Two of the leaders of the Salina Animal Shelter did not make their first appearance in Saline County District court Friday morning as scheduled.

Judge Jacob Peterson indicated that he had not received paperwork from the Saline County Attorney’s Office, so he postponed a first appearance for Animal Services Manager Monique Hawley and Operations Superintendent Andrea Murphy. The Judge said a Notice to Appear (NTA) needs to filed and served, or an arrest warrant.

Saline County Attorney John Reynolds told KSAL News his office will file the NTA, and not an arrest warrant.

Once the paperwork is filed, a first appearance will be scheduled. At that time formal charges will be read.

Hawley and Murphy both have been under scrutiny regarding shelter management and euthanasia practices, and could face animal cruelty charges.

A failed inspection at the shelter earlier this year found among other issues:

• Employees who had not been trained or certified in euthanasia were carrying them out
• Multiple animals were euthanized by a heart-stick lethal injection into the animal’s heart
• One cat euthanized via heart stick was never sedated

The shelter has since passed a re-inspection, and officials at a recent Salina City Commission Study Session said the shelter has learned from its past mistakes, and has taken steps to correct them and to make sure they don’t happen again. City Attorney Patrick Hoffman said the shelter “met the  minimal legal standard, but they need to do better than that”.