Personnel Changes at Milwaukee Animal Control

Two of the top-ranked staff members at Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC) have resigned and immediately left their positions.

Dave Flagler, the Executive Director, has left to pursue other interests. He was at MADACC less than a year, after relocating from Florida.

Kevin Wilken, Shelter Supervisor, has also left,  but has apparently been offered a job in Saginaw, Michigan. For more on that story click here.

As with most personnel matters, the reasons for their abrupt departure will probably remain confidential.  John McDowell, the Field Officer Supervisor is currently in charge.


In the meantime, we are back to square one. The last search for an Executive Director took over a year.

The kill rate at MADACC was decreasing under Dave Flagler's leadership. Kill rates through August 2012 showed improvement. You can click here to review them.   In 2010 and 2011, less than half of the animals that entered MADACC's doors left alive. Click here to review all of the statistics. The rest were killed and cremated in the facility's crematorium at 3839 West Burnham Street, West Milwaukee.

Save rates are still  nowhere near the  90% rate  that the cities of Austin,Texas, Reno, Nevada and now, Seattle, Washington are having.

MADACC is the animal control facility that serves the nineteen municipalities of Milwaukee County.
The municipalities are:

• Brown Deer
• Bayside
• Cudahy
• Glendale
• Greenfield
• Milwaukee
• Oak Creek
• St. Francis
• South Milwaukee
• Wauwatosa
• West Allis
• Fox Point
• Greendale
• Hales Corners
• River Hills
• Shorewood
• West Milwaukee
• Whitefish Bay
• Franklin

If you live in one of these municipalities a portion of your tax dollar funds MADACC. Each of the municipalities has one representative on the board of directors. This person is usually appointed by the Mayor and may or may not be an elected official. There is also an alternate for each position. Within this board, there is an operating committee made up of six of the board members.

The operating committee meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. at MADACC,   These meetings are open to the public (although personnel issues are handled in closed sessions).

I encourage you to attend. It is time that more citizens got involved in the welfare and the decisions regarding the companion animals in Milwaukee County. We can do better. For our pets, our community and our conscience.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Mahatma Gandhi