Cashew looks cute and cuddly but dangerous if you鈥檙e a rodent. Sharp and alert with pointed ears perked, the kitten is a gray domestic shorthair, thought to have that once hunted rats on early European settlers鈥� ships. He was captured recently in a photo, lingering in a pink blanket in the arms of someone who cares at the Linda McNatt Animal Care & Adoption Center.
Last week, Animal Services Director Nikki Sassenus shared Cashew鈥檚 photograph with council members who were discussing a city audit of Animal Services and updates to the recommendations. Sassenus told council members that Cashew, who went up for adoption, represents one of the benefits for the implementation of an early intervention and identification approach at Denton鈥檚 animal shelter. It was recently developed by Jesse Kent, the assistant to City Manager Sara Hensley.
鈥淭his kitten wasn鈥檛 eating for two days, so we syringe-fed it and then were able to place it with a foster,鈥� said Sassenus, who was appointed in November 2023. 鈥淧reviously, we would not have been able to identify that as quickly because you have staff rotating through constantly. But we are able to see, 鈥楬ey, this kitten needs attention now,鈥� and get it appropriate care quickly.鈥�
Other changes at the animal shelter include hiring staff members who are focused on a culture of caring for what鈥檚 in the best interest of animals, such as Cashew, Hensley told the council on Jan. 7 during a presentation from the city auditor.
The city audit, which looked at operations at the shelter from 2023 and 2024, offered 34 recommendations for improvement, many of which Sassenus and staffers have been addressing for several months. Those recommendations include better tracking of critical care tasks, improving veterinary services contract management, and updating and aligning standard operating procedures such as for animal care, strays in homes and euthanasia.
Another audit will be done in about six months to make sure the recommendations have been implemented and are working, Hensley said.
鈥淧art of the problem, I believe, just to be real honest with you, is we haven鈥檛 had the leadership that we鈥檝e needed there to create a culture of what鈥檚 in the best interest of that animal. That鈥檚 what changes the culture,鈥� Hensley said. 鈥淏efore, it was operated in a way that wasn鈥檛 bad, but it wasn鈥檛 in the best interest of the animal.鈥�
Hensley stressed that it鈥檚 important to get animals fostered and adopted as soon as possible before they become 鈥渨hat鈥檚 considered 鈥榢ennel crazy.鈥欌��
鈥淭here are a lot of things that to me are just common sense, but that鈥檚 not what we had in the past,鈥� Hensley said. 鈥淚t is what we have now.鈥�
Needed changes
Several improvements are currently underway to address findings from a 2018 review by consulting company Animal Shelter Services, a 2023 city auditor鈥檚 investigation, a 2024 review by consulting firm Shelter Savvy, a 2024 review by an industry expert, and the 2024 city auditor鈥檚 review presented to the council on Jan. 7. Those improvements include developing and updating standard operating procedures, implementing new programming and deepening partnerships, and expanding and remodeling the animal shelter, according to a presentation last week by animal services staff.
In December, the council approved allocating an additional $4.5 million originally earmarked for construction on Bonnie Brae Street to instead help expand and remodel the animal shelter. The $15.8 million bond approved by voters in November 2023 to expand and remodel the shelter hired by the city, according to the city manager.
On Tuesday, Hensley, who began serving as city manager in 2021, told the council that the changes being made will make the animal shelter a place where people in animal care will want to work and pointed out that Denton residents and council members have shown they have a 鈥渟erious commitment to investing in an excellent animal care facility.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough job, and I will tell you it鈥檚 one that I couldn鈥檛 do myself, to be honest with you,鈥� Hensley said. 鈥淏ut the people we have right now care about that and have changed the culture. And as long as we can make sure that we鈥檙e providing them with the resources they need and that we do look at our staffing 鈥� which we will be doing to make sure that we have adequate well-trained staff 鈥� then we will be the shelter that everyone will come to and figure out, 鈥楬ow did you do it?鈥欌��
A long cry for help
But those changes come nearly seven years after a 2018 independent review revealed issues that still hadn鈥檛 been addressed until recently, including staffing levels, contracted veterinary services and standard operating procedures.
It also comes nearly two years after a 2023 city auditor鈥檚 review found several issues at the animal shelter, such as inadequate documentation and health monitoring.
