Months after failed inspection, Upper Township animal shelter hopes to reopen soon (2024)

UPPER TOWNSHIP — With a line of empty kennels and a newly upgraded septic system, Ryan Parker said Beacon Animal Shelter is ready to bring in more dogs. He hopes the Cape May County Health Department will agree, possibly before the end of the week.

The county shut down the shelter in March after investigating complaints from a former volunteer. On Friday, Parker said county officials required additional changes. The executive director of Beacon said the county’s conditions have been met, aside from a required final inspection.

The former volunteer, Anna Best, also took her concerns to the Township Committee at the most recent meeting and previously. She told officials she does not believe the shelter has properly looked after the animals in its care.

She cited dogs that appeared sick or malnourished.

Parker said the shelter rescues dogs from shelters in the South, where he said many are mistreated or underfed, so it should be no surprise that the animals are in dire shape when they arrive.

“We rescue dogs from high-kill shelters down South, from what would best be described as hellish conditions,” Parker said. “They are abused. They’re neglected. They are abandoned.”

For months, Beacon has not been bringing dogs north. The order from county health officials allowed Beacon to adopt out the dogs it already had, but not bring any additional animals to the shelter.

Officials with the county Health Department said last week they were awaiting documentation from the company that installed the septic system, stating the shelter would be allowed to reopen once all certifications were received and other violations corrected.

A donation from Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports helped fund the septic system work, estimated at the time at $30,000. Portnoy adopted his 6-year-old pit bull, Miss Peaches, and sells merchandize featuring Miss Peaches online, donating the proceeds to animal shelters across the country.

In March, after an inspection by Jeff Raively, senior environmental health specialist with the county Health Department, Beacon was told the facility was not satisfactory and would remain closed until the violations were addressed and a new inspection performed.

The notice states that portable toilets could not be used, and all staff members should have access to indoor restrooms. All wastewater, including the runoff from the kennels, should be drained into a septic system.

At the initial inspection, a sump pump diverted water contaminated with dog waste and cleaning products that had backed up the drainage system into the nearby woods. The Health Department requires all of that water go into the septic system.

Other concerns listed in the report include dried dog feces in the outdoor kennels, a hole in a fence and large dogs sharing insufficient space. The report also calls for an isolation area for animals with potentially infectious diseases.

Beacon began more than 20 years ago. Parker, of Egg Harbor Township, started as the paid executive director about five years ago. The shelter added a veterinary clinic in 2021, what Parker described at the time as affordable animal care option that will help fund the rescue work.

On Friday, he showed off some of the equipment at the veterinary clinic, including an X-ray machine.

Best, also of Egg Harbor Township, had brought concerns about the shelter and questions about Beacon’s lease to the Township Committee.

“We’re just trying to understand who would be the oversight for Beacon Animal Rescue,” she said.

Best also questioned whether Portnoy would have donated to the shelter if the work had been described in connection to a failed health inspection rather than a needed upgrade.

“I know what Dave Portnoy stands for because I follow Miss Peaches. I don’t believe he would have donated if he knew it was a failed inspection. It was not a renovation project,” she said. “No, to me, they profited off of how they failed inspection.”

The township leases the building on Butter Road to the not-for-profit animal rescue for $1 a year. That’s the extent of the township’s connection, committee members said at the meeting.

“We’re the landlords. We have a lease for that,” said Mayor Jay Newman. “I think we looked at the lease. They comply with it to what we require. We don’t run the organization.”

Unless there is a violation of the lease, there isn’t much that can be done to change the terms of the lease, attorney Anthony Monzo said. The lease had been renewed for five years in 2023.

The site had previously been used as the township’s animal shelter. Upper Township animal control is now operated under contract with Shore Animal Control, with stray animals taken to the county animal shelter.

Critics of Beacon who addressed the Township Committee mentioned that no Cape May County animals were at the shelter and that Parker received a salary as an employee with the nonprofit.

Parker said he makes about $60,000 as the director, and that there are other paid staff members, supported by a budget of about $400,000 a year. The adoption fee for a puppy is $475, he said, with the average cost for an adult dog at $425. He said the organization spends more than $500 on each dog for shots and other veterinary care, with some dogs in worse condition.

Best cited a specific dog, a puppy named Gelato, which she said was underfed. Parker said Gelato had been seen by a vet and diagnosed with giardia, an intestinal parasite. Sometimes, he said, the dogs need time and care to recover.

“Gelato received medical care,” Parker said. “We pick up dogs from dire situations in which they’re literally starving to death.”

He argued the animals that Beacon has not brought in since the failed inspection has meant more animals euthanized in shelters or dying from other causes.

“Our mission has been to save the lives of animals in need,” Parker said.

Parker and Best both said Best called the Health Department. Parker conceded that a volunteer or employee has a responsibility to report health and safety violations, but maintains that Best should not have called the county.

“I fault her for going to the Health Department,” he said. “I don’t believe that she had all of the context.”

At the Township Committee meeting, Best said she just cares for animals.

“I’m not trying to cause problems. All that I want to know is that when they get back there these animals are properly being taken care of,” Best said.