Interim Escambia County Administrator Larry Newsom told the county commissioners at their Tuesday meeting that he is bringing an outside person to investigate the deaths at the Escambia County Animal Shelter.
In August, the shelter mistakenly put down a runaway Labrador retriever mix named Cowgirl. Director of Animal Services Delfi Messinger resigned after public pressure. Then in October another another dog was mistakenly euthanized. The next month Dr. Melissa Adkison, the shelter’s newly veterinarian, resigned. Last month, Dr. Alphonso Steward, her replacement, resigned after the shelter had three animals die after surgery.
On Monday, the Independent News interviewed Dr. Steward, who blamed the shelter staff’s failure to follow procedures for the deaths. Since then, several animal rights advocates have countered Steward’s statements.
Sharyn Berg spoke during the public forum at the Tuesday county commission meeting. She said that there have been 10 deaths at the shelter in the past three months. Something that had never happened under the Dr. Owens and the same staff before, according to Berg. She said that Steward should never have been hired and she questioned how he was ever hired.
Newsom said that he was looking into that, too.