Robyn Jaynes
Robyn Jaynes was a 2017 Doug Ducey appointee replacing Les Hatfield as a veterinarian member of the Board. She was reappointed in 2022 but the Arizona legislature's website shows no information on a confirmation hearing or Senate vote. Her veterinary degree is from Texas A&M and she also obtained graduate education in the University of Florida's shelter medicine program. She served as an advisory member to the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association, a veterinarian at Apollo Animal Hospital and VetMed, and went on to work as a relief veterinarian. Her primary career trend has been a run of PetSmart corporate positions, working there as a Technical Veterinarian, Pet Safety Manager, Director of Veterinary Services, and Senior Director of Service Quality and Education. She subsequently left to work as the Vice President of Operations at the Arizona Humane Society alongside colleague and future board member Melissa Thompson, then went back to the private sector to work as Vice President of Operations for The Pet Club and Exceptional Pets. She returned to the nonprofit world to run the often-criticized Maricopa County Animal Care and Control system for about two years; she finally settled back in at PetSmart, now as the Director of Veterinary Services for PetSmart Charities.
Jaynes had a 2018 confirmation hearing for her nomination before a state senate committee. She didn't read a typical statement as most other nominees, and the entirety of her public contribution was a joking reference that her 14 years in Arizona wasn't quite as long as a prior nominee for the state parks system. The committee then voted to move her nomination to the full senate; the entire affair took about a minute and a half.
Jaynes had significant prior experience with the veterinary board's Investigative Committees but the date ranges listed for her nomination don't match with the Board's own newsletter. The executive appointment summary from the Arizona senate states that she served on the IC from 2005 to 2011 and returned to chair one of the Investigative Committees from 2016 to 2017. The Fall 2018 veterinary board newsletter, The Scratching Post, thanks her for 11 years of service on the Investigative Committee as she moves on up to the Board. She was also listed in the Fall 2014 issue as one of the members of the AM Investigative Committee chaired by Arizona Veterinary Medical Association past president Jeffery Brown.
Her current biography as Director of Veterinary Affairs for PetSmart Charities lists her time on the veterinary board as a selling point, stating how she's responsible for regulating veterinarinans in the state (link). Despite claims of "leading change for good" the biography omits her 80% acquittal rate for veterinarians brought before the Board, a statistic in line with the Board's overall track record of protecting veterinarians over pets. In one case, she voted to let a specialist who strangled a dog in midair to continue practicing subject to taking some continuing education courses (20-15). In another, she voted to allow a vet who fatally overdosed a rescue cat during his pre-adoption spay to continue practicing, again by meeting a continuing education requirement (20-76). In a final example, she also voted to dismiss with no violations a case where a veterinarian had been charged with animal cruelty on the basis of the professional advice of the Maricopa County Sheriff's own contracted veterinarian (21-88). These are just a few.
Sadly, such ambivalence regarding animal welfare may not be out of the norm. Individuals concerned about the situation at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control obtained a variety of public records and alleged conversations in conjunction with websites Michael Mendel: Brutal Animal Abuser and Valerie Beckett. While the focus of their documents relates to the aforementioned MCACC employees, much of the information also covers Jaynes' tenure as manager of the very same county animal control. While the information has not been possible to independently verify, if true, it paints a very disturbing picture regarding Jaynes' true concerns for Arizona's pets.
One document, allegedly an anonymous email from an MCACC staff member, describes distressing conditions at the facility in the lead-up to a major distemper outbreak that resulted in at least 60 dogs being euthanized and the facility being put into quarantine. The email claims "dogs sit in their own crap for hours," mentions "dogs found dead in kennels," "dogs found stiff in kennels," and "mom dog gave birth with dead pup hanging on mom’s butt with afterbirth," among other highlights. The individual concludes that many dogs would frankly be better off euthanized than continuing to live at MCACC. The email also explictly mentions Jaynes, claiming "Dr Jaynes doesn’t understand challenges and never walks the building" (link).
Other information also suggests a grim situation including two public records regarding sequentially-numbered MCACC victims Lucy (A4607024) and Rocket (A4607025), both of whom were euthanized and have their status ominously listed as "LANDFILL." It appears that both dogs were surrendered to MCACC because they were able to escape from rental homes, yet somehow the dogs were listed as "UNHEALTHY" on exam at MCACC. Both dogs were subsequently euthanized via administration of Fatal-Plus. Entries into the record suggest that the owners were attempting to rehome the dogs, but agreed to sign euthanasia request forms once MCACC employee Callie Best agreed to waive surrender fees if they agreed to just have their dogs put down (link and link). These apparently gratuitous euthanasias occured in July 2021, roughly in the middle of Jaynes' tenure as MCACC Executive Director (listed as from August 2020 to February 2022 according to her own LinkedIn page).
