News Hound

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Milo Foundation is known as a generous, caring non-profit animal sanctuary that rescues cats and dogs and finds good homes for them. But now Milo and its executive director, Lynn Tingle, are at the center of a firestorm that has caused the shelter to be shut down because of alleged poor conditions.

Several local TV stations reported that the Marin Humane Society north of San Francisco has ordered the facility be closed after inspectors found that some animals were living in their own feces and urine. The CBS affiliate also reported that "some animals had contagious diseases and were exposed to healthy animals." Captain Cindy Machado said the facility was permitted for 10 dogs and had well over 40. She also said it was under-staffed.

The Milo Foundation disputes those claims and says on its Web site that the story resulted from a "disgruntled former Sanctuary employee" who contacted the Marin Humane Society, the Humane Society of the United States and media outlets to complain about the shelter. The site promises that Milo will respond to the claims in the next several days.

In fact, the sites, the Milo sanctuary in Willits, Calif., had a surprise inspection this week and found it to be "clean, spacious and well-managed." It calls the claims against its facility in San Rafael "untrue and inflammatory."  Tingle said the inspection in San Rafael came in the morning before dogs' and cats' cages are usually cleaned.

It may be hard for Tingle to dispute every claim, however. On one TV news report, Machado is quoted as saying, "What we found were layers and layers of greasy grime, fur and feces caked on cage wiring, in the drain, on the floor, on the walls. Granted, in their minds we caught them on a bad day. In our mind, it was months and weeks of improper cleaning protocols."

Tingles insists the shelter exceeds the standards of animal rescue protocol and animal care set by the UC Davis Shelter Medicine program. She also doesn't believe the Marin Humane Society wants to continue working with her sanctuary.

"I don't believe they want to work with us.," she told Channel 5, the CBS station. "They want to shut us down."

It's possible the truth lies somewere in the middle. If the Milo Foundation is under-staffed, it may make it difficult to clean dogs' and cats' cages in a timely manner. I'm sure Tingle loves animals and wants to see that they're cared for. If nothing else, this story should make us all vigilant of the conditions of animal shelters when we visit.