Chicago Ridge Village Board To Discuss Animal Welfare League

CHICAGO RIDGE, IL -- Chicago Ridge village board members plan to discuss the Animal Welfare League at their regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6. The shelter has been accused of inhumane treatment of animals, after photos and videos leaked out to news media showing dogs caged in horrifying conditions. Advocates have launched a social media campaign and staged protests in front of the shelter calling for the executive director and board president Linda Estrada’s resignation, as well as the rest of the board members.

Mayor Chuck Tokar said he and one of the trustees plan to meet with AWL representatives and some of the AWL board members on Monday. The shelter claims it accepts stray animals from 53 municipalities, including Cook County agencies.

“I thought it would be appropriate to update the [the village board] and the public on what’s been going on at the shelter,” Tokar said.

The shelter went on voluntary quarantine Jan. 20 due to an alleged outbreak of dog flu. AWL has since stopped taking strays and owner surrenders, and suspended adoptions of dogs and cats. AWL medical records from October 2017 show a dog being treated with amkilcin, baytril and aminophylene, which are used to serious bacterial infections.

Certified Animal Behavioral Consultant Steve Dale, host of WGN’s “Steve Dale’s Pet World” said he consulted a veterinarian about the drug protocol shown on the records, who said that treating a dog this way is “so shocking that the Illinois Veterinary Licensing and Disciplinary Board may be interested in reading this documentation [and] more like it.”

Since the wave of bad publicity and self-imposed quarantine, Tokar said he visited Animal Welfare League last week and was taken on a tour of the shelter. Two prominent charities, PetSmart Charities and Petco Foundation, announced they were suspending their support of AWL and launching their own internal investigations. AWL provided cats for the stores’ in-store cat adoption program.

“I did my own inspection but I’m obviously not qualified to speak on the true nature of the shelter,” the mayor said. “The Illinois Department of Agriculture has jurisdiction. We don’t have people trained to know the type of things they look for. They know what they’re looking for and we have to rely on people with the proper credentials and knowledge base.”

Tokar said the fact that he found the shelter to be clean he “took with a grain of salt.” He also read three Department of Agriculture inspection reports and “they seemed pretty good to me.”

“I plan to make more unannounced visits in the future,” Tokar said.

Tokar did not know if Estrada or other AWL board members will be at Tuesday’s meeting. Animal advocates who’ve been holding vigils outside the shelter said they planned to attend Tuesday’s meeting.

“It’s an open meeting,” the mayor said. “Estrada and the board members are certainly welcome to attend.”

The embattled animal shelter has also drawn the attention of Chicago Alderman Ray Lopez (15th), who attended the sidewalk vigil on Jan. 31. Lopez said he has since penned letters to the state’s agricultural department and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, demanding a full-scale investigation of Animal Welfare League. The South Side alderman shared that he adopted his first dog as an adult from the Chicago Ridge shelter.

“I’ve been critical of the way we do things at [Chicago Animal Care and Control],” Lopez said. They make us look like the Hilton. I will certainly do my part to mobilize government agencies to ask questions of Animal Welfare League to make sure the human treatment of animals is going on there. What we’re seeing is a death factory on Southwest Highway.”

Lopez was also critical of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the agency tasked with regulating animal shelters.

“I don’t think anyone has seen or heard from the Department of Agriculture investigators. I think it’s a serious abdication of duties. You have claims falsifying documents, misuse of prescription drugs, pigeons defecating on dogs and wounds not being looked at. For anyone to say everything is good to go must have walked in with blinders on. It’s unconscionable that the agency tasked with oversight isn’t moving.”

The Chicago Ridge Village Board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6. Chicago Ridge Village Hall is located at 10455 S. Ridgeland Ave.