In her thirty years working with animal rescues, Darcy Del Castillo had by no means been harm by a canine. She prided herself on her capacity to learn a canine’s temper, to evaluate a canine’s physique language, to select up the cues that might preserve herself and people she labored with secure, significantly round massive animals. It was a confidence borne of her years working at shelters in Elizabeth and Newark and with the Union County Animal Cruelty Taskforce.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked Darcy for help,” mentioned Liz Morgan, director of the Montclair Township Animal Shelter. For years, Morgan has referred to as on Del Castillo to assist her consider for adoption the largest and probably most harmful dogs. “Big pit bull mixes, mastiff mixes … I had two [South African] boerboels that she helped with. They were like a buck-fifty. They were like huge block-head animals.”
“She has a keen sense of awareness for the animal itself. She can tell you right away how that dog is going to respond to certain things,” mentioned a present employee on the Jersey City animal shelter of Del Castillo, who, fearing retaliation from directors, requested to stay nameless.
Another employee on the Jersey City animal shelter, who, for a similar cause, requested to stay nameless, referred to as Del Castillo’s work with dogs “the best of the best.”
Such was Del Castillo’s repute that final fall Paul Bellan-Boyer, well being officer of the Department of Health and Human Services, referred to as Del Castillo on the lookout for assist following the town’s determination to terminate the shelter administration contract of Liberty Humane Society.
“Would you be interested in running the shelter? The city is going to put everything into it; whatever you need, we’ll do,” Del Castillo remembers Bellan-Boyer saying in a late-October telephone name. “They needed me to jump in right away.” She signed on.
By December, the town was inviting the press to see Del Castillo’s work training staff at the Bethune Center for a January 1 handover from Liberty Humane. Del Castillo spent the weeks earlier than creating customary working procedures and hiring a employees.
The first month was difficult. “We had no heat, we had no anything, we walked into a shell of shelter.”
“One night in the first two weeks, one of the ACOs [Animal Control Officers] sent me a text message saying there’s no heat in the shelter. It was about 35 degrees. I saw the message at about three in the morning. So, I jumped in my car and drove to the shelter because you can’t have space heaters going with nobody there to monitor. So, I was there from four in the morning until six that night. I would work fifty hours, sixty hours a week, even though I only got paid for forty.”
In spite of the challenges, Del Castillo felt the shelter was off to a great begin. “We had news crews coming through, we had people coming through all the time, the staff was happy, the mayor’s office was happy.” In early February, the mayor held a press conference to showcase the shelter’s progress.
The employees was answerable for feeding the dogs, taking them out for each day walks, and cleansing their cages. Once a month a veterinarian would come to verify on the dogs. Veterinary technicians [“vet techs”] had been answerable for following up on veterinarian care in between visits.
Working at a canine shelter shouldn’t be for the faint of coronary heart. “Most of our dogs are very big. They’re Rottweilers, pit bulls, German shepherds; they’re dominant-breed dogs” mentioned Del Castillo. She was happy with the truth that nobody on the shelter had been bitten or harm.
It was a streak of fine luck that might quickly finish. On February 27, Del Castillo and a vet tech determined it was time to guage for adoption “Dior,” a 40-pound Bullypit that had been surrendered to the shelter after biting its proprietor’s baby within the home. Pursuant to the shelter’s protocol, Dior had been quarantined for ten days to verify for indicators of rabies. There had been none.
Del Castillo wished to know whether or not Dior was secure to place in a home with out youngsters. Dior’s biting of the kid in Hoboken may need merely been a case of “resource guarding.” According to Liz Morgan in Montclair, useful resource guarding presents a selected hazard to youngsters. “I wouldn’t put [such a] dog in a home with children,” she mentioned. “An adult can be shown how to respect the [dog’s] boundaries.” But youngsters can unwittingly violate them and get harm, she mentioned.
But Del Castillo wasn’t significantly apprehensive about Dior. He had appeared properly behaved on the shelter, properly adjusted on walks and in interactions with different dogs. What occurred on February 27 took her without warning.
“I had the vet tech go with me, and we brought the dog into the empty room. The dog is happy, he’s playing, fine, no issues at all. The vet-tech noticed there was a little drop of blood on the ground. She said, ‘Could you hold him for me?’”
