About 35 individuals attended Monday’s council meeting, which was also live streamed on local radio station WHOU’s website and aired on public access cable television.
The Houlton Police Department has been investigating the death of an animal found at the Houlton Humane Society since Feb. 10. Heather Miller resigned Feb. 9 as the executive director of the Houlton Humane Society after a special needs animal that was in her care was found deceased at the animal shelter’s storage facility.
“There has been a lot of questions and a lot of rumors and gossip,” Chief Terry McKenna said. “There are a lot of things on Facebook that are not fact.”
McKenna stated he could only reveal limited information due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.
McKenna said the deceased dog was in police custody and has been sent to the state lab for necropsy — an autopsy performed on an animal.
“There was some questions on chain of custody, but that was never an issue,” McKenna said. “We had the animal the whole time. There is nothing going on. There are no inappropriate dealings with this. We have met with the board and other members of the shelter. There is nothing I can say at this point as to where (the investigation) is going to go.”
McKenna also urged those in attendance, and those who may have been watching online or on television, to “stop with the attacks on Facebook.”
“Stop the personal attacks on individuals,” he said. “Let us do our job. All this is doing is hindering our investigation. We are going to conduct a thorough investigation and whatever the outcome is, is what it is going to be.”
Only two members of the public spoke on the subject during the council’s public comments portion of the meeting.
Bart Virgie, a resident of Hodgdon who owns property in Houlton, asked if any check on animals at Miller’s Safe Haven, a privately run animal rescue operated by Miller, was also being conducted. Chief McKenna responded that police were investigating all avenues.
Wendy Folsom, a clerk for the town of Hammond, asked if the investigation being done by police was focusing only on the dog that died or if a complete investigation of the Houlton Humane Society was being done.
McKenna said he could not go into detail on the investigation, but stated he, as well as Town Manager Butch Asselin, had met with the board at the shelter and made recommendations to that group on how filing of documents should be handled.
McKenna added that officials from the Humane Society have been cooperating fully with the investigation.
The town council made no comment on the shelter.
