In the case of the Hudson County SPCA shelter on Johnston Avenue in Jersey City, it may be all too acquainted with the cruelty part based on findings of dead animal carcasses on Friday, June 20 in an unplugged freezer.
According to reports, the carcasses were found by a utility worker checking water lines in the building. By this past Monday, Jersey City police and animal control officers were removing the 15 carcasses as well as syringes and medical waste.
Jennifer Morrill, spokesperson for Jersey City, said last week that Union City residents Hector and Zoe Carbajales, the shelter managers, faced charges of violating state regulations on disposal of medical waste.
Carbajales and his wife also were scheduled to appear in Hudson County Superior Court on Thursday pertaining to the closure of the shelter.
Both Union City and North Bergen have emergency contracts with Carbajales to bring stray animals to the shelter from those two towns. According to the health officer Richard Censullo, who works for both towns, Carbajales was being paid $4,500 a month each from Union City and North Bergen.
The horrifying find
Jersey City police and animal control officers entered the shelter Monday to remove the rotting remains of dogs, cats and a goat.
The shelter had been closed since April 11 based on health inspections by the city and the state done earlier this year that found numerous violations at the shelter.
There was an investigation last week as to how the animals' remains were left in the freezer when the shelter was closed.
That did not stop the reactions of disgust from those interviewed.
City Councilwoman Viola Richardson, who represents the council ward area where the shelter is located, said she was "sickened" by what she has read in newspapers about the discovery of the carcasses.
"They ought to shut that place down, those people should never be allowed to operate any facility under any condition in this life," Richardson said.
A former volunteer at the shelter (who wanted to remain unnamed) from August 2007 to February of this year, said he was "not shocked" there were animals in the freezer but wondered why the carcasses weren't found sooner.
"I am really sad that those carcasses were left there for so long," the former volunteer said. "I just wonder when the judge ordered the shelter closed, shouldn't there have been an enforcement officer walking through the shelter to make sure there were no animals were left?"
In April, a judge ordered the transfer of 15 dogs, 24 cats, and a ferret from the Johnston Avenue facility to the Liberty Humane Society shelter on Jersey City Boulevard.
Contracted by North Bergen and Union City
Both North Bergen and Union City took on emergency contracts with Carbajales since both municipalities are mandated to have animal control services, each for $4,500 per month on a month-to-month basis, according to Richard J. Censullo, a health officer who works for North Bergen and Union City.
Originally, Carbajales was supposed to have a contract with Associated Humane Societies of Newark, but Roseann Trezza, its executive director, said there is no contract with Carbajales, and neither he nor the cities were willing to meet the Associated Humane Societies of Newark's financial requirements.
Subsequently, Carbajales provided a draft copy of a contract to bring animals to the Jersey Animal Coalition, South Orange, to Censullo in his RFP (Request for Proposal) packet.
The Jersey Journal reported last week that this shelter is currently closed, but Shelter Manager Doreen Roman assured The Reporter that the Jersey Animal Coalition is very much open and accepting animals.
Roman said that the shelter had accepted animals from Carbajales prior to the SPCA closing, but has not received any from him since.
Shelter Director Ruth Perlmutter said that though a contract with Carbajales is pending (a draft of the contract provided by Censullo indicates that the contract is effective July 1), she and Roman confirmed that it is not official yet, and they are just trying to do their part as a no-kill shelter to put animal welfare first if Carbajales has nowhere else to take them.
"We've never turned an animal away," said Perlmutter.
Meanwhile, both municipalities are searching for a permanent animal control services provider.
Censullo said, "Anyone who's interested can pick up an RFP [packet] at the City Clerk's Office, and with their proposal, they have to show the city how they're viable and how they intend to meet our standards," which includes showing where they're going to bring the animals (both dead and alive), certificate of liability insurance, and they must show that their employees are certified animal control officers.
Carbajales speaks
"I feel like it's a witch hunt," Carbajales said in a recent phone interview with the Reporter. "It's been one attack after another."
Carbajales defended himself saying that he has been taking all the heat while he is president of a board comprised of seven members, including Vice President Jason Bibber, Man-at-Arms Victor Hernandez, Secretary Zoe Carbajales, his wife, and other members he would not name, all of whom were volunteers in charge of running the shelter.
Regarding the recent grisly find at the SPCA, Carbajales explained that when the shelter was closed, he and the board were ordered to sign live animals over to Liberty Humane.
"We did not understand if we should take the dead animals," Carbajales said. "We were waiting for the court to tell us what we can do with the dead animals."
He said that they decided to "leave animals in the freezer until we know what to do with them."
Power to Building 1 at Johnston Avenue had been shut off, but Building 2 on that lot still had electricity to keep the dead animals in cold storage.
Carbajales claimed that there had been several break-ins at the closed site and, "It looks like someone tried to steal the freezer." He then speculated that the thief probably saw the dead animals inside and left the freezer behind unplugged.
Carbajales offered no explanation for the dead animals in the freezer as to their causes of death or why they were being kept there.
Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.
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