Investigation underway in St. Louis County after 19 dogs were euthanized amid parvovirus outbreak
The County health director said one man made the decision to euthanize the dogs without consulting her
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - After 19 dogs infected with parvovirus were euthanized, the head of the St. Louis County Health Department initially said in a press conference it was a collective decision. But on Thursday, we learned that decision was made by one person — and the department head didn’t even know about it until afterward.
“Honestly it hurt. It was a major setback for the animal shelter,” said Dr. Kanika Cunningham, the St. Louis County Health Director.
Cunningham described the difficult moments after learning 19 dogs were euthanized. She says the former medical director made the decision himself.
“That is not normal, that was a break in protocol and that is part of another component of the HR investigation,” said Cunningham.
That is a key part of the investigation now being conducted by the county’s Department of Human Resources. The medical director at the time, Douglas Pernikoff, has since resigned.
“That was very disturbing,” said Councilman Mark Harder.“ For one person or two people to make a decision, there is something wrong there.”
Harder called the euthanasia cases a tragedy and also raised serious concerns about the facility not being licensed by the state. Documents from three separate inspections show live and dead bugs around the facility, rusted pipes, expired medication, and cages too small for the dogs.
Cunningham said the APA was responsible for the shelter during a February inspection, right before they were ready to hand the reins back over to St. Louis County.
“Parvovirus, that’s part of it,” said Cunningham.
Cunningham pointed to parvovirus as one reason for failing the last two inspections. She said no dogs could leave the facility and contractors couldn’t come in to fix things. This put the facility at capacity, even requiring dogs to be housed in garages.
“We’re not going to if they come tomorrow because we have a serious issue with capacity right now,” said Cunningham.
Cunningham says the facility’s biggest issue is the current building isn’t big enough.
“Renovating the shelter, finding a new location for the shelter, I have some thoughts and ideas I would like to work with the council on,” said Cunningham.
Harder isn’t so sure it’s necessary.
“I don’t know if we need another facility or if we just need better protocols on how we handle the population,” said Harder.
Another issue council highlighted: Cunningham said she did not know that they failed the first inspection for quite a while, saying she was never told.
Harder says getting a state license needs to be a major priority.
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