The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for enforcing animal services, outlined in Brevard County Code Chapter 14 Sec. 14-52.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey named Joe Hellebrand the Director of Animal Services. Director Hellebrand was a police sergeant in Melbourne when his k9 died from heatstroke while locked in his patrol car behind the police station in June of 1988. The temperatures in the car reached 140 to 150 degrees while the dog, Ike, was locked inside for 30 minutes.
Under the Sheriff’s Office’s duty to enforce animal services, Sheriff Ivey is tasked with overseeing the Brevard County South Animal Care and Adoption Center (SACC) located at 5100 Eau Gallie Blvd. A source who works closely with SACC reported the impact Sheriff Wayne Ivey’s decisions have had on the shelter.
Sheriff Ivey announced that Brevard Animal Services had reached a “no-kill” status at the end of the 2015/2016 fiscal year.
According to the source, maintaining the no-kill status has produced several outcomes.
To keep numbers down, few owner surrenders are accepted. When accepted, there is a mandatory two-week waiting period. In that time, they are encouraged to sell the pet on Craigslist. The animals are often released, euthanized, or placed in harmful situations. After the two weeks, the owner can then make an appointment to surrender.
Domesticated cats are also sometimes treated as feral and released in order to keep numbers down.
To further keep numbers down, adoption fees don’t exceed $25 and are often free. The only requirement for adoption is a photo ID. The source reports that this has resulted in animals being adopted by the homeless. One animal was found roaming the streets weeks later, and had to be euthanized due to behavior.
Dogs with behavior issues at SACC are often euthanized. Hiring a trainer has been suggested, but volunteers report that Sheriff Ivey is not open to suggestions.
Volunteers have been forced to foster animals who are at the end of their life, expressing that they wished the animal had been humanely euthanized instead of suffer until a natural death.
The source also reported that the SACC is not allowed to utilize Facebook to advertise animals up for adoption under Sheriff Ivey’s direction, citing his desire for all publicity to center around himself. The source noted that a Facebook page would enable animals to be adopted at a higher rate. This would allow more surrenders to be accepted.
The Brevard County South Animal Care and Adoption Center was contacted for comment, but deferred to Tod Goodyear, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer. Goodyear was unable to be reached for comment.
Sherriff Ivey has always been a racist and cruel to animals.
If this was a valid complaint, the “source” would file a complaint and not hide behind a skewed article at election time.
This is awful. I’m seeing policies that do not reflect the utmost respect for life. Besides the cruel animal policies, why do are only 5 people wearing masks in the Serene Harbor photo & Ivey isn’t wearing one? This is why we need to vote & make sure someone who needs assistance to vote gets it. Drive them, show them how to fill out the ballot, pay the postage, do whatever it takes & watch how united we become!
This is sickening. Ivey is up for re-election. Alton Edmond for Sheriff. And spay and neuter your pets.
I would go almost every other day to the animal care center to see the cats and the rooms look and feel dirty! Half the time the cats are so dirty and NEED a bath! Poor things they just throw cats together in a room and don’t properly introduce them leaving them even more stressed and aggressive. Seen them put new kittens in a room and just immediately let people in to see them inculding little children who rough handle them. The kittens were terrified and scared! They definitely weren’t ready to be put out. The place makes me sad but I feel bad for the cats so I go to visit them every once in a while. Hope this place gets better management
They took my little Boston Terrier to their shelter just because I had to go to the ER & ended up being admitted for a pancreatitis attack. My friend went to pick him up the next am. & he was DEAD!!! That dog was my whole world!!!! He was 12 & sweetest dog ever! I’ve been in a bad place ever since!!! I ended up in the hospital for 8 days!!!! Someone needs to be held accountable for this!!!!