The soon-to-be departing employee was supposed to report to the non-touring facility as she was scheduled to work at this facility for the week. Two animal caretakers must work together at all times for safety reasons, and since one of the animal caretakers at this facility was out (her day off), the other schedule employee was expecting the departing employee to arrive.
When she failed to show up for work, the worker called the new director asking whether or not the employee plans to work that day. The new director called the missing employee and was told by the soon-to-be departing employee that she decided to work at the touring facility for her last week. The new director told her she needed to report to the non-touring property because animal caretakers, as a minimum, must work in pairs. The employee, questioning the new director, asked if someone else from the touring facility could go in her place. The new director told her no, she was the one scheduled for the week, and unless she planned to resign that day, she needed to go to the property. The employee told her she was going to the property
The new director, thinking the issue was resolved, was surprised to receive a phone call from the employee waiting at the second property – apparently, the soon-to-be departing employee called her and asked if she could manage without her for the day as she planned to stay at the touring facility! The director at this point was forced to confront the employee in person, wanting to know why she called the other employee when she knew she had to report to the other property. The employee apparently let off on a tirade about how the new director hated the employees, did not care about the animals citing the bears at the other property living in the small quarantine cages (which the old directors put them in since 2003); how the new director spent $80k on a new printer when the animals were not receiving the vitamins and minerals they needed; etc. The employee brought up the issue about not allowing the workers to publish the animal stories after they were told to write the stories up for the web. The new director apparently tried to explain that the animal stories needed to be reviewed to ensure consistency between what is said on tour, what was written, the accuracy of both, and the stories may need to be approved by the board before they are posted because it may be considered as “news stories.”
Even I was surprised about the new printer when I first saw it, but when I learned it was leased (with an option to buy) and it would cut out the cost of the professional printer (which runs about $300,000 annually), I believed it was a good idea to purchase as (1) they need a printer to print brochures, fliers, newsletters, etc, and (2) they don’t have to worry about having to make payment arrangements with the current printer as the sanctuary already owes the owner a lot of money. The sanctuary director is looking at long term big picture as to ways the sanctuary can save money . Since the workers are not privy to all the financial decisions, they should speak to the director before making allegations—this is clearly a communication problem.
I did inquire about the missing vitamin and mineral powder. When I asked about the powder I learned both sites did not have any powder mix for the last two week or more. So I asked the director on the status of the powder and was told the vet switched the sanctuary to a new powder. Due to the critical financial situation, the ordering was put-off until they had the money to purchase. I was told the powder has since been ordered (120 lbs total) for both properties. I did let the new director know that if she ever ran out of powder again, to let me know and I would find a way to pay for the powder. I did not want the animals to eat chicken without the powder mix.
I asked the animal caretakers at the second site what type of meat the animals were eating. I was told that for several weeks they were only eating chicken! This was a surprise to me because the touring facility animals were eating a combination of red meat and chicken. I was told Thor, one of the tigers, was having some difficulty eating the chicken, but he was eating the chicken. I spoke to the director about my findings and was told that she was not aware of the red meat situation. She told me the workers never called her to let her know they ran out of red meat. The workers claimed they send an email explaining the situation and the director said she did not see this email.
So, to help with the communication process, I suggested the workers contact the new director to let her know of the meat situation via telephone and then following up with an email. I sent this e-mail last week to the workers and thus far the workers have not called the director and they have not responded to my email.
Meanwhile, the Wal-mart meat program is in full swing! On March 29, 2010, the first delivery of Wal-mart meat arrived! I asked if some of the red meat could be sent out to Thor. The new director did not know what types of meat arrived, but she said she would check to see if there was red meat that could be sent out to him.
But I digress from the original story. So, the soon-to-be departing employee went to the second property, complaining all the way. The other employee at the other property allegedly told the director that she complained about situation for most of the day. Oh joy.
So, the new director decided to move up the employee’s resignation date for today instead of waiting for the end of the week. This will no doubt spur the other animal care divas to voice their discontentment.
What is sad is these workers spend so much time complaining, they do not properly clean up the animal areas. It really bugs me when the animal caretakers leave old decaying meat in the animal enclosures; or how about leaving animal poop in clear view for tours on top of the concrete shelter box; or how about leaving cat liter boxes overflowing with feces left out in plain view for tours to see? The workers complain how they are so overworked, but they fail to clean out used cat cages (you should see the mess they left behind in the old clinic—they actually put cats in this old falling down building, contaminated with rat feces, and then forgot about them as I found the cats in this building with barely any water, very little food, empty dried out cat food cans, and the litter boxes overflowing with feces. This made me so angry and when the director found out the workers stashed cats in this building, she had them removed. But did the workers remove the animal cages and cleaned them out thoroughly so they can be used again elsewhere? You guessed it – nope. It is my opinion; these workers do not like to actually do any physical labor. The sanctuary needs new animal caretakers willing to care for ALL the animals, big and small, and willing to be part of a team to make sure all tasks are done, even if it means they stay a little longer (especially after special events) to make sure the place is clean and ready for inspection/tours either by the USDA or by visitors wanting to see the animals. These workers have an amazing chance to care for animals that cannot care for themselves and make a difference in the community. Instead they squandered this chance because they are, in my opinion, lazy. So will I be sad to see the divas leave?
Later: Turns out the departed employee decided to take a final shot at the new director by voicing her complaints--complaints that were for the most part out of the director's hands due to lack of funds (ie. the vitamin enriched meat). One comment the former employee allegedly made to the board president is that she planned to tell the board memeber who lives in Florida he frequently arrives at the sanctuary drunk. Funny she waits to say this to the board member as she departs and not while she was still employed. Anyway, this just caused more upheval during the time when everyone should be pulling together. By my estimates, if the sanctuary does not receive a lot of donations very soon, the sanctuary may have to close its doors forever. When will the workers wake up and do everything they can to save the animals?
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