UPDATES ON NHS BOARD OF DIRECTORS' ACTIONS OR LACK THEREOF

A new petition has been circulating alleging that euthanasia rates have gone up significantly and attacking now permanent CEO Jerleen Bryant for having "no heart for animals." 

We do NOT know what the euthanasia rates are at NHS. We urge the NHS Board and leadership (as we have all along, since the beginning of this enterprise) to BE TRANSPARENT. They should at the very least, make public their stats: noses in, noses out, number euthanized, number fostered/adopted out, by type of animal, as demanded in our petition. 

However, this latest petition was started by friends of two dog staff who were fired by Jerleen Bryant. These two dog staff are Amber Grey and David Smith, who feature prominently in the letters of complaint about NHS. They are the ones that people complained lacked compassion for animals, did not have the skills to properly take care of the animals, and were dismissive and cruel of animal suffering. We think it is rich that people who accepted their incompetence and lack of compassion while they were in their jobs, now attack the NHS for firing them.

We have not, and will not, sign the latest petition, and we urge everyone not to. Those two staff garnered the most complaints after former CEO Greg Hall, and helping them to attack the NHS after they did the right thing by removing them from their positions, would not be kosher in our book. 

On another matter, the WCRAS Advisory Board is holding another meeting where NHS issues would feature prominently. You can attend in person or via Zoom: 

https://washoecounty-gov.zoom.us/j/99851544391

We continue to be disappointed by the NHS Board who has been radio silent. In particular, Mr. Gonzalez, who has not spoken in public ever since he made all his transparency promises without fulfilling them. We are still waiting for the Directors' Conflict of Interest forms! 

However, we are happy to report that the culture consultant was fired by Ms Bryant after she took over the CEO position (so hopefully more funds are available for animal welfare), and as aforementioned, the dog staff that were the subject of multiple complaints were also fired. We think these are steps in the right direction, but MORE needs to be done to make NHS the organization we all want and need it to be. And as far as we are concerned, the Board still needs to go. Do attend the next meeting on Aug 7 to express your opinions!

In corresponding with a donor who questioned Mr. Gonzalez (Wells Fargo Adviors) about intolerable and cruel events that happened at NHS while he was on the board (he has been on the board since 2020), and who also asked him why he was using Wells Fargo email to respond to the public on matters relating to the Nevada Humane Society, Mr. Gonzalez replied: "Wells Fargo supports me wholeheartedly." 

We are somewhat surprised to hear that Wells Fargo supports an employee who has made multiple promises to the public on the urgent need to be transparent, only to NOT live up to a single promise. If we are to believe Mr. Gonzalez, then it would appear that Wells Fargo also has no problem with an employee heading the board of an animal welfare charity that does not put animal welfare first, as is evidenced by the NHS Board's spending unknown amounts of money on "third-party" consultants and attorneys, while insiders are reporting to us that animals do not have beds or blankets in their kennels.  

Readers of this website, and others who want to hold members of NHS' Board responsible for their ill-treatment of animals, should let Wells Fargo know what they think. You can reach the Board of Wells Fargo at: BoardCommunications@WellsFargo.com.  Just a heads up: you will probably receive a form response and no follow up - very much like when you contact the NHS board headed by Wells Fargo employee Mr. Gonzalez. (nevadahumanesocietyboard@gmail.com) But don't let this detract from your steadfast support of Northern Nevada's stray animals - people AND companies must know that we are serious in our support for the voiceless animals. Feel free to carbon copy us when you write to Wells Fargo: nhswatchgroup@gmail.com. 

According to NHS' website, Brittany Cooper, attorney, is no longer a member of the NHS Board of Directors. Other changes announced on the website include the appointment of Trent Bingham (he who said that the recommendations of the Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation are "optional") as Director of Operations. Presumably this removes the need to advertise nationwide for a Chief Operations Officer. Prior to this, Mr. Bingham was the Director of Development - meaning, he was primarily involved in fund-raising, but has no known experience in shelter management or animal welfare. Again, there is no resume for any of the key staff members on the NHS website, so we are all left to guess and wonder what qualifications each staff member has to be put in their respective positions. What we DO know is that the last person who held the COO position had extensive experience in animal shelter management.

Our petition now has 744 signatures, so we are only 256 away from 1000 signatures! Watch this space for more actions that we need to take. Please contact nhswatchgroup@gmail.com!

