Montco SPCA overhauls its troubled shelter leadership. Trust remains fragile.

In just three months, the Montgomery County SPCA has forced out nearly all of its top managers, replaced three-quarters of its board of directors, and committed to spending more of its wealth to fix up the troubled animal shelter.

The overhaul comes in the wake of an Inquirer investigation in September that revealed evidence of casual euthanasia, dangerous shelter conditions, and mismanagement at the SPCA — despite the nonprofit’s board sitting on more than $67 million in assets, a gold mine by industry standards.

For many, the whistle-blower-fueled revelations shattered faith in the century-old institution and its three branches across the county. In their first public interview, the shelter’s new board president, Art Howe, and interim executive director Tracie Graham vowed to win back trust.

“It’s a mystery to me why it got to the point where it got,” Howe said. “It’s absolutely time for a change, and we have made a lot of progress in the last four or five weeks.”

» READ MORE: Euthanasia, understaffing, and broken kennels are rampant at Montco’s ultra-wealthy SPCA

The road to repair will be long. A Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office probe remains ongoing, key leadership positions remain unfilled, and the shelter recently banned one volunteer who publicly criticized the shelter’s management and euthanasia practices in an Inquirer story, which has led to worries among some volunteers.

Howe, 75, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning Inquirer journalist who later founded and led several marketing and biomedical companies, leads a revamped nine-member board, six of whom were appointed within recent weeks.

Howe said he plans to improve the shelter’s low save rate for animals, hire experienced animal-welfare experts, and fix up the aging facilities.

The board has hired a recruitment firm to help fill vacancies from recent firings and departures — a long list of openings that includes a permanent executive director, a veterinarian, and several top managers.

» READ MORE: Embattled Montco SPCA replaces its board president amid ongoing turmoil at the $67 million nonprofit

To that end, Howe has vowed to tap the nonprofit’s underutilized wealth. The board recently approved $250,000 to begin repairing the run-down dog kennels at the shelter’s main Conshohocken branch, the first part in what Howe called a “massive capital improvement” effort over the next year.

The shelter contracted Animal Arts, a national firm that specializes in animal-care facilities, which will begin work in 2025. Renovations at the SPCA’s smaller Abington branch have been underway for months.

The spending comes after years of unexplained stringency at the shelter, which spent only about $3 million on operations annually.

That arrangement appalled some donors, benefactors, and animal lovers who had named the shelter in their wills. It also grabbed the attention of prosecutors in Harrisburg: The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, which investigates fraud at charitable institutions, opened an audit of the nonprofit in October.

A spokesperson for the office did not respond to a request for comment about the probe. Graham said the shelter has complied with the office’s requests for documents.

“I think just the changes that we’ve made to this point should speak volumes,” Graham said. “It’s going to take us a little time, but we are dedicated to seeing this through, and I think we’ve got the right people in the right places now.”

Howe and Graham declined to speak at length about past leaders who left the shelter in disarray.

Carmen Ronio, the longtime executive director who resigned in October, worked at the Montco SPCA for 52 years. Under his watch, the shelter became the wealthiest in the commonwealth. It also developed a reputation as a shelter stuck in the distant past and resistant to modern practices.

Kennel conditions eroded. Adoption and foster programs were few. And dogs and cats were being put down at an unmatched rate — the Conshohocken shelter’s save rate ranked lowest in the region, The Inquirer found. Nearly one in five animals that passed through in 2023 was euthanized.

Ronio previously declined an interview with The Inquirer and did not respond to a request to comment for this article. Past board members declined to answer detailed questions about his leadership and the shelter’s finances.

Graham began working at the SPCA’s rural Perkiomenville shelter in 2012, where she described her interaction with the man who hired her as limited. This year, she acknowledged, complaints began to multiply.

“I had some concerns along the way,” Graham said.

Howe and his wife have long been involved in dog-rescue efforts. He said he’d had a run-in with Ronio and had concerns about the shelter’s aggressive euthanasia practices. Alarmed by The Inquirer’s reporting, Howe said, he approached the shelter’s board and asked to be part of the change.

Howe said he sought out board members who were animal lovers with professional experience in business operations, finance, communications, and management.

The revamped board maintains three members from the Ronio era. Howe said those members expressed deep interest in being part of the new era. Board members are not compensated and serve two-year terms.

The Inquirer documented how, under Ronio, questionable behavioral assessments and poor documentation led to several controversial euthanasia decisions, often made at the discretion of a single manager. Now, those decisions are made through “a multi-person process,” which includes a review medical and behavioral notes as well as input from staff and volunteers, shelter leaders said in a statement.

The SPCA remains an open-door shelter, meaning it turns no dog or cat away, and experts say euthanasia is a grim necessity in the industry. The hope, Howe said, is that bringing on more experienced animal-care technicians and a full-time adoption manager will lead to fewer animals killed.

First up, a full-time medical director. The previous veterinarian resigned days before the paper published allegations that dogs were overzealously labeled as aggressive and euthanized, over objections from staff. The SPCA has since relied on subcontracted vets.

And then, a permanent executive director to replace Ronio. A national search continues, Howe said. Ronio earned over $250,000 in 2022, nearly 10% of the shelter’s operating budget that year, according to nonprofit filings.

Animal shelters nationwide contend with a staffing shortages, particularly among veterinarians. The work can be grueling, and it remains to be seen whether the public attention on Montco’s period will attract or deter quality candidates.

“We’re in a position to make it attractive,” Howe said. “There are thousands of organizations that don’t have these resources, and we’re extremely fortunate.”

An online petition to overhaul the shelter’s management has gained nearly 5,000 signatures since September. A Facebook page called “Demand Change at Montgomery County SPCA” continues to anonymously document what goes on at the shelter and demands that remaining legacy leaders — including Graham — be fired.

Some volunteers at the SPCA, contacted for comment, were reluctant to speak on the record, citing a desire among shelter leaders to be positive about the ongoing changes. They also cited the case of Bernadette Creedon, a former volunteer who was featured in The Inquirer’s investigation. Creedon was permanently banned from the shelter last month. Graham sent Creedon a letter accusing her of “harassing and/or intimidating behavior” toward staff. Creedon said the claim was baseless. She said she has never met Graham but questioned whether anyone hired by Ronio should be the new face of the organization.

“They don’t want to face the fact that there’s really systemic problems,” Creedon said. “[Graham] is not change.”

Graham and Howe declined to speak about the case, saying only that Creedon’s ban came after “a thorough investigation.” Howe said that no volunteer or staffer has faced any repercussions for publicly criticizing the shelter, and that Graham has the board’s full backing as interim director.