In her thirty years working with animal rescues, Darcy Del Castillo had never been hurt by a dog. She prided herself on her ability to read a dog’s mood, to judge a dog’s body language, to pick up the cues that would keep herself and those she worked with safe, particularly around big animals. It was a confidence borne of her years working at shelters in Elizabeth and Newark and with the with Union County Animal Cruelty Taskforce. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked Darcy for help,” said Liz Morgan, director of the Montclair Township Animal Shelter. For years, Morgan has called on Del Castillo to help her evaluate for adoption the biggest and potentially most dangerous dogs. “Big pit bull mixes, mastiff mixes … I had two [South African] boerboels that she helped with. They were like a buck-fifty. They were like huge block-head animals.” “She has a keen sense of awareness for the animal itself. She can tell you right away how that dog is going to respond to certain things,” said a current worker at the Jersey City animal shelter of Del Castillo, who, fearing retaliation from administrators, asked to remain anonymous. Another worker at the Jersey City animal shelter, who, for the same reason, asked to remain anonymous, called Del Castillo’s work with dogs “the best of the best.” Darcy Del Castillo at February press event. Photo credit: Jennifer Brown Such was Del Castillo’s reputation that last fall Paul Bellan-Boyer, health officer of the Department of Health and Human Services, called Del Castillo looking for help following the city’s decision to terminate the shelter management contract of Liberty Humane Society. “Would you be interested in running the shelter? The city is going to put everything into it; whatever you need, we’ll do,” Del Castillo remembers Bellan-Boyer saying in a late-October phone call. “They needed me to jump in right away.” She signed on.  By December, the city was inviting the press to see Del Castillo’s work training staff at the Bethune Center for a January 1 handover from Liberty Humane. Del Castillo spent the weeks before creating standard operating procedures and hiring a staff.  The first month was challenging. “We had no heat, we had no anything, we walked into a shell of shelter.”  “One night in the first two weeks, one of the ACOs [Animal Control Officers] sent me a text message saying there’s no heat in the shelter. It was about 35 degrees. I saw the message at about three in the morning. So, I jumped in my car and drove to the shelter because you can’t have space heaters going with nobody there to monitor. So, I was there from four in the morning until six that night. I would work fifty hours, sixty hours a week, even though I only got paid for forty.” In spite of the challenges, Del Castillo felt the shelter was off to a good start. “We had news crews coming through, we had people coming through all the time, the staff was happy, the mayor’s office was happy.” In early February, the mayor held a press conference to showcase the shelter’s progress. W. Mark Byrne standing next to Stacey Flanagan, Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, as he is sworn in. The staff was responsible for feeding the dogs, taking them out for daily walks, and cleaning their cages. Once a month a veterinarian would come to check on the dogs. Veterinary technicians [“vet techs”] were responsible for following up on veterinarian care in between visits. Working at a dog shelter is not for the faint of heart. “Most of our dogs are very big. They’re Rottweilers, pit bulls, German shepherds; they’re dominant-breed dogs” said Del Castillo. She was proud of the fact that no one at the shelter had been bitten or hurt. It was a streak of good luck that would soon end. On February 27, Del Castillo and a vet tech decided it was time to evaluate for adoption “Dior,” a 40-pound Bullypit that had been surrendered to the shelter after biting its owner’s child in the home. Pursuant to the shelter’s protocol, Dior had been quarantined for ten days to check for signs of rabies. There were none. Del Castillo wanted to know whether Dior was safe to place in a home without children. Dior’s biting of the child in Hoboken might have merely been a case of “resource guarding.” According to Liz Morgan in Montclair, resource guarding presents a particular danger to children. “I wouldn’t put [such a] dog in a home with children,” she said. “An adult can be shown how to respect the [dog’s] boundaries.” But children can unwittingly violate them and get hurt, she said.  But Del Castillo wasn’t particularly worried about Dior. He had seemed well behaved at the shelter, well adjusted on walks and in interactions with other dogs. What happened on February 27 took her by surprise.  “I had the vet tech go with me, and we brought the dog into the empty room. The dog is happy, he’s playing, fine, no issues at all. The vet-tech noticed there was a little drop of blood on the ground. She said, ‘Could you hold him for me?'” I reached down to hold onto his collar so she could look at his foot, and before I could even touch him, he latched onto my left arm … He would not let go, started shaking as hard as he could … I could hear the bones breaking.” Her years of experience helped though. “When a bite happens, the instinct is to pull away from the animal. When you do that, they tear the flesh. If you push towards them, most of the time they will let go because it’s such an unusual thing for a prey to do.” “You cover your other hand over the muzzle and push their lips into the teeth that are biting into you, so it becomes uncomfortable for them, and they try to readjust their bite, and that’s when you pull away.” That’s what she did. Dior let go. Though badly injured, Del Castillo managed to put the leash on Dior and put him in a cage. After seeing a video of the incident, Director of Health and Human Services Stacey Flanagan would later ask Del Castillo how she had remained so calm. “We went to the front, and I asked them to take me to the hospital. They said, ‘No, we’re calling an ambulance’ because my arm was deformed.” Del Castillo was admitted to Jersey City Medical Center. Dior had broken her arm in three places. “My bone was protruding in one spot, and the dog’s tooth had sunk in and touched the bone. The dog’s mouth is very dirty. So, you have to be on IV antibiotics.” The next day, she underwent two hours of surgery. “I have a plate and two screws in my arm.” She called the pain excruciating.  She stayed in the hospital for two more days. On the last day, Bellan-Boyer arrived with workers compensation forms for her to fill out. No one else from the city visited. Del Castillo at Jersey City Medical CenterDel Castillo’s arm following removal of cast. The doctors told Del Castillo that she needed to be out of work for six weeks. “I said, ‘Please can I go back to work? I’ll just work in the office. I won’t handle any dogs.’ They really didn’t want to, but I love my job, so I want to get back, and they said okay but no pushing, no pulling …  gave a whole list.” When she went into work, she met W. Mark Byrne, who had been sworn in as director of the animal shelter while she was out. A former animal control supervisor in Bergen County, he had no experience running a shelter says Del Castillo and others. But he would now be her boss. “He walks in and says how are you feeling? By the way, I’m taking your office. I need you to move to the back.” I thought ‘Okay; that was kind of sudden for first day back.’” Byrne immediately laid down a new set of procedures, including eliminating staff meetings and the employees’ use of cell phones on the job. “Right now, there’s no way for the staff to communicate with each other. There’s no walkie talkies, there’s no intercom system. So, my staff all had a group text. All you had to do is go on the group text and say, ‘Help in the kennel'” said Del Castillo. Byrne decided that the dogs needed to be fed twice a day. “I explained to him, they’re in these kennels that aren’t big enough to give them a place to go to the bathroom all night, all day. If you feed them that much, all they’re going to do is poop all the time and have to live in that.” Byrne said that they did it that way in Bergen County. A co-worker at the Jersey City shelter told the Jersey City Times that they agreed. “You don’t feed shelter dogs twice a day. You end up picking up dog sh** twice a day … and two people can’t pick up for 30 dogs … the kennel staff can’t socialize a dog and take them out if they’re spending the whole day picking up sh**.” Byrne made other changes, including starting the day an hour later. “The dogs were used to being fed and out the door by 7:30 a.m. for their walk,” said another worker. “Now they have to wait an extra hour … you have some dogs that are trained and they’re holding it, and when you come in they’re shivering because they’re holding it.” Shelter workers who had to get to second jobs were also upset by the unannounced schedule change, one worker said. Byrne also started putting large dogs on cages that were higher up. “He’s now putting pit-bull-size dogs … right at face level of the staff … you have to open [the door] and get the dog to come to you that doesn’t know you, grab it, lift it up, and put it on ground. Now they’re covered in feces, because they’re locked in a cage that’s too small,” said Del Castillo. She called it “horribly dangerous.” Another worker said the change meant that the women working there had to get another woman to help to get dogs down. Del Castillo says that when she protested “he didn’t want to hear it.” Together, Byrne’s changes have resulted in less time to care for the dogs and no opportunity for the day and night shifts to meet. “We’re working harder, not smarter” one said. A worker called Byrne’s management style “disorganized.” The worker said blankets used for the cages which are soiled with feces and urine had piled up. “I don’t even have a good nose, and I walk in the morning and it’s disgusting.” *** Del Castillo had required