Another document, allegedly detailing a December 2021 "Volunteer Chowdown" at MCACC, suggests that Jaynes turned down three different applicants for a Outreach Coordinator/Manager position at MCACC, then reopened the position as an Outreach Manager at a significantly higher salary; the individual eventually hired had no animal welfare experience whatsoever, but was viewed as better to "develop and nurture relationships" (link). A different question in the same document concerning the selection processes for MCACC directors suggests that candidates are evaluated by a special committee rather than any broad public process, with stakeholders in the selection panel including representatives from none other than the Arizona Humane Society and the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association, two groups with outsized influence on the veterinary board and its investigative committees.
An alleged 2022 conversation with an MCACC veterinarian speaking off the record mentions concerns about the post-Jaynes leadership of the facility as well, stating that it was even worse than when Jaynes ran the place. The individual detailed a variety of concerns regarding the standard of care at MCACC and mentions "leaderships consistent statements for transparency and accountability has been a straight up lie." The person specifically notes that "it’s been worse than it ever was with Mary or Jaynes" (link). For reference, Jaynes was eventually replaced by Michael Mendel, who was subsequently suspended after a cacophony of employee abuse allegations; he's been quoted as, among other things, having a meltdown in which he stated shelters were "his life's work" and said "I will kill 50 dogs this week if I have to" (link). (Indeed, perhaps Jaynes was an improvement on her successors, but in a final sense, so what?)
Jaynes was co-author on a 2020 paper with fellow colleague and Board member Melissa Thompson of the Arizona Humane Society. The 2020 JAVMA paper, Effect of ultraviolet germicidal irradiation of the air on the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections in kittens in a nursery, was a retrospective study that reported on the use of ultraviolet irradiation systems to prevent the spread of airborne pathogens in a kitten nursery. The study concluded that the systems may have a benefit in similar environments, also discussing that airborne transmission of respiratory pathogens may be more common than they thought. The supplier of the equipment, PetAirapy LLC (now Aerapy), uses their study and a related study from the University of Arizona as part of their marketing efforts (link). The company also won a $1 million contract from PetSmart PetsHotels in 2019 for similar air purification systems (link).
According to the Arizona Humane Society's IRS Form 990 filing, Jaynes pulled down $168,963 for the 2018 tax year before leaving for the private sector. That sounds like a lot until you realize the boss of the Arizona Humane Society, veterinarian Stephen Hansen, brought in $330,938 for helping all those little critters.
Voting Summary
Robyn Jaynes voted to dismiss about 78.0% of complaints in our Tails of Woe.
We've tallied up Robyn Jaynes's votes during the time covered by our public records requests. Of the cases we have, Robyn Jaynes voted in 513 cases. Of those, Robyn Jaynes voted in favor of at least one motion containing the word "dismiss" in 400 of them.
Below we've included Robyn Jaynes's vote breakdowns for up to ten of the most common motions. We also have a detailed list of votes and their associated complaints available in the Voting History.
| Motion | Aye | Nay | Recused | Absent | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dismiss with no violation | 349 | 8 | 14 | 89 | 460 |
| Schedule informal interview | 78 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 93 |
| Offer consent agreement | 62 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 81 |
| Find violation | 56 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 69 |
| Dismiss with no violation and issue letter of concern | 31 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 42 |
| Issue board order | 30 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 34 |
| Accept consent agreement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Disagree and dismiss with no violation | 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15 |
| Disagree and dismiss with no violation and issue letter of concern | 12 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| Issue letter of concern | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
Archival Content
Additional archival content for Robyn Jaynes is posted below and hosted at the Internet Archive.
| Corporate Record | Arizona Humane Society IRS Form 990 (Internal Revenue Service) (2016) |
| Corporate Record | Arizona Humane Society IRS Form 990 (Internal Revenue Service) (2017) |
| Corporate Record | Jayne's Consulting LLC Articles of Organization (Arizona Corporation Commission) (2019) |
| Executive Summary | Robyn Jaynes Executive Appointment Summary (Legislative Session 532R) |
| Senate Nomination Hearing | Robyn Jaynes Senate Nomination Hearing (Legislative Session 532R) |