Toledo's Tom Skeldon Down, but not out

On Tuesday morning, Lucas County officials voted 2-1 to retain the services of Tom Skeldon.  While Commissioner Ben Konap brought up the proposal to fire Skeldon because of the city's horrific 13% adoption rate and 77% euthanasia rate, Commissioners Pete Gerken and Tina Skeldon Wozniak (Tom Skeldon's first cousin) voted against the proposal.

Wozniak denied Konap's recommendation that she abstain from the vote because of her close family relationship to Mr. Skeldon. Wozniak is right in that by the letter of the law of the of the Ohio Ethic's commission, she was not officially violating nepotism laws -- but it doesn't remove the reality that she does have a conflict of interest in the debate -- even if not legally. Gerken, to his point, wants to give Skeldon time to implement many of the changes recommended by the dog warden advisory committee before making such a dramatic change -- ignoring that since the report came out, Skeldon has done little more than defend his actions.

The decision has not been greeted warmly by local politicians and the media. State Representative Peter Ujvagi (Democrat, Toledo) said "I think changes need to be made. It's very clear form the documentation of the types of dogs that have been put down that many of those ought to be adoptable."

John Stainbrook, the chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party was particularly distrubed to learn about all the puppies that were being killed in the shelter. "My God, there's puppies being killed. Under what set of circumstances or criteria is it ok to kill a puppy?" he said. "There's definitely some serious questions that need to be answered....the criteria set up to determine whether a dog should live or die needs to be re-examined obviously."

Finally, something Democrats and Republicans can agree on.

Stainbrook and Toledo city councilman Joe McNamara were also critical of Woziak's participation in the vote.

The Toledo Blade had a understandably harsh editorial criticizing the Commissioner's decision to retain Skeldon -- and of Wozniak's participation in the vote.  And their political cartoonist has also had a couple of  harsh criticisms of Skeldon.

While Skeldon is still in, the Dog Warden Advisory Committee has issued some strict new rules including:

1) Giving vaccinations to most animals prior to entering the shelter

2) Putting all dog photos up on the county web site within 24 hours

3) Suspend the killing of all puppies, including 'pit bull' puppies, unless a licensed vet diagnoses the dog as terminally ill or injured.

4) Seek a grant of funds for DNA testing to determine which dogs are truly 'pit bulls'

All of their recommendations were approved with unanimous votes.

Meanwhile, the Blade has decided to begin running a list of all of the dogs killed, and adopted, from the shelter to be sure people are aware. Today's list of killed animals includes 16 dogss, including some highly adoptable dogs like a Pomeranian mix, a corgie mix, a chihuahua mix and a couple of Labradors.

At this point, there seems to be no evidence that Tom Skeldon is capable, or willing, to make the changes necessary to end the slaughter in his shelter. Hopefully the county commissioners will make a swift decision regarding Skeldon, before thousands more dogs die under Skeldon's watch.

For more info:

For the Pit Bulls: Tom "Dog Killer" Skeldon Feeling the Pressure

 

Comments

[dan]

The Blade's work sounds like it will put continued pressure on the commissioner’s jobs, which may be what it takes at this point. But when I read about a grant for DNA testing, it still sounds like they are focused on using race\breed as a criterion.

I wish they were looking for a grant to study better ways of working with the community and dog owners.

[Brent]

Dan,

I agree with your sentiment, but I kind of looked at it differently.

At this point, it seems unlikely that they will be repealing their breed ban any time soon. However, the reason they're looking at the DNA testing is in order to rule more dogs as "non-pit bulls" and thus adoptable vs being instantly killed (the county recently lost a a Breed ID case involving three Cane Corsos).

One of two things will end up happening with this:

1) They don't get the grant (most likely) and then end up killing the same number of dogs -- and then decide they need to make changes in order to quit the killing of the dogs.

2) They get the grant, they realize that most of the 'pit bulls' they're killing aren't really 'pit bulls' and then
a) adopt out more dogs and
b) realize their bite numbers reflect the same mis-identification and that all of Skeldon's claims about whay they needed a breed ban in the first place are false (it should be noted here that in Lucas County, only about 7% of the dog bites come from pit bulls)

At least they are beginning to realize that the way they handle 'pit bulls' is a major part of their problem....hopefully then they'll realize that the real solution resides elsewhere.

[Rinalia]

“Pit bull,” tan/white young female “with pink toe nail polish;” North University, Toledo; running at large, no muzzle.

The "pink toe nail polish" just broke my heart.

[Brent]

Wow Rinalia -- I somehow missed that. With pink toe nail polish you KNOW that was someone's pet that they loved and cared about -- and I doubt much was done from Skeldon's crew to try to find that owner.

[EmilyS]

that guy is going down.... to hell
kudo's to the Blade for keeping at this. Publishing that list .. .heartbreaking, but exactly the right thing to do.

[Carianne]

I think it should be noted that many shelters in OH euthanize puppies that are of resemblance to "pit bulls". I hope the media continues with their criticism of Skeldon and also begins to take note that other shelters in OH that are doing the same. Hopefully, this will push for the appropriate changes at the state law level, which I believe is driving some of these archaic policies/procedures.

[MichelleD]

I hope he meets up with someone in a dark alley that expresses the same kind of compassion on him, that he has shown on both the pets he has murdered and the families that loved them. Maybe Rescue Ink could pay him a visit?

Good observation Carianne - hopefully this mess in Toledo will inspire the entire state to quit murdering animals and get these laws changed.

[Rinalia]

You are right, Carianne - I think Skeldon is an icon of the old school of thought on dogs and people. These are "law enforcement agents" and "dog wardens". Legislators have attempted to change the term to "animal control officer" without much success. Definitely represents a backward way of thinking as it applies to both public safety and animal welfare.

[Social Mange]

Lucas County should conduct an immediate integrity investigation of Wozniak. With such an obvious conflict of interest, Wozniak should have abstained from the vote. Wozniak's refusal leads me to question her other decisions. She has to obey the spirit of the law, not just the letter. What other questionable decisions has she made? Voters deserve to know.

And Skeldon must go. NOW. Any wavering is ridiculous. Skeldon doesn't run an animal shelter, he runs a charnel house.