DC animal shelter volunteers fired for speaking out about conditions, they say

did speaking out about conditions at a DC Animal Shelter end up getting volunteers fired a group of them say that's exactly what the DC Humane rescue Alliance did this week and they say it's because they raised concerns about the conditions in those kennels our mcgregory is live outside the Humane rescue Alliance shelter on New York Avenue in Northeast to tell us more so what are you learning yeah we talked to several volunteers today they say for months they spoke out about the conditions insid

e this facility here but it was this week that they said they all got the same email saying their services were no longer needed Christy Lambert has volunteered at DC's Humane rescue Alliance since August at the New York Avenue location my heart just dropped but an email on Tuesday changed all that the Humane rescue Alliance fired her and she estimates at least 20 other volunteers this just happened it was a shock to most of us so we're still trying to figure out what's going on Lambert says for

months now she and others have voiced their concerns about the conditions for the animals in the New York Avenue Shelter the kennels were uh had lots of feces pee you know blood even on the walls she and other residents documented what they saw in videos and pictures they gave them to management but last fall she says when nothing had been done they wrote a letter that highlighted our concerns that went to board members of H went to City Council Members went to the mayor then this week the othe

r shoe dropped Lambert and more than two dozen other volunteers got the same email fired from their volunteer roles no specific reason given the volunteers that they fired I mean these were people who' have been there 10 plus years often times we asked the Humane rescue Alliance why and a spokesperson sent us this response saying they had broad reasons to terminate the volunteers including Behavior to staff violations of organizational policy violations of Privacy Information violations of emplo

yee confidentiality and unwillingness to comply with basic organizational protocols we ask christe did you participate in that behavior myself and those you know my friends in these groups we were nothing but respectful and kind as upset as she is with her firing as a volunteer christe is most concerned with the welfare of the dogs she won't be able to help anymore just this morning I was looking at H's website and the front page of their website says volunteers needed sign up today yeah now we

spoke with other volunteers not just Christy they said they experienced a similar thing raising concerns then finding out yesterday they were fired their services were no longer needed at the same time tonight HRA is telling us that there were other reasons they did not include in their uh statement that they sent to us for firing those volunteers they also said that other volunteers and staff are now relieved as a result of this so this is a story we're going to continue to follow uh throughout

the week as uh we learn more information about why these volunteers were fired from the Humane rescue Alliance in Northeast I'm Mt Gregory back to you yeah clearly more to find out about this situation Matt thank you