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Animal ATTRACTION |
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August 2009
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Eight dogs died last week after they were left in the back of an animal control officer's truck without air conditioning. An investigation is ongoing to determine if the truck's air conditioning unit failed or if the animal control officer forgot to turn it on.
Temperatures on Aug. 26, the day when the dogs died, peaked at 95 degrees. When the animal control officer stopped for a lunch break, she said the air conditioning unit was working properly. When she returned to the truck about 40 minutes later, she found the animals in distress and the air conditioner was not working. Six of the dogs died in the truck, while two others were euthanized at the animal shelter. Houston Mayor Bill White called the incident "unacceptable," and said, "I don't think people should be taking lunch breaks with a bunch of animals in their truck." Click here for more information and to watch Brad Woodard's report. 4 CommentsLeave a comment |
Terrible terrible terrible!! Poor sweet pups!! I know their deaths were horrendous! And I hope that anyone who is missing a dog that may have been picked up by AC will have the ability to determine if their dog was one of the ones picked up and killed! I am not sure which would be worse - knowing your dogs was one of these that was killed or to never know what happened to your furbaby and to worry forever! As for the AC officer - was it a good lunch??????!!!!!!!
I notice the mayor puts the blame on the public instead of the city employees responsible. In all his years in office the mayor has never once been inside BARC and has no idea what goes on in there, nor does he or City Council seem to care. Granted, BARC is far better than what it used to be, owing those positive changes to hardworking volunteers and recently departed Bureau Chief Kent Robertson, but it's still decades behind the rest of the nation in terms of funding and modernization. Sadly, I interpret the mayor's comments to mean he has no intention of pushing for reform or additional funding for BARC. That means it's still going to be up to us -- the public -- to care for Houston's stray and abandoned pets.
I did want to say something about BARC - I know they try really really hard to take good care of the dogs that come into their shelter. And I know they work really really hard to get as many dogs / cats adopted as possible! But there are just so many of them all of the time!! I get a weekly email showcasing the "BARC STARZ" for dogs and another one for cats. The BARC STARZ include the urgent cases that are coming to the end of their time limit at BARC but also other dogs and cats in need of good homes. I know The Friends of BARC also work very hard to get animals from BARC adopted!
I cannot speak for all who work for or at BARC, but I believe that BARC is full of hardworking dedicated employees that sincerely care about the animals and do everything in their power to find them homes!
I pray for the day it goes without saying that this officer would be charged with EIGHT counts of felony animal cruelty.
I also think residents of Houston should be upset that her name is not being released. She is a public employee and she works for YOU, since you pay her salary. Of course it's your right to know who she is.
I hope she enjoyed that lunch. Innocent lives paid dearly for it.