The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake will soon begin advertising for a new shelter director in the wake of longtime employee Krista McAnally's recent resignation.

The direction of the 30-year-old organization is being questioned by some members of the community because McAnally said she resigned from her position because she disagreed with the board of directors about new policies.

After McAnally warned late in the summer that the nonprofit might be forced to close due to financial deficits, the board began implementing new fundraising and management changes to stabilize the group's financial situation.

McAnally served as shelter director for seven years, and she noted in an interview following her resignation that she left the shelter in better shape than she found it. Board President Donny Shubert praised McAnally for her work in keeping the shelter going in a press release about her resignation.

McAnally said she was uncomfortable with the direction in which the shelter had been headed in the past few months, and that caused her resignation.

"They will have to live with their decisions, and I will have to live with mine," McAnally said. "I hope it all works out for them."

The announcement of McAnally's resignation has led to widespread speculation that her disagreements with the board over increased euthanizations to reduce the animal population at the shelter caused her departure.

Shubert said in a telephone interview that McAnally was not forced to resign as has been widely speculated. "That's not the way it happened," he said.

Shubert also denied that since McAnally resigned mass euthanizations had taken place at the shelter, that animals delivered to the shelter would be euthanized after three days and that the shelter would no longer be releasing animals to rescue groups without charging fees.

"That is untrue," Shubert said. "I don't understand this. It is obvious people don't understand how a shelter works." Shubert said the shelter cannot function as a rescue organization. It receives homeless animals daily from cities and the public, and the shelter is limited in how many animals can be accommodated, he said. The board negotiated new agreements with Henderson and Kaufman Counties and lake cities this fall to increase revenue.

Shubert said that the board met this week, and that it is considering a time period of 30 to 45 days to keep animals before they are put down. More emphasis needs to be placed on adoption events at the shelter, he said.

"I don't think people even understand the shelter is there," Shubert said. "We need to up the profile of the shelter."

The shelter has engaged in adoption events at businesses in adjacent cities and Dallas suburbs in recent years.

Shubert said a recent inspection by state officials had led to a directive to close some parts of the shelter because of deficiencies, but the measure is still being debated.

A visit to the shelter March 29 revealed that animals are no longer being kept in outside fenced areas and an older outside enclosed area deemed to be unusable by state officials has been closed for at least a couple of months.

The orignal shelter building that was in use before the construction of the new buildiing remains open, but repairs need to be made to animal pens for the safety of animals.

The facility was clean with uncrowded cages, and the animals appeared to be healthy. There currently are about 60 animals, including dogs and cats, at the shelter.

Shubert said that in recent years many animals had "stayed too long," and that led in large part to the financial crisis.

"We will get past this," Shubert said of the criticism by some members of the community.

In a follow-up statement on Facebook, Shubert said "Animal shelters taking in abandoned and stray animals are required, by State Law, to hold them for a minimum of 72 hours. Animals not reclaimed within this time frame become property of the shelter. It has never been, and is not now policy for our shelter to euthanize any animal after three days stay. Historically the average stay for an animal in our shelter has exceeded 60 days. Historically we have regularly worked with many Rescue organizations to save animals, and this practice continues today.. This month alone we have placed 14 animals with Rescue organizations. Adoptions are available daily at the shelter (except Wednesday) and we conduct off-site adoption events when we can get volunteers to help. This month we have experienced over 25 adoptions. In addition to adoptions and placing animals with Rescues, we continue to place animals in Foster homes (16 this month). The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake is all about saving as many animals as possible and this will not change!"

Shubert is pictured at the shelter below.