Alachua County Animal Resources is being investigated by the Alachua County Attorney’s Office for mismanagement and animal mistreatment concerns following a whistleblower email the county received on March 2. County Manager Michelle Lieberman confirmed the investigation at a Tuesday commission meeting.
The whistleblower email came from the former outreach coordinator of Alachua County Animal Resources. He introduced himself as “Anthony” but did not provide a last name. Anthony alleged the shelter is mismanaged under the leadership of interim director Gina Peebles and shelter supervisor Brittney D’azzo.
In the email, Anthony claimed Peebles didn’t act quickly enough to provide sick animals with life-saving care. D’azzo also contributed to the medical failure, he said, by not responding to sick animals and placing them on the adoption floor.
D’Aazzo was in the running to be promoted to shelter director, creating outrage among shelter staff and volunteers.
Lieberman said she will be meeting with candidates for the position Wednesday and will then select a director.
The investigation is being conducted by the county attorney’s office. According to County Attorney Sylvia Torres, the office has 90 days to complete the investigation and after it is completed it will be public record.
Seventeen community members came to the county commission meeting in support of the ongoing investigation, many of whom were long-time volunteers at Alachua County Animal Resources. About six volunteers came in matching shirts depicting two dogs the community is concerned about.
“Show us they’re safe,” read the text on the shirts.
Patricia Antonucci, a 43-year-old volunteer and Gainesville resident, has been attending commission meetings for over a month to express her concerns about ACAR.
”At every step of this process, ACAR leadership and county management have been defensive and dismissive of our efforts,” Antonucci said. “The BOCC has been misled by shelter leadership and must now recognize that ACAR does not have the best interest of our county's animals or citizens at heart.”
Many community members said they believe management should change.
”A whistle-blower recently submitted an email to the BOCC, and the allegations are horrific and then unacceptable to the members of our community,” said Lynn Moore, another volunteer. “The deceitful and disgusting actions of the current interim administrative staff should result in their immediate removal.”
While the board isn’t involved in the investigation or hiring and firing process, all of the commissioners weighed in on the debate, responding to comments alleging it isn’t doing enough to help the shelter.
Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler said blame is being inappropriately laid on the commission, which has advocated for the animal shelter for years.
“ I just feel like somehow you all have not gotten the right information about the involvement in this board,” Wheeler said.
Commissioner Anna Prizzia reiterated the county is working to resolve leadership issues by making recommendations to the legal team, but it cannot control staffing. However, she personally believes leadership should be changed, she said.
“ I do not think that Gina Peebles should be managing the shelter while this investigation is going on,” Prizzia said.
The county will continue to work beyond the investigation to find the right management for the shelter, Prizzia said, but it might take a while to get to the root cause of the alleged issues.
“ We will find out in this investigation a lot of information, which I think will be telling,”she said. “I don't have any delusion that tomorrow, or in 90 days, we're suddenly going to have all of our answers.”
Leadership isn’t the only community concern surrounding the animal shelter. Recently, just over 10 dogs were reportedly transferred to a rescue — but ACAR didn’t name the rescue, which has created confusion for many community members.
When Commissioner Mary Alford pressed the county legal team about the transferred dogs, Torres said she just recently received the public records request for the name of the rescue, which will hopefully become public soon.
“ I expect the document to be released with a bit of redaction of personal identifying information,” Torres said. “I think there was a misunderstanding between staff and our office.”
The board unanimously passed a five-part motion to involve the Animal Welfare Committee in staffing procedures and to protect any staff or volunteers who speak up about shelter conditions during the investigation to avoid retribution from the shelter.
Contact Kaitlyn McCormack at kmccormack@alligator.org. Follow her on X @kaitmccormack20.
Kaitlyn McCormack is a senior journalism student serving as the County Commission Reporter for The Alligator's Spring 2026 metro desk. In her free time she enjoys journaling and drinking too much coffee
