Earlier this week, the Memphis and Shelby County Humane Society announced that it would remove a dog named Train from its euthanasia list after a public outcry. Today, the Humane Society announced that the organization will be seeking a new director after former executive director Andrew Jacuzzi “left to pursue other opportunities.”
Train
Train was placed on the kill list for what a volunteer deemed as “predatory aggression” after the dog looked aggressively at a child. A Facebook page was launched to save Train, and on Tuesday, the Humane Society posted the following message on its own Facebook page:
“Today our organization is finalizing an agreement with a credentialed, third party (located out of town) veterinary organization to adopt Train. This veterinarian team is highly experienced, trained and credentialed to handle animals, like Train, that have been diagnosed with “predatory aggression.” Fortunately—our willingness to identify and locate other professionals has given us this creative solution. Train will be adopted into his new home as soon as possible. Once Train is there and safe, we will post a photo of him in his new home. This has been a very difficult issue and we want to reaffirm that we are here to SAVE animals, not destroy them. In the rare cases where we do have to euthanize an animal for severe behavioral issues, it is for public safety. We will not deviate from policy (more on our website: https://memphishumane.org/about-us-122/faq) unless a rare opportunity—such as this one—is found. Thank you for all of the support for Train and we are satisfied that this option is the best for Train, our organization, our donors, volunteers and staff.”
On Friday, a press release was sent out announcing that Jacuzzi had left and that the organization has hired Amy Howell of Howell Marketing as a consulting interim director. Howell’s role will be to guide the organization to secure a new executive director.
The release said the Humane Society was also looking to improve animal intake and animal care at the organization.
