Missouri attorney general targets Carthage Humane Society over finances, animal care

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Missouri's attorney general is seeking to oust the director and disband the board of a local Humane Society chapter over allegations of missing money and poor animal care, including euthanizing kittens and cats by putting them in a freezer.

Attorney General Jay Nixon alleged in a court filing Monday that the director and the chairman of the board of the Humane Society in Carthage, about 60 miles west of Springfield, took at least $41,570 from the group's accounts since 2002, either for personal use or without accounting for how the money was spent.

In a petition seeking a court order to oust the director and board, Nixon also alleged the treasurer and the entire board failed in their duty to supervise finances.

While the 38-page filing focuses on alleged financial misdeeds, it also list claims of animal abuse at the group's shelter.

"On multiple occasions CHS employees were ordered to place kittens and cats in the freezer to euthanize them," the petition says, without providing more detail.

James Spradling, a Carthage lawyer representing the board, said the shelter does euthanize day-old kittens by freezing them but not older animals. He said this was a more humane method for young kittens than the gas chamber, which is used for grown animals.

"It's a humane way to do it, not an evil way," Spradling said.

Spradling called the remaining allegations "fictitious" and said the board and directors are ready to go to court to challenge them. The group has 30 days to file a response to Nixon's petition, he said.

The filing asks the court to remove executive director David Butler and board president Charles Miller for allegedly misappropriating funds and board treasurer William Johnson for not stopping them.

It also asks the court to dissolve the current board but not to disband the organization.

"Our desire is not to see this worthwhile organization disbanded, but instead to have responsible people in the community step up and ensure that its future operations are proper, legitimate and beyond reproach," Nixon said in a written statement.

The filing does not blame individual officers or board members for animal abuse. But Nixon's spokesman John Fougere said the alleged abuses buttress the attorney general's argument the current board should be dissolved.

Other abuse allegations include that animals in distress were not euthanized in a timely fashion, animals taken in from municipalities were immediately euthanized rather than being placed for adoption and that animals were overloaded into the group's gas chamber when euthanized.

The state office launched an investigation of the Humane Society last fall, based on complaints from local residents about fiscal accountability and problems at the animal shelter.