MCAS: SouthBARK volunteers bully employees

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Mobile County Commission President Connie Hudson said some SouthBARK volunteers have been and continue to harass, bully and threaten Mobile County Animal Shelter employees.

MCAS officials said the hostile environment has created stress, frustration and disrupted the day-to-day operations of the shelter and therefore, the SouthBARK rescue group has been banned from the shelter.

“There is a lot of good this group does and I commend the adoptions, but we cannot knowingly allow people to go to work everyday being bullied,” Hudson said.

In protest of the ban, SouthBARK volunteers lined up outside Government Plaza Thursday morning with signs.

“They (MCAS) made it clear they have accessed a private secret group where we do all our planning and are using some communication against our users,” said SouthBARK President Emily Thompson.

Since SouthBARK was founded two years ago, it has saved more than 1,400 dogs and found them homes all over the country.

But those who work with the animal shelter said they have been having problems with the group from the beginning.

“It wasn’t just the employees. We’re talking about the vets, the professionals, all the people we need to work to get these animals off the streets into good homes,” said Mobile County spokesperson Nancy Johnson. “When a Facebook page is used to humiliate and degrade people and our partners, then that’s hardly less shameful than what goes on the schools.”

Thomson said SouthBARK is not a negative group and it doesn’t condone speaking poorly about others.  

She said the group just wants to get back into the shelter and save dog’s lives.

“We need to take some steps to meet them, and they need to take some steps to meet us. After all, it’s about getting back in there and making good changes at the shelter," Thompson said.

County commissioners said they understand not everyone who is part of the SouthBARK organization is participating, or even knows about the bullying, but it will not be tolerated.