BILLINGS — The Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter is still searching for homes for stray animals, following a malfunction with an incinerator while the FBI was burning seized methamphetamine.
The incident happened last Wednesday and has contaminated the building, sending 14 employees to the hospital.
Watch the video to hear the latest:
Now, the shelter is out of commission, awaiting results from Newman Restoration company, though YVAS Board of Directors President Justin Hutchinson said he doesn't expect it to be any time soon before operations can return to normal.
"Test results could come in either (Monday) or (Tuesday)," Hutchinson said Monday. "Even at the best-case scenario, we're not getting back in the building for two weeks up to a month."
Hutchinson said that the employees are recovering, though the effects of the contaminated smoke are still lingering.
"People are frustrated," Hutchinson said. "People are angry. There's some lingering coughs, lingering sniffs and that kind of stuff. I think they're doing as well as they can be at this time."
Questions remain regarding the incident, and Billings veterinarians are concerned where the stray animals in the city will go while the shelter is closed.
The co-owner of Trailhead Veterinary Services, Tiffany Smith, said that it's common practice for people to drop strays off at vets, where they can be held until animal control can get them to the shelter.
"In the past, a couple of the emergency clinics in town would take stray animals," Smith said. "Now that there's no operational shelter, what's happening to those animals?"
Smith said she's concerned about vets becoming too full.
RELATED — Billings animal shelter faces uncertainty after meth smoke contamination
"At least to my knowledge, no clinic in town has the capacity to hold 75 to 100 animals at once on top of seeing patients," Smith said.
MTN has also learned more about the air quality permit the Billings Animal Control board was granted in 2010 by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
That document states, "The Billings Animal Control shall not incinerate/cremate any material other than animal remains and/or any corresponding container unless otherwise approved by the Department.”
While the burning of the drugs was being handled by law enforcement, Hutchinson said it's inconsistent with the rules applied to the Animal Control 15 years ago and that he and others weren't aware that dangerous narcotics were being burned.
“I see it as they were instructed to use it in a certain way, and they’ve used it in a way they make news now,” Hutchinson said.
Chris Kukulski, the Billings city administrator, told MTN over the phone that all procedures were followed in the burning of the drugs, which he said has happened in the past decade.
At Monday's City Council meeting, Kukulski said a fan that was supposed to be part of the backup system had been moved.
“Unfortunately, that fan was removed from its location and used elsewhere in the building so that unfortunately contributed,” he said.
RELATED — Billings animal shelter faces uncertainty after meth smoke contamination
The incident is still under investigation, and Kukulski says the damage has been turned into the city’s insurance.
“Ultimately we are the landlord and YVAS is our lease, so however that should fall relative to our responsibility—not trying to shirk that responsibility, we just don’t know the details of who will pay what,” he said.
Kukulski says Animal Control is only picking up vicious animals at this point.
Hutchinson said a large chunk of the shelter's focus remains on raising money for a new facility. The city's zoning commission has already approved the shelter to be built at Wilson Park, though Hutchinson said the organization needs more money to get started.
"Having a new shelter would be instrumental in making sure this doesn't happen again," Hutchinson said. "It would give us more control."
- Russ Riesinger contributed to this report
