No-Kill Shelter Under Investigation After 70 + Pets Are Killed

CONROE, TX — The director of the Montgomery County Animal Shelter and another shelter employee have been placed on administrative leave after allegations arose that euthanizations were being conducted at the no-kill shelter.

Investigators were alerted to the euthanizations on Aug. 24 by Dr. Jordan Gentry, who claimed that animals collected from a woman who hoarded more than 80 cats and dogs and cats at her home, were brought to the shelter and put down.

According to a press release from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, officials from the animal shelter were contacted by an animal rescue group on Aug. 17 and went to the woman’s home in Conroe.

Animal Control Director Aaron Johnson and several other animal control officers were at the home to collect 60 cats and 24 dogs from the home, officials said.

The woman, who was in her 60s, signed a voluntary surrender order. Animal control officers seized six dogs deemed friendly and adoptable, as confiscated two dead animals from the woman’s home.

Johnson and other animal control officials returned to the home on Aug. 20, and removed from the woman’s home, and take to the shelter where they were euthanized, according to the press release.

When Gentry learned about the euthanizations, he confronted Johnson, officials said. Gentry called the sheriff’s office several days later, and an investigation was launched.

Officials with the sheriff’s office said the were unaware of the condition of the animals are investigating the incident.

The shelter, which waived adoption fees last summer to ease overcrowding, was designated a no-kill shelter in 2017.

Johnson is the fourth shelter director in Montgomery County since 2016.

(For more news and information like this, subscribe to Patch for free. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

Image: Shutterstock

Send your news tips and story ideas to bryan.kirk@patch.com