Berrien County Animal Services — Local services in Benton Charter Township

I'm finally ready to share our horrible experience with animal control. We had an incident and our dog for the first time ever got out. This happened on May 21st. He ended up attacking our neighbors dog who is fine now and healed. We took care of everything with our neighbor and we became closer from it. When the animal control officer showed up we were 100% compliant and knew they were going to have to put him in quarantine. I made it very clear to the officer that he was behind on his shots. He was due in January and I had an appt already set before this happened. He was due to go to the vet on June 3rd to get caught back up. I asked if he could quarantine at home because I was worried about him being around other dogs. They said no. I reluctantly handed my dog over. He was to be quarantined for 10 days but the 10th day fell around memorial day so he was not able to be released until June 3rd. That's 14 days he was in animal controls care. We called daily to check on him and always was told the exact same thing... "oh he's doing great, he's eating well" after a few min of them asking each other which one was Bodhi. Complete lies!!! My husband went to see him, he was excited but not his usual self. Ashley the manager tried talking my husband into not going back and seeing him. The day we got him back he was NOT himself. He was coughing and he had lost almost 15lbs in those 14 days. I took him to our vet and they put him on antibotic thinking it was just kennel cough. The next day he was throwing up a lot. He had a little diarrhea when we brought him home but overall he was just laying around. After throwing up he became very lethargic and ended up collapsing and he lost control of his bowels and what looked like about a gallon of blood came out of him. We rushed him to the vet in kzoo and immediately they did a parvo test. It came back positive!! Not one time did animal control call us to tell us he was sick. Him losing 15 lbs while there tells us he was throwing up and diarrhea and they didn't do a single thing about it including not having their own vet check him out other then their vet giving him the rabies shot the day he was released. I would immediately have taken him straight to the vet had they told us. At the emergency vet they said at the point he was at it was a 50/50 chance and $7000 just to start treatment. We didn't have that and had to make the very hard decision to put him down. He was 11 years old, healthy as could be before they took him. Myself and my husband called Ashley to talk to her about the situation and she didn't care at all. She said "we haven't had a parvo case in months, it must have been a coyote running through your backyard". Talk about a slap in the face. Ashley doesn't care at all about the animals there. We talked to our vet and they said the likelihood of it coming from our backyard after no issues since we moved to where we live was extremely unlikely. Especially after he came home sick from animal control after they had him for 14 days. I will never recommend them to anyone! She also told another person 2 months prior that adopted a puppy from there with parvo the exact same thing, they there was no way it came from them but yet admitted to us they had a case 2 months prior which would have been when the other girl got a dog from there. They have a bunch of young kids that clean the kennels so I'm sure they are not getting 100% cleaned the way they should. Either way my dog shouldn't have been around any dogs but the kennel he was in there was dogs all around him with nothing but a chain fence at the front and a brick wall on the sides so any sneezing, coughing ect could pass to any dogs in the area. MY DOG SHOULD STILL BE ALIVE! Also for the record the officer who took my dog was very kind. When I called him to tell him we had to put our dog down and what happened he was very sympathetic and you could tell it upset him. Ashley didn't care at all and didn't even get a sorry or...

Someone found my cat in the road after he had been hit by a car. They cared for him overnight and brought him to the BCAC next day where they told him he would be looked over and taken care of.. I try calling and messaging when I find out he is there but no one is available. No way to speak with people who are with your animal if it's not within business hrs. I call 1st thing when they open...goes to VM multiple times. I drive there. 3 people sitting at desks.. they say they are waiting for phone service to acknowledge new hours. I try to explain someone brought my cat in, yes one of the girls was the one who did the intake. She tells me that she knew he had been hit by a car and he was there in the back. I ask about his medical care..no one saw him to assess injuries, the on call vet has a small child, is the reason I got..I get taken to my cat. Appears some very nice volunteers were doing their best feeding him and keeping him company as well as the large amounts of cats in the room. I get told normally an injured animal is seen and given pain meds. ÒK so that person comes up front with me to figure out what's been done. 1st person who checked Charlie in is there. Other person is speaking now saying Yes they give meds to those in pain to keep them comfortable but they didn't know he had been hit by a cat. Ok! I look at the girl who said she knew and say, SHE KNEW! Nothing. I ask again about what was done to help my senior cat who had been hit by a car. Girl 2 just says she didnt know. So for 2 days my boy has been sitting in a cage in their "care" with fractures in his back...nothing. BCAC...

This is directed mainly at the older lady who I suppose is in charge first of all if you’re gonna be someone who is dealing with the public, you should not judge people you have no idea what situation incurred to get to a certain point and the way that you treated me when I came to pick up my dog All the way from California after traveling for 3 1/2 days by train and you tell me that I abandoned him like I said you have no idea what happened to get to that point and I did not abandon my dog otherwise I wouldn’t have been here picking him up I could sit here and explain myself to you, but you already have preconceived notions and I’m sorry that’s just rude and not only that but when I come to pick up my dog that you’re charging me $30 a day to board and I understand it’s not a kennel but he was covered in poop so much to wear in between his toes is infected $30 a day. What did they get me cause I’m sorry that’s ridiculous and just to let you know it was a Sunday I had gotten kicked off of the train with my dog in South Bend, Indiana by Amtrak and I had to pay you for that I am not from here. I am not from this area at all. I was strictly passing through. You have no empathy no no kindness in your heart whatsoever. I would really think you might wanna look at getting a different job because to return someone’s dog to them looking like he did is wrong And I’ll put a picture of his foot that’s because he was stepping in his...