Cats have allegedly been dumped in freezers and left to die while dozens of other animals have disappeared from official records at a ratepayer-funded, council animal shelter.
According to its website, the Wagga Wagga City Council animal shelter provides the "very best care" for lost and abandoned animals.
But a Fairfax Media investigation has found that, over the past three years, the pound has become a virtual black hole for more than 80 dogs and cats that vanished off its own books.
Their disappearance coincided with two separate incidents in which volunteers discovered cats in freezers. In one case, a volunteer traced a "muffled noise" to a freezer where a frostbitten kitten was rescued, moments from death.
In an earlier incident, workers stumbled upon - and photographed - a wide eyed, dead cat crouching in the corner of the same freezer, surrounded by what appeared to be bloodstained claw marks.
Wagga Wagga City Council general manager Alan Eldridge said on Friday it was "not appropriate" to comment on the cat found alive in the freezer as the council had requested that an "independent agency", namely the RSPCA, investigate the case.
But he added there was "no evidence" to support allegations that any other cats had been deposited in freezers while alive, pointing out the practice of placing deceased animals in freezers was common and happened in most veterinary clinics.
In June last year, the council was forced to issue a public apology after its pound prematurely destroyed a family's dog and then tried to cover up its negligence by telling them the animal had "escaped".
Skye Paproth received a letter advising that her lost, microchipped dog, Cindy, was safe and well and that, as per requirements under the Companion Animals Act, she had 14 days to collect the pet before it was put down. But it later emerged the dog was euthanised after one week.
In a media release, Wagga Wagga mayor Rod Kendall said: "I know no staff member sets out to do the wrong thing ... but mistakes do happen from time to time."
Several weeks on from that scandal, retired school teacher and shelter volunteer Myriam Hribar wrote to the council, claiming the "welfare" of animals had become "the last priority on the rangers' list of duties".
Quoting from a diary she had been keeping, Ms Hribar reeled off a series of horror stories in which animals had allegedly been left to suffer, including one cat trapped inside a "crush cage" with no food or water for five days.
"It is very sad to see dying dogs just left to die," she wrote. "I am not a vet, but just like a parent knows it is time to take a child to the doctor or hospital, a dying dog should automatically have vet treatment. How can you see this and not do anything?"
Other volunteers have accused some pound staff of an "overwhelming lack of compassion for animals".
As evidence, they point to the council's own shelter website which in August last year, featured a post that mocked a surrendered, disabled dog which was days away from being put down.
Beneath a banner that read: "Where are all you rescue groups and bleeding hearts now", a photo of the deformed animal was uploaded, alongside the words: "Lovely Kelpie needs someone with a special heart. Badly misshapen but that doesn't stop him. Available now."
In October last year, the RSPCA received a signed affidavit from a volunteer, Belinda Oakman, who during the course of weekend work at the pound last March, stumbled upon a kitten, approximately 12 weeks old, that had been dumped in a freezer while still alive.
Several months earlier, volunteers photographed another cat in the same freezer.
In a statement to the RSPCA last December, one of those witnesses, Simone Lieschke, wrote: "The cat was bleeding from the nose and there were blood stains all around the freezer walls. The position of the blood stains looked like they were from the cat trying to get out of the freezer.
"The way the cat was crouching in the freezer struck me as strange - it did not look like a cat that had been euthanised normally."
Following mounting pressure for greater transparency, the council has since released "activity level" data for all incoming and outgoing animals at the pound. But statistical analysis of those figures only serves to raise further questions.
During the past three financial years, 3165 dogs arrived at the pound. Of those,1330 were reunited with owners, 387 were sold, 940 were released to organisations for rehoming and and 395 were euthanised.
When the 69 dogs that "died at the facility" are added to the tally, there are 44 dogs unaccounted for. When the corresponding figures are compiled for the 1318 cats received, 573 were destroyed, 23 died within the facility while 37 mysteriously fall off the grid altogether.
After Fairfax Media presented those findings, Mr Eldridge responded by saying the "discrepancies" were the result of data having been "duplicated" during a transition to a new "electronic impounding system". He added the figures had now been "adjusted".
"On a daily basis, staff are faced with the end result of irresponsible pet ownership," said Mr Eldridge, adding that despite the confronting nature of their daily duties, they "endeavour to act with the utmost professionalism".
RSPCA NSW Chief Inspector David O' Shannessy said following an extensive investigation, it was determined that "no proceedings" should commence as the RSPCA was not confident of proving "criminal charges beyond reasonable doubt".
"It should also be noted that there is currently no pound-specific animal welfare code of practice in force. This presents challenges when the RSPCA investigates complaints relating to the management of council pounds," he said.
'I opened the freezer lid and there was a black kitten'
Belinda Oakman, a volunteer worker at the Wagga Wagga animal shelter, spends endless hours cleaning cat litter trays, washing bedding, filling food bowls and topping up water dishes.
She does so because many of the surrendered animals have lived miserable lives, are about to be put down and have "never once" felt the hand of human kindness.
She also claims that if volunteers never attended the shelter, routine neglect would pass unnoticed.
In a signed affidavit to the RSPCA last October, Ms Oakman outlined how a routine day at the shelter was suddenly interrupted by a "muffled noise".
"I opened the door to the cattery, and nothing. It sounded like it was over near the freezer area. I saw nothing. I went back to cleaning and heard it again. I thought 'no, it wouldn't be coming from the freezer'," she said.
Ms Oakman then described the moment she slowly opened the freezer to reveal a kitten, no older than 12 weeks, slumped over a heap of black garbage bags.
"I very slowly put my hand in and touched it. It let out a muffled cry. I was in total shock."
She said the cat was so cold, its "fur had started to ice over ... its eyes wide."
As she wrapped it up and ran through the office in panic and sheer disbelief, the pound's rangers claimed "more than once" that they "thought it was dead" and "its back was broken".
In a letter from the council, Ms Oakman was told that a ranger had been "severely bitten" by the kitten while removing it from its cage, adding: "Unfortunately in his attempt to free himself, the cat was accidentally knocked out and believed to be deceased and therefore placed in the freezer."
Today, the kitten, named Saviour, is alive and is a "larger than life" and loving member of Ms Oakman's family.
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