I reached down to carry onto his collar so she might have a look at his foot, and earlier than I might even contact him, he latched onto my left arm … He wouldn’t let go, began shaking as arduous as he might … I might hear the bones breaking.”
Her years of expertise helped although. “When a bite happens, the instinct is to pull away from the animal. When you do that, they tear the flesh. If you push towards them, most of the time they will let go because it’s such an unusual thing for a prey to do.”
“You cover your other hand over the muzzle and push their lips into the teeth that are biting into you, so it becomes uncomfortable for them, and they try to readjust their bite, and that’s when you pull away.”
That’s what she did. Dior let go.
Though badly injured, Del Castillo managed to place the leash on Dior and put him in a cage.
After seeing a video of the incident, Director of Health and Human Services Stacey Flanagan would later ask Del Castillo how she had remained so calm.
“We went to the front, and I asked them to take me to the hospital. They said, ‘No, we’re calling an ambulance’ because my arm was deformed.”
Del Castillo was admitted to Jersey City Medical Center. Dior had damaged her arm in three locations. “My bone was protruding in one spot, and the dog’s tooth had sunk in and touched the bone. The dog’s mouth is very dirty. So, you have to be on IV antibiotics.”
The subsequent day, she underwent two hours of surgical procedure. “I have a plate and two screws in my arm.” She referred to as the ache excruciating.
She stayed within the hospital for 2 extra days. On the final day, Bellan-Boyer arrived with staff compensation types for her to fill out. No one else from the town visited.
The docs informed Del Castillo that she wanted to be out of labor for six weeks. “I said, ‘Please can I go back to work? I’ll just work in the office. I won’t handle any dogs.’ They really didn’t want to, but I love my job, so I want to get back, and they said okay but no pushing, no pulling … gave a whole list.”
When she went into work, she met W. Mark Byrne, who had been sworn in as director of the animal shelter whereas she was out. A former animal management supervisor in Bergen County, he had no expertise operating a shelter says Del Castillo and others. But he would now be her boss.
“He walks in and says how are you feeling? By the way, I’m taking your office. I need you to move to the back.” I believed ‘Okay; that was kind of sudden for first day back.’”
Byrne instantly laid down a brand new set of procedures, together with eliminating employees conferences and the workers’ use of cell telephones on the job. “Right now, there’s no way for the staff to communicate with each other. There’s no walkie talkies, there’s no intercom system. So, my staff all had a group text. All you had to do is go on the group text and say, ‘Help in the kennel’” mentioned Del Castillo.
Byrne determined that the dogs wanted to be fed twice a day. “I explained to him, they’re in these kennels that aren’t big enough to give them a place to go to the bathroom all night, all day. If you feed them that much, all they’re going to do is poop all the time and have to live in that.” Byrne mentioned that they did it that manner in Bergen County.
A co-worker on the Jersey City shelter informed the Jersey City Times that they agreed. “You don’t feed shelter dogs twice a day. You end up picking up dog sh** twice a day … and two people can’t pick up for 30 dogs … the kennel staff can’t socialize a dog and take them out if they’re spending the whole day picking up sh**.”
Byrne made different modifications, together with beginning the day an hour later. “The dogs were used to being fed and out the door by 7:30 a.m. for their walk,” mentioned one other employee. “Now they have to wait an extra hour … you have some dogs that are trained and they’re holding it, and when you come in they’re shivering because they’re holding it.”
Shelter staff who needed to get to second jobs had been additionally upset by the unannounced schedule change, one employee mentioned.
Byrne additionally began placing massive dogs on cages that had been larger up. “He’s now putting pit-bull-size dogs … right at face level of the staff … you have to open [the door] and get the dog to come to you that doesn’t know you, grab it, lift it up, and put it on ground. Now they’re covered in feces, because they’re locked in a cage that’s too small,” mentioned Del Castillo. She referred to as it “horribly dangerous.” Another employee mentioned the change meant that the ladies working there needed to get one other girl to assist to get dogs down.
Del Castillo says that when she protested “he didn’t want to hear it.”
Together, Byrne’s modifications have resulted in much less time to look after the dogs and no alternative for the day and night time shifts to satisfy. “We’re working harder, not smarter” one mentioned.
A employee referred to as Byrne’s administration model “disorganized.” The employee mentioned blankets used for the cages that are dirty with feces and urine had piled up. “I don’t even have a good nose, and I walk in the morning and it’s disgusting.”
