After Erin Grahek, a case worker manager from the Department of Aging and Disabilities was transferred to MCAS as interim director, she promoted herself to the MCAS directorship in July 2022. Lacking all qualifications for the position she immediately abdicated her leadership role to the MCAS managers stating she would be the leader but would not lead.
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/02/21/animal-care-concerns-multnomah-county-troutdale-shelter
It meant she would be hood ornament on the car but the managers could own and drive the car as they pleased. Without accountability, expert professional input and oversight, the managers immediate took over the direction of the agency, destroying the public shelter’s mission fashioning and it to suit their preferences. Where there is a vacuum, power abuse thrive.
Re-making the euthanasia policies
Their first effort was to re-write the agency’s euthanasia guidelines to justify unnecessary killing. Then the “new” that they had create were referenced as dictating their behavior, a version of ‘I made me do it.‘ Putting it in writing gave it a false legitimacy. Members from the community were and are supposed to be part of the deciding euthanasia guidelines, they ignored that requirement as well. Erin Grahek’s abdication of her responsibilities is described in the referenced OPB article below.
Multnomah county animal shelter drops language stating animals won’t be euthanized for space
Similar concerns were also referenced on KOIN News, February 2025
How the MCAS operations managers seized power
Operations manager Andrew Mathis along with his predecessor Marian Cannell, wrote up rules governing euthanasia dispositions. Then they justified their rules requiring euthanasia, rules that met no professional standards, by stating they were only following the rules they had created. Neither has a credible background in animal behavior. No community experts were invited to participate in creation of guidelines.
Then the managers gathered further control by restricting participation in Rounds Review, where euthanasia decisions are decided by limiting participation to other managers only the majority of whom have no relevant credentials, and the majority of whom are appointed by the Operations manager. They owe their advancement to him. Members include the special projects manager a realtor whose relevant animal experience is limited to once attending a seminar “ Dogs playing for life”; The Animal Health supervisor, a veterinary technician who supervises animal health including licensed veterinarians who must seek her approval for outside consultations with veterinary specialists; The Field Services supervisor in charge of enforcement; and animal care supervisors whose background does not include formal knowledge about animal behavior. Also the foster and the transfer coordinators and the enrichment specialist whose previous assignment was limited to cats are part of Rounds Review. It is a system not built on competence and expertise but upon cronyism.
MCAS has not adopted an assessment process based upon behavior science and potential risk equations. Instead animals are disregarded as family companions. They are regarded as nuisances, pests and liabilities whose lives are not deserving of consideration and are tried and convicted of “crimes” against people. They are convicted and killed despite humane alternatives that would prevent further incidents, including when surrendered, owner education because owners often create the challenges they see and then don’t know how to solve them.
MCAS is charged with owner education. Although MCAS is not mandated to take owner surrendered dogs, they do anyway. Operations Manager collects a $50 surrender fee and kills the overwhelming majority as soon as possible. He runs a pest control agency. Rarely is there any due diligence effort, no input from others is permitted regarding dispositions as once was the case, and there is no owner surrender counseling despite the fact that the majority of incidents almost always can be prevented in the future and very often the owner caused or contributed to the incident. Killing the dog does not solve ignorance. It just victimizes the dog. As one previous manager who acknowledged that concern worded it “We can’t kill the owners so we kill their dogs.”
Although the management has been asked by other authorities to provide and document reasons for euthanasia dispositions, the Operations manager complies by evasion. The stated reasons reference vague generalizations that could apply to any dog in the community. He is not going to be held accountable. A reader has to go to the records to try to assess the assessment.
Sassy, ID# 395532
Sassy, a 2 and a half year old American Pit bull/Stasffordshire Terrier mix owner surrendered on May 30,2026; killed three days later on June 2, 2026 with the automatic but almost always false label applied to every dog MCAS kills: Unhealthy and untreatable”
Rounds Review reasons for killing have become standard rote non specific fare, formulaic empty words falsely used to justify killing almost all dogs. Just slap a label on it; don’t provide objective specific evidence.
