remind the public that creating negativity around Petzone in this already trying time only serves to hurt the animals. We ask for your continuing support so we have the resources to give them the best environment possible. Thank you for your consideration and discretion.