The city of Mission has dropped Unleashed Pet Rescue and Adoption as its animal sheltering partner amid the state’s ongoing efforts to revoke the shelter’s license.
The city had been sending impounded animals to Unleashed off Johnson Drive in Mission for years but will now partner with Melissa’s Second Chances in Shawnee for that purpose.
This comes after Unleashed failed a state inspection last fall and the Kansas Department of Agriculture began the process to revoke its license.
Mission is already working with Melissa’s Second Chances
- Mission City Administrator Laura Smith told the Post after the finance and administration committee meeting Wednesday that the city already stopped working with Unleashed.
- Police Chief Dan Madden also confirmed that any animal that needs to be impounded in Mission is being taken to Melissa’s Second Chances.
- As a formal step, the committee on Wednesday moved an item to adopt the new partnership with Melissa’s Second Chance forward for the city council’s approval later this month.
It’s still not clear when Unleashed’s license will be revoked
- Madden told the committee on Wednesday that it’s his department’s understanding that it is legally permissible for the city to change which shelter it partners with.
- Madden said the department does not have a time frame or details about when Unleashed’s license would be revoked.
- Heather Lansdowne, director of communications for the Kansas Department of Agriculture, the state agency working to revoke Unleashed’s license, said there is no change in status at this time.
- She added that KDA is still receiving and investigating new information about Unleashed, but no hearing has been set yet.
Mission did ‘due diligence’ on Melissa’s Second Chances
- Melissa’s Second Chances was one of two private shelters the department reached out to, Madden told the committee.
- It was the only shelter able to take on new clients, he said.
- The department looked at KDA inspection reports and toured the facility, deeming it satisfactory, Madden said.
Unleashed failed an inspection last year
- The October investigation, led by KDA’s Animal Facilities Inspection program, found insufficient floor space in a handful of kennels, Unleashed’s attorney Court T. Kennedy previously told the Post.
- Unleashed also came under scrutiny after Fox 4 reported multiple customers and former employees complained about the facility’s conditions like “dog bowls full of cockroaches, injured or sick animals.”
- Kennedy did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment for this story or to respond to Mission’s move to drop the shelter as a partner.
Go deeper: Unleashed Pet Rescue president takes to social media to defend shelter
