In the day after the news broke that the Orangeburg County Animal Control Program's manager and four officers have been placed on paid administrative leave:

* Readers reacted strongly in phone calls to The Times and Democrat's newsroom and in posts to www.TheTandD.com.

* The state Department of Health and Environmental Control acknowledged that it is investigating the program.

* And the SPCA's adoption counselor said it was business as usual on her end of the shelter, except, of course, for all of the TV news trucks outside.

"We can confirm that we are conducting an investigation into the practices at the Orangeburg County Animal Control office," DHEC spokesman Thom Berry said.

"The investigation is ongoing and it does involve activities involving the euthanizing of animals at the facility," Berry said, adding that he does not know how long the investigation might take.

Berry said he does not have a copy of a videotape showing allegedly improper conduct by animal control officers. He did not know whether anyone else at DHEC has a copy.

The Times and Democrat reported the existence of the videotape Thursday and summarized a few of the scenes on it. The report also noted that DHEC investigators viewed the video in Orangeburg on April 26.

"I commend you for blowing the lid off what animal control is doing in Orangeburg County," said Traci Richard in a comment that was typical of the tone and content of those received.

Some readers offered comments about encounters with animal control.

Sandy Burt of Orangeburg said she saw an animal control officer snap a dog's neck on the back of a pickup truck. "I saw it with my own eyes. It's so repulsive that it's hard to believe. I told everybody that would listen, but I couldn't do anything ... I figured it was hopeless until I saw (this morning's paper). They need to get people there that know what they're doing and care about the animals," Burt said.

Danielle Davanzo of North said: "My sister took some animals up there. Before she even got out of Orangeburg, she decided to go back and get the animals. It was only a few minutes, but they had already put them down.

"It was a good, adoptable animal, a young dog with puppies," Davanzo said. "They didn't even have three days" to be put on display for possible adoption. "They didn't give the animals a chance. That's just not right."

A woman, who asked not to be identified by name because she is related to a former animal control officer, said, it was ''horrendous how many (animals) were killed. One officer told me he was so tired of killing dogs that he had to get out of there. I tried three years ago to get the county to do a spaying program. They laughed at me and said there's no way the county could afford it. But Orangeburg County really needs a spaying program. That would save the county so much money right there."

Another woman's message was: "It was very hard reading the article, thinking about all of the animals that had (been euthanized). I am very proud of the people that decided to do something about the cruelty to the animals at the ..."

The woman finished her sentence "SPCA" but that is factually incorrect. DHEC and the county are investigating employees of the Orangeburg County Animal Control Program that is operated by the county government.

The Maude Schiffley Chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a separate, non-governmental entity, although it shares a building with the county -- mostly for convenience sake since the SPCA gets its animals from the county.

Vickie Smoak, the SPCA chapter's one-person staff, said that, after reading the headlines in The T&D, she had some trepidations about what kind of a day Thursday would be.

It was certainly full of media coverage, from the television news crew waiting in the parking lot when she arrived to open the office at 11 a.m. to the newspaper reporter and photographer who showed up well past the 4 p.m. closing time and were granted an interview anyway.

Smoak said she knew nothing about the investigation except what was in the paper, so she used her interview times as opportunities to talk about the good things going on at the shelter, to urge people to learn more about the proper care and feeding of pets and to explain that the investigation of animal control "doesn't affect our adoption program" at all.

Thursday was an especially good day, she said, because two animals were adopted out, so the chapter reached its monthly goal of 40 adoptions. The adoption rate has nearly doubled from last year, she said.

Too, the chapter held an appreciation dinner for the 10 families that provide foster care for animals when there is no more room at the shelter, Smoak said.

As to the shelter's hours being inconvenient for working families, Smoak said people can always come out on the first Saturday of each month between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Or they can call a day or two in advance and make an after-hours appointment to meet the adoptable animals, of which there are plenty, she said, despite the curtailment of much of animal control's activities.

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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