We have an update on our investigation into the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

For the past 2 months, our Mary Strong has been documenting many allegations that the county animal shelters kill large numbers of healthy dogs, rather than adopting them into homes.

Throughout this investigation, the county refused our repeated requests for an interview.

Now that our stories have aired, the county has still not agreed to sit down for an interview, but they did put out a statement yesterday on Facebook and Instagram.

It reads in part, “Our review revealed multiple inaccuracies, and we believe the segment presented a misleading representation. We were responsive to inquiries and offered an in-person meeting with the reporter, without a response.”

But that simply isn’t true.

Anticipating this allegation, anchor Mary Strong sent Animal Services an email this morning, listing all six times she requested an interview from someone, anyone, from Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

Whether by phone or by email, every request was either turned down outright, or stonewalled. The Riverside County Animal Services Department was given ample opportunity to tell its side of the story. They refused.

After our stories aired, someone from the Animal Services Department did reach out to say they would agree to sit down for an interview next week. Mary has been trying for the past 48 hours to set a time and place for the interview, but as of now, the county has still not committed to when they will make someone available.

To be clear, we want to report the county’s side of these allegations. We’ve been asking them since March 4th to answer our questions.

Instead, their statement today concludes, “We value accurate reporting and are committed to transparency conveying our story. We urge the public to be aware of misinformation.”

We do too. You can read all of Mary’s email detailing our interview requests here:

This story is far from over. We will continue to seek the truth about what’s really going on inside our county animal shelters.

Response To Riverside County Animal Services Social Media Statement