June 1, 2026, Rounds Review
“Rounds discussed and will move to humane euthanasia due to history of aggression in the home environment towards humans and other animals. Does not meet placement criteria. “
The statements above are thoughtless meaningless and could apply to any dog in fact dogs living safely in the community. It is another effort managers engage in to dodge responsibility: ‘Say nothing at all pretending something meaningful has been said.’ It is why the managers do not meet management criteria. And that continues to be the case.No one checks their work.
How MCAS managers fail animals and the public
In Sassy’s case and in nearly all other cases, there is no effort to collect confirming data or to corroborate the incident reports or consider alternatives. Due diligence has been abandoned. They go right to work seeking excuses to kill and animal.
Adopted by her family when she was a year and a half old, Sassy was described by her family as uniformly friendly and sweet-natured to everyone. But when her owner came home after a month’s hospitalization, Sassy’s behavior changed; She was described as becoming extremely protective of her owner, resource guarding her against other family members. Dogs do resource guard what they love and are afraid of losing. It is a challenge for which there are multiple effective interventions. It is not “unhealthy and untreatable.“ No interventions were tried.
Her owner’s sudden absence for a month was traumatic for Sassy. When her owner returned after a month, it is not surprising that Sassy resource guarded her. The representative for the family who surrendered Sassy to MCAS on May 30,2026 “ …described last night [May 29, 2026] where Carla had a medical emergence [sic] and fire and EMT came out. DENNIS described how emergency crews were trying to help CARLA and “Sassy” was just trying to attack everyone. DENNIs stated they eventually just opened the van door, “Sassy just jumped in and this is where they left the dog, until now.” (Complaint 308429, May 30, 2026).
The family was irresponsible, causing the incident. The responsible approach would have been to separate Sassy from the commotion, anxiety and chaos that automatically occurs in emergencies when EMT comes to the door. Sassy was doing what dogs do: protect their owners. There was no bite incident.
The family took Sassy and surrendered her to MCAS. The only lesson: if there is a problem, surrender your dog to Multnomah County’s cheapest dump site where the management will kill your dog for $50. No counseling; No questions asked.
The person surrendering Sassy to the pound described a previous history, none of which was addressed by MCAS. There were no questions. MCAS managers were building a case not seeking a humane solution. The representative for the family who surrendered Carla on behalf of the owner further “described a couple of older minor bites and a more significant one that occurred when a stranger tried to reach into CARLA’S car.” Dogs do defend property. MCAS did not ask about dates of historical incidents and what occurred other than minor. There are no quarantine notices on record suggesting minor nips/bites. It is unclear if these were nips/bites that broke the skin.
One of the described alleged prior incidents that occurred prior to her surrender was instigated according to the reporter when a family member tried to take away a cup of noodles Sassy had stolen. He reported he suffered some scratches that had since healed. But he had poorly managed the incident and unwittingly provoked it through his own actions. There are no quarantine notices on record suggesting minor nips/bites that did not require care. There was no effort to educate the family about resource guarding when crises are an opportunity to learn.
MCAS “Investigations”
The managers take dictation and ask no questions. They are collecting evidence to promote killing instead of humane solutions that preserve a dog’s life and public safety.
MCAS funded mission is education, prevention with a focus on counseling for pet retention and redemption. It is to reduce the numbers of animals being killed when humane alternatives exist. But MCAS provides no owner surrender counseling about interventions for example, for resource guarding, and no alternatives to surrender. It is just a $50 dump and run site for owners. The shelter has been turned into a cheap pet store and ready kill site for unwanted dogs.
It wasn’t always that way. Before 2000 then Director Hank Miggins did not take owner surrendered animals from the field. Even when a dog was taken to the pound in the interim, counseling was required before a surrender was formalized.
Over the years MCAS has lost all moral integrity and purpose. The managers serve only themselves. Without permission they have changed the agency mission to a self service agenda: High pay, multiple vacations, time off, and the practice of cronyism to keep it that way. They actively reject the funded mission they are assigned. And no one is Multnomah county government will hold them accountable.
Gail O’Connell-Babcock
Sassy’s records with private information redacted