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Del Castillo had required employees to verify on the well being of the animals at the very least each day. On the morning of her return to work, as had been her behavior, she walked by means of the kennel to do her personal inspection. Del Castillo will get emotional as she describes what she discovered. “I got to a cage, there was something horrific in that cage that should not have happened.”
The cage held Blake, a Shih Tzu-cocker spaniel combine. Blake had been neutered when Del Castillo was within the hospital and placed within the cage with a protecting plastic cone round his neck. “Nobody checked it for thirteen days … it is completely imbedded in the front of his throat … it split his skin like someone slit his throat.” Another employee on the shelter mentioned, “The dog looked like it had been cut by the midtown slasher.”
Del Castillo alleges that neither Byrne nor the vet tech had checked on the canine all the time. “Nobody was watching the animals while I was out.” The canine was rushed to the Animal Clinic & Hospital of Jersey City on Westside Avenue.
At a checkup 4 days later, Del Castillo’s physician informed her that her arm was changing into deformed and that she wanted to take extra time without work from work. She took one other week off.
Three days after returning, Del Castillo met with Byrne and the veterinarian. The assembly didn’t go properly. Del Castillo complained about Byrne’s protocols, which she felt had been merciless to the animals. She informed him the cages had been too small and that the ability was understaffed. Frustrated, Del Castillo mentioned she tried to walk out of the assembly when Byrne blocked the door saying, “I could get you for insubordination.”
Del Castillo referred to as Flanagan and mentioned, “I can’t come in tomorrow. I don’t know what I’m doing here. He is doing things that are making the shelter unsafe for the animals and the staff.” Flanagan informed her to take the subsequent two days off and are available again to work the next Monday.
That Monday Del Castillo obtained an e mail from human sources telling her that she was being placed on administrative depart. Ten days later, she obtained an e mail telling her that she had been terminated. She requested for an evidence however obtained no reply.
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Patti Cronin is a retired Union County Assistant Prosecutor. In 2018, county prosecutors took over animal cruelty prosecutions from the ASPCA. The job was given to Cronin. “I was a sucker for animals,” she says.
Cronin introduced in Del Castillo to work on her animal cruelty process drive. “She got me educated. She was amazing.” She referred to as Del Castillo “a real leader.”
Liz Morgan of the Montclair Animal Shelter agrees. “I’m very particular about who I work with and who I trust and who I believe has good judgment and does right by the animals, and it’s a very short list, and she’s on it.”
If Del Castillo has a failing, it’s her bluntness and occasional lack of tact, say those that know her. She admits to leaving the Newark animal shelter after butting heads with a person who had been employed to take over.
She is conscious of the downsides of her directness. She not too long ago filed an animal cruelty grievance with the Hudson County prosecutor over Blake’s remedy. She did it, she mentioned “knowing that it would cost me my career. I did it because it’s the right thing for the animals, because no one is going to hire me after I’ve done this.”
She is offended on the manner Jersey City dealt with Blake’s damage. “HR just wrote the people up. It was cruelty. It was gross neglect, and they didn’t want it to go further because it’s bad press.” She mentioned Byrne was not disciplined.
Those who spoke with the Jersey City Times appeared to agree that Byrne’s lack of expertise operating a shelter is perhaps the foundation of the issue.
“He changed everything around,” mentioned one co-worker of Byrne. “You come in and do what you know [animal control] … you don’t do someone else’s job [Del Castillo’s] and tell them how to do it.”
Said Morgan, “I know Mark Byrne. I think he’s an incredible animal control officer. He was a supervisor at Bergen as an ACO.” But, she added, “ACO and shelter are two different beasts. Their protocols, everything just up and down … it’s two different beasts.”
Jersey City’s spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Del Castillo is now getting bodily remedy. Her damage has made taking good care of her 6’3″ particular wants son harder.
Amy Guidroz has been an animal advocate and operated a rescue inserting animals in properties for 30 years. She says calls Darcy introduced “a very brief window of change…she was getting animals out, cats and dogs. She got injured and all that ended.”
Meanwhile, the shelter staff who spoke with the Jersey City Times are sad. “The morale of the place has gone down dramatically. This new guy is in a frenzy with writing people up. He seems to get a kick out of writing people up.” Another employee referred to as morale “terrible.”
Said one co-worker. “We all loved Darcy. Nobody was against her. Not one person.”
