My Nonprofit Reviews

I was an employee at PAL Humane Society for the past three years. I am taking the time to give my opinion because I feel the public deserves to know what goes on behind closed doors.
To begin with, the founder has no clue how to run a business. Think about it, PAL has been in business since 1993. Why is it that they haven’t grown? Their current office consists of a unit behind a Mexican restaurant. In 2007 PAL was given half a million dollars. Where did it go? Most of it was squandered away fixing up rented spaces at the Apple Valley Inn. One building was converted into a clinic but never opened as a clinic. It eventually became a glorified kennel area. By glorified I mean that dogs were kept in one of the six rooms. Another had a full kitchen installed and stocked for baking treats. Treats were baked for a few months, and then the kitchen stood empty for the remainder of time she paid rent on the building. Yet another was gutted and made into a training room. But, training was virtually impossible because the majority of dogs were housed in that room behind a partition wall. How can proper training take place with dogs outside huge windows, barking at the students? Several other buildings were converted into kennels and catteries just to be abandoned when money became short and PAL had to downsize. In November of 2010 PAL was given another half a million dollars. It was specified by the deceased that the funds be used only for the care of the animals. Not rent or wages. I’m curious how over $100,000.00 in debts plus two months of employee wages, mine included, got paid off after PAL received the money. When it was not supposed to be spent that way.
They say they have alot of programs but in reality the low-cost spay/neuter clinic never happened. I know of several veterinarians in the high desert that refuse to even work with PAL. And the medical manager at PAL is “self taught”. They say they have developed an extensive humane education program. What does that mean? They started a Prison Dog Program in San Bernardino County's High Desert Juvenile Detention & Assessment Center. I was responsible for running that program. Its original intention was to bring in rescue dogs from the facility to be rehabilitated by the juveniles. Since I quit, a volunteer has been going into the facility with her personal dog to teach the classes. And, at the Federal Prison System in Adelanto, they only taught two rounds of classes and haven’t gone back into the facility since. I know this because I was also part of that program. There is no grooming salon. The groomer was laid off back in October 2010 because she had to ask repeatedly to be paid. There is no training facility. Where would it be? And gift shop consists of a hallway area as you walk into the facility doors. It’s funny how the first sentence in their mission statement says “Prevention of cruelty to animals by any reasonable means” Unfortunately, when the cruelty officer took a leave of absence to donate her kidney to her mother, the program was eliminated. I know through behind closed door conversations, that the program was eliminated as an excuse to lay off the cruelty officer.
And finally, I feel everyone should know. When I quit, PAL had two of the four remaining dogs in their care euthanized because they were falsely deemed “unadoptable”. The other two were taken to Apple Valley animal control and had to sit in their cells to wait their obligatory three days before being euthanized. So, how is it that they can boast they are the only no-kill shelter in the high desert and get away with killing perfectly healthy dogs? These and many more “secrets” are kept hidden from the public, volunteers and even board members. Think about this the next time you pull out your checkbooks.

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