NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — A three-day audit of the Niagara SPCA is now underway.
The Niagara SPCA hired former Erie County SPCA Director Barbara Carr to do the audit, alongside the executive director of the New York State Animal Protection Federation Libby Post. The audit comes in response to recent allegations against the shelter for mismanagement and animal neglect.
The Niagara SPCA is a member of the New York State Animal Protection Federation.
The Niagara SPCA Board President believes the audit will silence critics and allow the shelter to be totally transparent.
Susan Agnello-Eberwein said, "Some disgruntled board members and people from the community, animal advocates is what they're called, had some very horrible accusations to make about us. What we wanted to do was we wanted to clear our name. Years ago there was a problem with this SPCA and we never wanna get to that level again."
Former board members who've spoken out with disturbing stories of alleged improper medical treatment of animals and poor management tell us they welcome the audit.
"I don't know how many scandals and how many times we can do this because the shelter's not running properly. Something needs to change drastically so that this doesn't keep happening," Kathy Paradowski, a former board member and animal advocate.
Donna Shepard, who recently left the board, added, "We didn't ask for people to be fired. We wanted people to be held accountable. Nobody ever was held accountable."
The former board members say they've already been interviewed for the audit and they tell us they've raised concerns that previously were downplayed or overlooked.
"Those allegations are definitely informing our work and we're gonna find the truth," said Post.
Post told 2 on Your Side at this point it's too early to comment on the validity of the allegations, but she says so far everything seems to be normal in terms of animal care.
Agnello-Eberwein says she's very comfortable with the audit and she believes the shelter will be "100 percent vindicated."
The audit is set to wrap up on Saturday, but it will likely be a few weeks before we have the results.