Animal advocate Kelly Galligan leads a chant as protestors call for answers on what happened to 250 small pets, on Sept. 27, 2023, outside the downtown Tucson law office of Robert Garcia, chairman of the Humane Society board.
The Humane Society of Southern Arizona board says that 63 small pets they received back from an unvetted family they gave the animals to about a month before returned in good health. But several volunteers who cared for the animals say many arrived with skin issues, upper respiratory infections, missing fur, crusty eyes and that at least one died upon return.
A Saturday press release from the board of directors said the animals, which are part of an ongoing investigation into more than 300 rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and rats that the Humane Society gave to an unvetted family in August, arrived to them healthy and in nice, clean habitats.
But several people who cared for the animals upon return say nothing could be farther from the truth, including Carrie King, who runs local small-animal rescue Home Sweet Hammy Home, and cared for the animals nearly everyday after they were returned for almost two weeks.
“The veterinary staff can attest to the fact that they had to do many exams, they had to shave many of them because they had skin issues,” King said. “They had to treat upper respiratory infections. They had to notate that a lot of them had missing fur. A lot of them had crusty eyes. A lot of them had clear, significant upper respiratory infections. So, no, they did not arrive back healthy.”
Many also arrived without proper cages. And some of the animals were later adopted out with medical waivers due to their ongoing ailments, including one waiver that said a guinea pig had “wounds on his face of unknown cause (but suspected to be from trauma from a cagemate).”
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