An email sent by interim CEO Jerleen Bryant stated that she has hired a third party HR company to review NHS' HR procedures. That's YET another third party vendor that the NHS is spending donors' money on, that is not in direct benefit of the animals. So, NHS now has outside attorneys, a "culture consultant" and an HR consultant - we will request details of how much these third-parties are paid, and whether they are known associates or friends of current Board members, but given NHS' history of opaqueness, it is unlikely that we will receive a response. One cannot help but wonder, why does the NHS Board of Directors need outside attorneys to help understand "contract and employment law," and a "culture consultant" who didn't really change the culture at NHS after a year, and now, also, an external HR company to review NHS' HR procedures. Why can't the NHS Board of Directors do what other institutions that do not have >$14M in donor endowment funds do - hire qualified and skilled managers,  and observe and abide by labor employment laws, their own bylaws, and institution policies? 

A well-placed source has told us that interim CEO Jerleen Bryant has ceded the goal of "no-kill" and will make Nevada Humane Society a "low-kill" shelter. This is interesting because the NHS Board of Directors, only last month, claimed that the NHS has a 95% life-saving rate, which more than meets the current definition of "no-kill." Of course, our sources already questioned that number due to their personal knowledge of behavior-based euthanasia at NHS, so it would appear that Ms. Bryant is finally acknowledging this fact? Regardless, the NHS Board needs to be held to account for giving out a statistic that is very unlikely to be accurate - if it were, why would the interim CEO cede the no-kill goal?  In addition, sources have said that the NHS has instituted the policy of NOT taking in any dogs that have behavior OR medical issues, or that are OLD. This means that the largest and most well-funded (remember they have an endowment of >$14M) shelter in Northern Nevada is picking the most adoptable and easiest pets to handle, while leaving the more challenging ones to smaller, less well-funded shelters. We need to send a message to NHS that this is NOT acceptable. 

It looks like Nevada Humane Society's troubles have reached the charity rating group Charity Navigator. Although the organization retains a four star rating, there is now an alert on the group, telling readers to read two stories about the NHS published in the Reno Gazette Journal. 

As anticipated, the NHS Board has not responded to our email informing them about the petition, which has now reached 663 signatures. Some of the signatories we know to be generous donors to NHS, who have donated generously, or had provisions made in their wills to provide for the NHS after their deaths, or both. ln all, we are talking about several millions of dollars, being withheld from the NHS unless they institute some transparency and accountability into their actions - as called for in the petition. 

The current president of the Board Ray Gonzalez (Wells Fargo Advisors) promised transparency during multiple meetings with government, the public, and news organizations.  The auto-response of NHS’s Board contact email nevadahumanesocietyboard@gmail.com, stated in response to our email alerting them about the petition, “Thank you for your email, which has now been received by all current board members of the Nevada Humane Society. As we continue evaluations and assessments at the organization, we appreciate your patience. All emails will be reviewed and we will work to provide a response within 72 hours.” That response was sent on May 31.

Instead of living up to these promises of transparency, the current NHS Board seems to think it is ok to just ignore requests for information, EVEN if it costs the homeless and stray animals of Northern Nevada millions of dollars for their care. 

Given that the petition has been signed by so many concerned citizens of Northern Nevada, one has to wonder how sincere the NHS Board of Directors is about their pledge for "1000% (sic) transparency."  To date, the NHS Board of Directors has released no information regarding their acknowledgement that board members received contracts from NHS, and other questionable use of donor money. Nor have they enlisted feedback from any stakeholders in NHS for their key personnel hires.  

The word "transparency" is easy for Board Members to utter, but is meaningless without action. I guess they think that with a >$14M endowment, they need not answer to anyone. We will see. 

On the fifth day our petition went live, it now has 511 signatories!!! Thank you for your support, and please keep sharing this site and the petition with your animal loving Northern NV neighbors!

Did anyone see the "joint" appeal from the Washoe County Regional Animal Services and the Nevada Humane Society, about how our shelters are full, and there is no room for more animals? I think WCRAS Advisory Board chair Naomi Duerr was almost in tears on TV about the prospect of having to put down some animals. Well, look at all these empty kennels that we just received pictures of today! Looks like there is lots of room at the NHS! Perhaps they don't have enough staff to take on more animals, but then, why are they not hiring more kennel staff? Their website shows they are hiring for the following positions only: Shelter Veterinarian, Cat Associate, Foster Care Coordinator, Facilities Supervisor, an Executive Assistant to the CEO, and two "General Application(s)."  

We sent an email to the NHS Board (nevadahumanesocietyboard@gmail.com), letting them know about the petition, and asking them to respond to the demands in the petition within 7 days (June 7). We received the following form response:"Thank you for your email, which has now been received by all current board members of the Nevada Humane Society. As we continue evaluations and assessments at the organization, we appreciate your patience. All emails will be reviewed and we will work to provide a response within 72 hours."