The repercussions from the horrifying discovery of 15 animal carcasses in an unplugged freezer inside the Hudson County SPCA shelter in Jersey City on June 20 continued to be felt last week.
The Jersey City Health Department filed charges against shelter manager Hector Carbajales last week. According to city spokesperson Jennifer Morrill, the charges are violations of the state’s regulated medical waste act and “creating conditions that are hazardous to the health of the residents of New Jersey.”
These charges pertain to the findings of syringes along with the animal carcasses that authorities believe were allegedly used by Carbajales to euthanize stray animals he was picking up as part of his contracts with Union City and North Bergen.
Morrill also said that an examination of the carcasses done by a veterinarian retained by the city found that the animals had been dead for six to eight weeks before they were found.
That would place the last time the eight dogs, six cats and a goat were alive at sometime after April 11, when a judge ordered the Johnston Avenue shelter closed.
At that time, other animals were taken to the other animal shelter in Jersey City, which is the Liberty Humane Society shelter.Charter suspended
If that wasn’t bad enough, the state’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals suspended the charter of the Hudson County SPCA last week, and announced it will be conducting their own investigation of what took place at the shelter, according to NJSPCA spokesperson Matt Stanton.
Carbajales responded last week to the state SPCA suspending the charter.
“The Hudson County SPCA is no longer running,” said Carbajales, a Union City resident. “They jumped the gun, and they should have waited for the outcome of the allegations.”
The SPCA was shut down in May after inspections by the city and state earlier in the year found violations, and local animal activists petitioned for the facility to be shut.
A judge has asked Carbajales to fix the poor conditions at the shelter, but so far, it has not happened.
Carbajales and his wife Zoe are scheduled to appear in Guttenberg Municipal Court on Tuesday, July 15 at 6 p.m. to answer to animal cruelty charges against them pertaining to the city inspection of the shelter in January as well as hear their counter complaint against animal control officer Joe Frank for allegedly taking animals out of the shelter without following proper procedure. For more on the Hudson County SPCA past and present, check out www.hudsoneporter.com Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com