During Tuesday鈥檚 meeting, City Auditor Madison Rorschach told the council that those same issues were still occurring during the review in October, including inadequate documentation, understaffing and poor tracking of health monitoring.
鈥淚 think not being able to track that we鈥檙e providing the basic care increases the risk of obviously animals not receiving care,鈥� Rorschach said. 鈥淏ut we didn鈥檛 find that was true, just that it was difficult to track. And now they have their new system, which should eliminate that issue and actually give a lot more visibility into the animal鈥檚 health and how they鈥檙e being cared for.鈥�
Rorschach also mentioned that while the contracted veterinary provider was responding to medical requests in a timely manner, they were only performing half of all intakes into the animal shelter.
The city had been , located on Hartlee Field Road in Denton, for veterinarian services at the animal shelter.
Hensley followed with news that staffers have already met with the city鈥檚 chief financial officer to look at hiring one or two permanent veterinarians on staff, which is part of the city manager鈥檚 request for the additional $4.5 million from council in December.
鈥淲hen you have a contract, you鈥檙e only as good as the contract is and the people put in those positions,鈥� Hensley told the council. 鈥淎nd I will tell you we鈥檝e had some serious concerns.鈥�
In certain cases, Hensley said those concerns included varying opinions from different veterinarians and how they treat animals, or when they take an animal to an emergency veterinarian outside of the contract.
Hensley, however, had nothing but praise for the emergency veterinarian, whom she plans to continue using.
A family pet
Those changes could have helped Gunner, a family pet who before a 72-hour stray hold expired and on a day when the animal shelter is closed to the public.
Though a contracted veterinarian examined Gunner at intake and prescribed the dog with three days鈥� worth of medication, animal services staff euthanized him less than 24 hours later and then regarding the euthanasia.
Gunner鈥檚 owners, the Gilcrease family, have been pushing for changes and demanding that the Denton City Council hold people accountable for the failures that occurred at the animal shelter. Their efforts helped lead to independent reviews and the city audit of animal services and the shelter.
Neither John Gilcrease nor the organizers behind the Justice for Gunner group responded to a request for comment.
In a Jan. 7 email to council members, the Justice for Gunner group told the story of Killer, an 18-year-old miniature pinscher who arrived at the shelter on Oct. 21 and was adopted on Nov. 1, only for the adopter to euthanize him the next day at her personal vet 鈥渂ecause he was severely dehydrated and malnourished so his internal organs were shutting down.鈥�
鈥淭he paperwork from your city鈥檚 animal services said the dog was doing great for his age so how did it die less than 18 hours after leaving the shelter and how did it end up in that condition?鈥� the group鈥檚 letter reads.
They wrote that Killer鈥檚 paperwork was a 鈥渉ot mess,鈥� erroneously showing the dog was brought in as a stray rather than being surrendered by his owner. They also wondered why it took eight days for a veterinarian to see him, according to the Nov. 19 animal services report.
In addition, they asked why the adopter鈥檚 paperwork mentioned no microchip or registration of a microchip when they found one after filing a public information request and why the decision-making review team didn鈥檛 fill out and sign Killer鈥檚 assessment until 17 days after his adoption.
鈥淭HE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU! ELECTION TIME IS AROUND THE CORNER AND WE WANT ANSWERS! Please don鈥檛 mistake the time we have been silent as we walked away. We took our time to finally grieve and amp for election time. We want an independent 3rd Party Review of the entire shelter operations as promised to us on September 17th. The city (meaning you) made this commitment to the public in an open statement to news outlets.鈥�
At last week鈥檚 meeting, council members didn鈥檛 mention Killer, but council member Brandon Chase McGee did ask about staffing changes that have been made since Gunner鈥檚 death in September.
鈥淚鈥檓 asking this question because of the public interest,鈥� McGee said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 obvious that people feel like things were done wrong, so I want to know that people have confidence that there is a new staff, and that new staff obviously is integrated in culture change, and we鈥檒l be doing better going forward.鈥�
Sassenus mentioned the shelter management and leadership team changed with two new supervisors and a vacancy to fill the manager position after the previous one They hope to fill the manager position by the end of February.
鈥淲e have made significant progress,鈥� Sassenus said. 鈥淲e do have an additional challenge that we are operating at 100% while we鈥檙e trying to implement all of these changes as well, and change can鈥檛 be done overnight. But we are very proud to share the progress that we have made over the last several months.鈥