Special Issue 2003

UPDATE!

Compassion for Camden, Inc. - A Humane Society - Est. 1992

www.compassionforcamden.org

In Victory and Defeat!

Ultimate betrayal ends at the Camden County Animal Shelter

President's Notes:

Pound seizure (the use of shelter animals for experimentation) has been stopped dead in its tracks at the Camden County Animal Shelter & Adoption Center in Blackwood, NJ. Superior Court Judge Ronald J. Freeman ordered that the contractor for the county funded shelter, the Humane Society of Southern New Jersey, (formerly the Camden County Humane Society) cease and desist from allowing its animals to be used by Sound Technologies for any purpose, i.e. medical experimentation.

Sound Technologies was ordered to abstain from using shelter animals from any shelter in the state of New Jersey in all of its future seminars. In addition, the court ordered that the company pay $5,000 to the NJ SPCA.

As reported in Compassion for Camden’s Winter 2002 UPDATE, in April and August of last year the Humane Society of Southern NJ (humane society) allowed a number of animals to be removed from the Camden County Animal Shelter to be used by Sound Technologies as test subjects for hands-on equipment training and sales. The company-sponsored seminars stretched over a period of days at the Cherry Hill Clarion Hotel.

The practice was uncovered and reported to New Jersey SPCA by Marion Churchill, founder and president of Compassion for Camden. The SPCA’s consequential investigation, which exposed animal suffering and deaths, (see Witness, page 3) resulted in charges filed in New Jersey Superior Court against the humane society and Sound Technologies.

Without question, this case proved to be a major political headache for the county freeholders and their equally politically involved, hand-picked president of the humane society, Richard Perr. Few stones were left unturned to frighten members of Compassion for Camden.

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Last November we received an email which threatened our lives. See The Threat page 2.

The threat came in response to a meeting to discuss recent discoveries of dogs and cats being used as test subjects at the Camden County Animal Shelter. It was directed towards all volunteers who attended the meeting, including three children. We were frightened by the content of the email and reported it to the Cherry Hill Police Department.

According to Det. Monaghan of the CHPD the email was traced to the home of Glenn McCleery, Executive Director of the Humane Society of Southern NJ, the agency that operates the county shelter.

Based on subpoenaed business records received from Internet service providers and credit card companies, the police charged the director’s daughter living at the residence, Lauren McCleery, with Terroristic Threats. It was forwarded to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office who summarily rejected the case, calling it "poorly investigated" and returned it to the Cherry Hill Municipal Court. Possible reason for the rejection, CHPD failed to request certified business records. According to our counsel the admission of uncertified information would not have been allowed. However weeks before, requests by our counsel for police discovery went unanswered. Thereby, this technicality could not be overcome.

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continued from page 1: In Victory & Defeat

For example: based on court documents obtained by Compassion for Camden, Richard Perr, president of the humane society, threatened to sue the NJ SPCA, its investigator Sy Goldberg and Compassion for Camden and its president Marion Churchill.

A January 9, 2003 document drawn up by the law firm of Charles Shimberg of Haddonfield, NJ to Superior Court Judge Freeman reads: “These counterclaims and/or third party complaints may include a civil RICO count, a defamation count and/or an abuse of civil process count, among other claims.” The document was signed by Richard Perr of the law firm Fineman & Bach, Philadelphia, PA and Haddonfield, NJ. (Also, see The Threat)

continued from page 1: President's Notes

Cherry Hill Prosecutor Judith Charney was unwilling to discuss the case, she added zero and offered nothing.

Without any other choices I agreed to finalize the case on April 10, 2003 by allowing Cherry Hill Municipal Court Judge Bernadin to go forward with McCleery attorney Matthew Portella’s "30-day-out" arrangement (no contact between parties for thirty days), effectively dismissing the case. - M.C.

In Victory and Defeat!

Freeholder Director Nash nixes meeting, insists on retaining Monster Management

Despite clear evidence of wrongdoing at the Camden County Animal Shelter, Camden County freeholders insist on retaining current management and have been unavailable for any dialogue regarding the need for change. Prior to the SPCA’s settlement, (see page 1) Freeholder Nash was asked for a meeting to discuss concerns regarding current management. The meeting was denied.

It seems clear that the freeholders are protecting and defending shelter management. Example: to the amazement of members of Compassion for Camden at a January 2003 freeholder meeting, shelter management was awarded a commemorative county plaque.

The county’s shelter management contract is due for renewal in June 2003. Will the freeholders require bids, or, as has been done in the past, simply rehire the Humane Society of Southern New Jersey? If so, the freeholders may continue to support animal cruelty for hire.

Why are the freeholders steel sheeting people who have clearly been caught in monstrous acts? Will Richard Perr eventually be proposed as freeholder candidate? Are politics more important than decency?

See ACTION ALERT page 4

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Superior Court of New Jersey
Camden County Docket No. L 7-236-02
Civil Action Affidavit in Support of Order to Show Cause

"I (name available upon request) have been a veterinary technician for 25 years and was employed at the Camden County Animal Shelter from March 2002 to August 2002, when Glenn McCleery terminated me.

In April and August of 2002 dogs and cats were taken from the shelter... many of the returning animals were shaking when I saw them... [they] were lying or walking about in their own vomit... most came down with upper respiratory infections...

[they] had increased or reduced body temperature... many had massive amounts of yellow/green nasal discharge... [they] were coughing excessively... some were seen by (a veterinarian)... most did not recover... their signs of illness worsened…these animals were euthanized."

“I worked regularly at the Camden County Animal Shelter…I had been kennel manager…I worked in this field for 8 years… [on the phone] I spoke with a man who said he was coming over to pick out animals…he said he’d like to take as many as he could, but at least 10 dogs and a handful of cats… they should be healthy and friendly.

I was familiar with most of the dogs that had been taken…they were in good health and adoptable before they were taken for testing…I saw that the dogs that returned were lethargic, had mucous dripping from their nostrils and eyes and some were coughing...most could not stand…none of the cats could stand. Virtually every animal taken for testing was very sick.

I watched a large dog unable to stand for days. I have never seen a group of dogs taken so universally, suddenly and irreversibly sick at the same time…their conditions worsened…I believe 3 dogs survived and no cats survived.”

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