KHS volunteers protest policy

COEUR d’ALENE - A handful of volunteers have resigned from the Kootenai Humane Society over what they say is a new policy designed to silence them.

The policy, called the “volunteer acknowledgment of the no-kill policy,” has been in the KHS volunteer manual for years, said KHS Executive Director Debbie Jeffrey, adding the policy was updated and put on a clipboard in the volunteer trailer several weeks ago.

Mary K. Lynam, one of the volunteers who refused to sign the acknowledgment, said she has never seen the policy in the eight years she has been volunteering at the shelter.

“In my opinion, this policy was written in response to a letter to the editor,” Lynam said. “They have never made us sign it before.”

The letter Lynam refers to was written by former shelter volunteer Paula Dahlen, who criticized the Humane Society for scheduling a dog to be euthanized after it bit a shelter visitor. That letter was published in The Press on March 12 of this year. Shortly after its publication, Lynam said, the volunteer coordinator started requiring volunteers to sign the new policy . Jeff Selle, CdA Press

Reaction?