Disclaimer: VERY sad blog for animal lovers to read... but I know you all will anyway.
So, I was very excited to go see the chief investigator from the SPCA teach a class on animal cruelty investigations today. He was teaching at the city shelter I volunteer on the weekends for. However, the last week some really horrible stories have emerged about the shelter, and I didn't feel like I could even go down there. Not even that I couldn't go down there... but that I would be humiliated to sit in a room and show affiliation with them... that I would be a hypocrite learning about animal cruelty investigations at the headquarters of a place that should be shut down for animal cruelty... and that I didn't want to benefit from any of their resources. That might sound dramatic, and I have been torn between continuing to volunteer to help animals get out of there, and not wanting to have anything to do with this awful organization. The article speaks for itself. This particular article was written by an animal rights group here, but it gets the story across in its entirety better than any of the newspaper articles can. People have been following the story so closely here that many of the true news station articles just assume background knowledge when writing on the story. So, article below:
BARC to remove a dog’s eyes although rescuers offer to save her
BARC’s refusal of offers of humane care may have cost an injured dog her life
By nokillhouston
Kieko aka Liberty, a young dog, was brought to BARC on Monday, 3/15/10. It was obvious that she had suffered severe head/eye injuries. BARC’s vet reportedly told volunteers that it appeared that the dog had been beaten with a 2×4.
Despite, Keiko’s obvious severe injuries BARC decided that she should wait at BARC until Friday when her stray hold period would expire. At that point she would “officially belong to BARC” and BARC would remove her eyes. On Friday morning, BARC vet staff operated on Keiko. This was done despite that BARC has no diagnostic tools to properly evaluate the extent of Keiko’s injuries, nor do they have the proper surgical equipment for this type of surgery. If BARC’s services had been the only option available for Keiko, BARC might have been considered a hero for attempting to save this animal. However, this is far from the truth.
Early this week, the rescue community offered to take Keiko from BARC to a specialist where she could get the immediate specialized care that she desperately needed. This would have been at no cost to BARC i.e. taxpayers. BARC repeatedly refused these offers.
After hearing of BARC’s refusal, the community bombarded BARC and the city of Houston with requests that Keiko be released to see a specialist. BARC did not release Keiko to rescue, but on Thursday, BARC allegedly took Keiko to a specialist who allegedly recommended that her eyes should be removed. That day, BARC representative, Chris Newport told Fox 26 that the specialist had offered to perform Keiko’s surgery free of charge. This offer was refused and Keiko was taken back to BARC where BARC staff proceeded to operate on Keiko.
BARC is a clinic of “last resort” i.e. when there are no other options available. BARC staff has only the most basic diagnostic tools at their disposal; they have no x-ray machines and certainly nothing more sophisticated such as an MRI or CT scanner; their microscopes are in need of repair; their surgical equipment is geared towards spays/neuters only; they do not have the ability to run complete blood panels; many of the spays / neuters are done in a former closet. In addition, after delicate surgery such as this, Keiko would have required overnight medically monitored care. BARC cannot not provide this. Yet, BARC still proceeded with the surgery to remove Keiko’s eyes and soon after she died.
There are a number of troubling questions: 1) BARC is not equipped to diagnose nor treat this type of severe injury. Why were offers of proper care repeatedly refused? 2) Why did Keiko wait 3 ½ days before BARC’s attempts to diagnose her injuries with proper equipment? 3) BARC is severely underfunded. If a rescue group was willing to take to take Keiko and have her treated by an eye specialist, at no cost to taxpayers, why did BARC continue to refuse? 4) In emergencies, other animals have been released from BARC before the stray hold period was up. BARC’s own policy and procedure manual states clearly that animals with certain medical conditions such as ringworm and upper respiratory infections can be released before the stray hold period has expired. Why wasn’t this dog, with far more severe injuries, released when care was offered?
Had Keiko been released to rescue who could take her to a specialist the minute she entered BARC, she might have lived. A specialist might have been able to save her sight had she been evaluated at that time. However, BARC’s director and veterinarians utterly and stubbornly failed this dog and I believe it cost Keiko her life. The animals’ welfare should be the number one concern for the staff at BARC. Everything else should come second, including egos.
I think it is time for regime change. Clearly, BARC leadership is no better than it was before.
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There is the article. It's the worst thing I've heard in a long time. Not even releasing the dog to receive proper care is disgusting. The dog might have died anyway with such massive head trauma, but obviously that's not the point. The other thing that emerged this week (because if you have bad publicity like this, someone is going to go digging for more) is that the shelter is immunizing pregnant bitches that come in, which apparently gives the puppies whatever disease they are immunizing for. It's obvious when I volunteer on the weekends, just by the looks of the animals, that the vets they hire don't know their asses from a hole in the ground. It's not uncommon to see worm infestations, dogs having diarrhea all over the place, and one of the girls I work with recently took a dog home to foster that ended up having distemper. These people are just reckless incompetents! On one hand I want to help the dogs get out of there, on the other hand I feel horrible for the dogs that land there but feel like they are potentially toxic disease carriers being sent out into the community. I've mentioned to some of you, I strip at my washing machine when I get home from volunteering and Lysol my shoes top to bottom so my own dogs don't catch anything.
I don't even know how to bring this blog to a close. I'm sure everyone will have comments, though. If you're interested in reading more or seeing pictures of the dog that died (her eyes were red and bulging out of her head) it's a really easy Google search... just type in BARC Keiko.
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