WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) -- Cockroaches, eye infections and chemical pesticides.
These are just a few of the complaints we've received about the Columbus County Animal Shelter in Whiteville.
"I'm overwhelmed, overflooded with roaches, and we've been working on it for some time," Shelter Director Rossie Hayes said.
Hayes says as soon as he found out about the roach infestation, he got to work cleaning up, removing all of the cats' cages and hiring an exterminator. In the meantime Hayes says he is using Borax to combat the roaches, which is a chemical he says animal rescue groups told him to use.
But what about the pictures we received from animal activists of cats with red and swollen eyes? Hayes says those are eye infections that come from outside cats.
"If a kitten comes in with the sore eyes, it can be transmitted to another kitten," Hayes said.
Whiteville veterinarian Nicole Martin says eye lesions she noted in the past in cats at the shelter were consistent with common cats viruses. Hayes says he has a plan to combat this problem.
"I'm going to put some cages up in another area. If a kitten comes in, with his eyes bad, we going to put him in there, away from the other ones," Hayes said.
He says the shelter is not accepting any cats or kittens for the next two weeks as they exterminate the bugs and clean up the mess.
Hayes says the cats that were at the shelter were taken by animal rescue groups. He says they will start accepting cats again Sept. 22, but he says it might be longer depending on how quickly they can fix these issues.
