Where the hell is Graeme Smith?

Today, the Chairman of the Lost Dogs Home Andrew Tribe defended the Home against allegations that the organisation maintains a ‘kill culture’;

Andrew Tribe – “In the past, and I’m talking in the years past, yes we used to keep them (dogs) for a minimum of eight days and then many of them were euthanised after that. But over the last, two or three years we keep them for much longer now.”

and

Tom Elliot (3AW interviewer) – “We were told the assessment of the dogs… that they were done in the same room as the dogs were euthanised… one of your ex-staff said dogs were shaking with fear and that the test was done next to a bucket of dead dogs.”

Andrew Tribe – “Maybe it happened when she worked here, but it hasn’t happened in some years. Dogs are not assessed in the euthanasia room. We assess them in a different room.”

This is the first time I’ve ever heard any admission of wrongdoing from the Lost Dogs Home. Previously anyone questioning their operations was accused of simply having an axe to grind. From the same radio show, in 2013;

Tom Elliot – “Finally, as I mentioned, I got a lot of emails from various groups, that think you’re doing a terrible job, if you don’t mind me saying. What would you say to those critics – why are they so trenchant against you?

Graeme Smith (CEO, Lost Dogs Home) – I think a lot of it is personal, because I’ve been there for 27 years. And over those 27 years, we may have had issues with certain people.

We certainly have issues with pit bull terrier people as we stand up for Breed Specific Legislation and you’ll get people who are opposed to that.

We are also adamant that there should be compulsory desexing for cats and dogs, through the whole of Victoria, and through the whole of Australia, so sometimes breeders are there against us, because we’re saying we want compulsory desexing.

So, over time if you stand up for what you believe in, you get some enemies. You know, and that’s what we’ve got.

Got complaints? You must be one of those pit bull people – just ‘enemies’ making trouble. Except now we find out that maybe there actually WERE problems in 2013, and that there were definitely problems in the ‘two or three years’ prior to that.

How do we know things are ok now? Because Andrew Tribe tells us so. Andrew Tribe who’s day job is lecturing in a state two hours flight away at the University of Queensland. Andrew Tribe, who has spent exactly how many days working based out of the North Melbourne site? I mean did he work any days in Melbourne over Christmas and New Year – when they were killing Scruffy and Fonzie – observing operations and giving things his tick of approval? Or was he simply rushed down on a flight for crisis meetings when the proverbial hit the fan, to start on the PR circuit to talk about how all the problems were solved years ago?

(Image: Good for Dogs (2011))

Where the hell is Graeme Smith?

You know – the Chief Executive Officer. The one who, back in 2011 (around the exact same time Andrew Tribe is now telling us the bad stuff was going down) dismissed critics of the Lost Dogs Home as nothing but ‘cyber bullies’ trying to ‘create controversy’.

And do you know what? At that time he was absolutely right. Animal advocates who had examined the performance of the Home were desperate to get their questions and complaints into the public arena. To get the story of pets being killed unnecessarily heard. To create enough controversy that people would notice, and people would care.

Fast forward to today and the ‘cyber bullies’ are talking about the EXACT same issues as they were in 2011 – the issues haven’t changed. However, now there is a much greater understanding from the public of how the animal management system works and enormous pressure on the Lost Dogs Home to defend their chosen operational strategy over the decades. And you know what? Graeme is no where to be found.

Why is the interstate residing Chairman speaking on behalf of the real-life-on-the-ground CEO? At this time of unprecedented PR crisis just where is the CEO in the debate about the appropriateness of his policies? Now the once easily dismissed ‘cyber bullies’ have grown into an angry community backlash… just where is Graeme?