PetsHouston Blogger: “Dogs Under BARC Care Are Starved”

The Definitive Source for Houston Pet Lovers

PetsHouston Blogger: “Dogs Under BARC Care Are Starved”

28 June 2009 844 views 6 Comments

The Dog Nanny, a blogger for PetsHouston, writes about the condition of dogs at BARC, as they appeared at an adoption event Saturday in the Heights:

These are all dogs who had been at BARC (our city pound) for weeks or months. No record is made of their weight at in-take (and why not , I’d like to know) but according to volunteers and medical records that show the amount of medication needed, their weights have all decreased dramatically. Even if they had come in like this, their weights could have brought up to normal given the right amount of food.

And if you think that the new director, Ray Sim, is leaving his office now and again to see how the animals he is in charge of are doing so that he can make it right by requiring that his workers actually feed the dogs, you’re sorely mistaken.

People, you’re paying good money for someone to run this shelter and he’s not doing his job. You’re also paying for people to feed these dogs and they can’t even handle that simple, basic task. If you don’t have pity on these poor animals, at least stand up for yourselves as taxpayers! This can’t continue.

Forget the No Kill debate for a second and let’s concentrate on the basic need for food. Call or e-mail your elected officials and tell them you’ve seen the pictures of the starving dogs. Tell them to get someone to feed them NOW and EVERY DAY.

Let them know if they don’t get their act together enough to get these dogs fed by next election day then they don’t deserve your vote.

You can read the full blog here.

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Loading ...

6 Comments »

S. Connors said:

This is outright inhumane abuse !!! Can’t someone get the ASPCA or HSUS involved ? This CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be tolerated under ANY circumstances and the director should be charged with abuse and neglect.

# 29 June 2009 at 5:49 pm

Former Employee said:

I am a former employee who actually cared about the animals and fed them plenty…BUT can tell you that I pretty much was the only one who cared. The others only want to feed, ‘A little’=less than half a scoop, just so they wouldn’t have a ton of feces to clean. I tried to bring this to the managers attention and nothing was ever done about it. BARC needs to seriously do a FIRE-REHIRE!!! Get rid of all the old people and bring people in who actually care. All the dogs that come in do get weighed at in-take though…they just never get weighed again. Animals there are not taken care of like they should be. And another reason a lot of them look super skinny is because you can tell them the dog has worms…and nothing is done. I hated working at BARC…due to the way they treated me and the dogs. I feel very sorry for the dogs and go up there on occasion and adopt a dog and try and rehome it. Also I don’t see the mayor or anyone who works at BARC ever going to stand up and actually are able to make a change…You would have to hit them close to the heart to get them to listen…

# 29 June 2009 at 10:11 pm

Follow-Up: Chronicle Reports More Bad News Out Of BARC | Houston PetTalk said:

[...] blogger for PetsHouston also had bad news out of BARC last week about dogs who were clearly underweight at an adoption event in the Heights. The post [...]

# 3 July 2009 at 12:53 pm

EMME said:

Former Employee – I beg you to report your experience to the Office of the Inspector General. We are constantly called liars and accused of hysteria. I understand the difficulty in stepping forward, but you can make a difference.

# 3 July 2009 at 2:03 pm

Kim Willis said:

Former employees, current employees, and volunteers ALL need to speak up or this will continue to go on and on. Courage is what is shown when speaking out regardless of fear, harrassment, and intimidation. Kathy Barton, HHS mouthpiece, claimed the dogs who appeared to be starving were actually suffering from an intestinal illness and being treated. That is highly unlikely since they were seen this way while attending offsite adoption events. Sending sick dogs to adoptions would be wrong now wouldn’t it. Of course, that happens all the time too as puppies continue to go into new homes and die of distempter because they weren’t properly vaccinated. While the city keeps turning a blind eye to the problem and trying to do damage control more animals are dying or suffering. If they would put as much effort into improving the situation as they do into spin control we would have a functional no kill focused shelter by the end of the year.

# 14 July 2009 at 12:20 pm

President Of No Kill Houston Wants Your Help Bringing Attention To Problems At BARC | Houston PetTalk said:

[...] If you aren’t familiar with BARC, please visit their Web site and check out some blog posts from PetTalk on conditions at BARC and underweight dogs at an adoption event. [...]

# 28 July 2009 at 5:50 pm