staff to check on the health of the animals at least daily. On the morning of her return to work, as had been her habit, she walked through the kennel to do her own inspection. Del Castillo gets emotional as she describes what she found. “I got to a cage, there was something horrific in that cage that should not have happened.” The cage held Blake, a Shih Tzu-cocker spaniel mix. Blake had been neutered when Del Castillo was in the hospital and placed in the cage with a protective plastic cone around his neck. “Nobody checked it for thirteen days … it is completely imbedded in the front of his throat … it split his skin like someone slit his throat.” Another worker at the shelter said, “The dog looked like it had been cut by the midtown slasher.” Shih Tzu-cocker spaniel mix, Blake, with an injured neck. Del Castillo alleges that neither Byrne nor the vet tech had checked on the dog the entire time. “Nobody was watching the animals while I was out.” The dog was rushed to the Animal Clinic & Hospital of Jersey City on Westside Avenue. At a checkup four days later, Del Castillo’s doctor told her that her arm was becoming deformed and that she needed to take more time off from work. She took another week off. Three days after returning, Del Castillo met with Byrne and the veterinarian. The meeting didn’t go well. Del Castillo complained about Byrne’s protocols, which she felt were cruel to the animals. She told him the cages were too small and that the facility was understaffed. Frustrated, Del Castillo said she tried to walk out of the meeting when Byrne blocked the door saying, “I could get you for insubordination.” Del Castillo called Flanagan and said, “I can’t come in tomorrow. I don’t know what I’m doing here. He is doing things that are making the shelter unsafe for the animals and the staff.” Flanagan told her to take the next two days off and come back to work the following Monday. That Monday Del Castillo received an email from human resources telling her that she was being placed on administrative leave. Ten days later, she received an email telling her that she had been terminated. She asked for an explanation but received no answer. *** Patti Cronin is a retired Union County Assistant Prosecutor. In 2018, county prosecutors took over animal cruelty prosecutions from the ASPCA. The job was given to Cronin. “I was a sucker for animals,” she says. Cronin brought in Del Castillo to work on her animal cruelty task force. “She got me educated. She was amazing.” She called Del Castillo “a real leader.” Liz Morgan of the Montclair Animal Shelter agrees. “I’m very particular about who I work with and who I trust and who I believe has good judgment and does right by the animals, and it’s a very short list, and she’s on it.” If Del Castillo has a failing, it’s her bluntness and occasional lack of tact, say those who know her. She admits to leaving the Newark animal shelter after butting heads with a man who had been hired to take over. She is aware of the downsides of her directness. She recently filed an animal cruelty complaint with the Hudson County prosecutor over Blake’s treatment. She did it, she said “knowing that it would cost me my career. I did it because it’s the right thing for the animals, because no one is going to hire me after I’ve done this.” She is angry at the way Jersey City handled Blake’s injury. “HR just wrote the people up. It was cruelty. It was gross neglect, and they didn’t want it to go further because it’s bad press.” She said Byrne was not disciplined. Those who spoke with the Jersey City Times seemed to agree that Byrne’s lack of experience running a shelter might be the root of the problem.  “He changed everything around,” said one co-worker of Byrne. “You come in and do what you know [animal control] … you don’t do someone else’s job [Del Castillo’s] and tell them how to do it.”  Said Morgan, “I know Mark Byrne. I think he’s an incredible animal control officer. He was a supervisor at Bergen as an ACO.” But, she added, “ACO and shelter are two different beasts. Their protocols, everything just up and down … it’s two different beasts.” Jersey City’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Del Castillo is now getting physical therapy. Her injury has made taking care of her 6’3″ special needs son more difficult. Amy Guidroz has been an animal advocate and operated a rescue placing animals in homes for 30 years. She says calls Darcy brought “a very brief window of change…she was getting animals out, cats and dogs. She got injured and all that ended.” Meanwhile, the shelter workers who spoke with the Jersey City Times are unhappy. “The morale of the place has gone down dramatically. This new guy is in a frenzy with writing people up. He seems to get a kick out of writing people up.” Another worker called morale “terrible.” Said one co-worker. “We all loved Darcy. Nobody was against her. Not one person.” The post Animal Shelter Morale Sinks After Manager is Bitten, Hospitalized And Fired appeared first on Jersey City Times.