Sarah Lloyd volunteered at the SPCA in 2019 and was then hired to manage the volunteer program at Charlottesville’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She was distressed when she felt too many dogs were accepted, for example, after hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Texas.
“There would be a transport coming in, and then there would be animals put in very small crates for extended periods of time," she recalls. "It’s just hard to watch when you love animals.”
When volunteers complained, Lloyd says, they got a hostile response from the shelter’s director.
“The toxic workplace – I know that’s not illegal, but it forced a lot of really good people out.”
Lloyd herself chose to leave the job voluntarily.
“I resigned, and the next day started volunteering again, because truly my passion was being with the dogs and giving them time out of their kennels, and so I was going almost every single day, and then I got a letter from that attorney, the same day as the cease and desist, dismissing me as a volunteer.”
That letter from a law firm hired by the shelter’s board warned of legal action for defamation if the SPCA’s critics didn’t stop their attacks online. Lloyd says she’s just stating the truth, and more than 26-hundred people have signed a petition calling for reforms.
“We didn’t want a huge ordeal like this. We just wanted to work there and be with the animals, but the animals can’t speak up for themselves," LLoyd explains. "A lot of us felt strongly that we should try to do that. We’re not trying to destroy the SPCA.”
A prominent law firm in Richmond is now investigating shelter operations at the request of the board.
