St. Louis County hears sworn testimony after parvovirus outbreak led to 19 euthanized animals at county shelter

St. Louis County’s Committee of the Whole heard sworn testimony June 26 from Dr. Douglas Pernicoff, the veterinary director who worked at the county-run animal care and control (ACC) facility following the county’s February 2025 takeover from the Animal Protective Association (APA). Pernicoff said a parvovirus outbreak in April forced staff to euthanize 19 animals after the facility lacked isolation space, staffing and supplies to treat them.

Why it matters: The council is investigating whether procedures, communications and procurement failures contributed to animal deaths and whether county oversight since the takeover met public-health and animal-welfare standards. The hearing included testimony about missing equipment, a large document production to the council and public comment urging changes to shelter funding and operations.

Pernicoff, who said he began working at the shelter on Jan. 21, 2025, testified under subpoena that the first clinically positive parvo case he identifies as “patient 1” was in a large kennel (referred to in testimony as kennel 500) in general population and could not be isolated because “there was no place for legitimate isolation and quarantine of that animal.” He said staff implemented personal protective equipment, boosted vaccinations around the affected cage and monitored exposed animals, but that the shelter lacked the capacity to provide intensive, one-on-one hospital care.

Pernicoff told the committee the decision to euthanize patient 1 and later animals was made by an on-site supervisory group that included veterinary staff, the licensed veterinary technician Nikki Bennett and the population manager. He said he circulated an euthanasia decision tree to supervisors before the outbreak but that the plan was never formally adopted: “The decision tree never was responded to by anybody,” he said. He also acknowledged he did not personally notify the department director in every case and called that omission “my mishap.”

On numbers and treatment options, Pernicoff testified the shelter was caring for about 240 animals at the time and that treating parvovirus cases with intensive hospital-level care would have required equipment and staff the ACC did not have. He said monoclonal-antibody treatment—used in some clinics for puppies—would have cost roughly $1,100 to $1,200 per animal and that the shelter had only enough frozen material to treat one animal. He said titer kits, which can help identify animals needing immediate boosters, had been requested but not delivered; counsel in the hearing noted online prices of roughly $45 for 10 tests.

Pernicoff said the outbreak began to spread rapidly in late April, with additional clinical positives appearing in multiple kennels over a few days. He estimated that after the first case the shelter euthanized roughly 15 animals over two to three days, and he said two other positive animals were euthanized because they had bitten the population manager and required brain testing for rabies. He described the euthanasia room and the procedures for handling animals that required postmortem testing for rabies.

On staffing and supplies, Pernicoff told the committee that the APA previously ran the shelter with a larger cleaning staff and more vendor access; after the county takeover ACOs were performing intake and kennel work in addition to field duties. He repeatedly cited a lack of basic supplies (IV lines, an IDEXX blood machine for diagnostics, sufficient gloves and other medical supplies), procurement delays and budget constraints as limits on the shelter’s capacity to treat large numbers of sick animals.

Pernicoff also described his employment timeline: he said he initially resigned Feb. 17 after a short tenure but was asked to return, then was relieved May 9 following the parvovirus events and subsequent public attention. He told the committee he worked roughly 32 hours per week under his agreement but often logged 50 to 60 hours.

Council members and counsel discussed that the committee had received a large document production—council staff described approximately 28,000 documents responsive to subpoenas—and asked for targeted retrieval of the shelter management records kept in the Chameleon records system so the council can trace individual intakes and treatments. Council legal staff said additional subpoena-related documents were provided the prior week and would be reviewed.

Public commenters on the agenda urged a mix of remedies: support for fee-waived or reduced-fee adoptions (public speaker Shannon Blatzky, a shelter medicine MS, urged the council to pass Bill 41), greater authority to accept donations and grants without lengthy procurement delays (Bill 116, also supported in public comment), expanded spay/neuter programs and clearer funding priorities. One commenter opposed using Rams-related funds for the shelter.

No formal vote or final policy decision was taken at the June 26 hearing; the committee called witnesses, received sworn testimony and directed staff and counsel to produce and review specified records. Council members signaled plans for further hearings and follow-up requests for Chameleon intake and treatment logs covering January through May 2025.

Pernicoff summed up the shelter’s problems as a combination of underfunding, reduced staffing compared with the APA era, limited space for isolation and procurement hurdles that delayed critical supplies. “If you want, I’ve told people…a proper shelter program can be your best asset for a county like this, or it can be your worst headache,” he said.

The committee said more testimony and document review are expected; members asked counsel to return targeted records and to identify whether standard operating procedures and the Chameleon treatment logs exist for the period of the outbreak.