Special to El Rrun-Rrun
I used to be a vocal advocate of the Brownsville Animal Regulation and Control Center (BARCC), ever since the new facility off FM 511 was constructed in 2005.
I was thrilled.
But, the next morning, she coughed a few times. I took her to a private veterinarian to have her checked out. (By this time, her name was Little Bit.) The vet said she had a highly elevated temperature of 103.8 along with the cough and was treated for kennel cough, although the private vet cautioned me that distemper has similar symptoms.
I used to be a vocal advocate of the Brownsville Animal Regulation and Control Center (BARCC), ever since the new facility off FM 511 was constructed in 2005.
Imagine, the beautiful 12,000 sq. foot shelter was hailed as a “modern pet shelter” costing more than $2 million dollars set on 17 acres that cost nearly $300,000, with a dog park and a medical clinic staffed with a full time licensed veterinarian.
I always told people, “Call the shelter about the stray you found, they will find her owner and/or get her adopted.”
Not anymore.
I found out the hard way that taking an animal to Brownsville Animal Regulation and Control Center (BARCC) (it has no moral right to appropriate the word “shelter”) is a death sentence. Case in point:
I adopted a beautiful puppy, ID# A100831, from the Brownsville Animal Regulation and Control Center in Olmito, Texas (BARCC) on Monday, July 9, 2018. It was love at first sight, she stole my heart.
I adopted a beautiful puppy, ID# A100831, from the Brownsville Animal Regulation and Control Center in Olmito, Texas (BARCC) on Monday, July 9, 2018. It was love at first sight, she stole my heart.
BARCC told me she was 5 months old, healthy, and was given the green light to undergo a spaying operation that same day. “#A100831” was operated on that afternoon by the City veterinarian. I picked her up at 5 p.m. the same day, took her home, and followed post-surgical directions.
But, the next morning, she coughed a few times. I took her to a private veterinarian to have her checked out. (By this time, her name was Little Bit.) The vet said she had a highly elevated temperature of 103.8 along with the cough and was treated for kennel cough, although the private vet cautioned me that distemper has similar symptoms.
Long story short, Little Bit got worse and was euthanized on Friday, July 13, less than 4 days after I adopted her from BARCC because she was deteriorating and had all the early signs of distemper, for which there is no cure.
When you adopt a pet at BARCC, you must sign a contract in which it states in part: “…there is always a chance that an animal has a disease that is incubating inside at the time of admission (my emphasis) and doesn’t show any symptoms of the disease. (italics theirs.)”
When you adopt a pet at BARCC, you must sign a contract in which it states in part: “…there is always a chance that an animal has a disease that is incubating inside at the time of admission (my emphasis) and doesn’t show any symptoms of the disease. (italics theirs.)”
I do not take issue with this agreement as life itself is a gamble, and I certainly don’t want my money back. But the phrases “at the time of admission” and “incubating inside” are the pertinent language with which I have major issues:
“At the time of admission”:
“At the time of admission”:
Little Bit was brought into BARCC by Brownsville Animal Control on June 22, 2018 as a stray and given a clean bill of health on June 24 and again on July 9 by a BARCC Supervisor and then again by the part time City veterinarian on duty, who both agreed this puppy was healthy and able to undergo major surgery that same day.
She didn’t show any signs of distress until July 10, 2018, the day after I adopted her and the day after her surgery, when she developed a slight cough. That was nearly three weeks after she was apprehended and taken to BARCC. T
he incubation period for distemper in puppies her age, weight and overall condition is 7 – 14 days from exposure. There is no question that Little Bit was brought in as a healthy puppy and was infected by the distemper virus at the Brownsville Animal Regulation and Care Center.
“Incubating inside”:
“Incubating inside”:
Is this language “legalese” in order to confuse the public and/or protect the City? Do they mean “inside” the animal, or do they mean “inside the BARCC facility”?
The prevention and control of distemper is easy: First, new animals introduced into the shelter must be segregated in order to prevent the spread of disease. And secondly, the shelter needs to be simply clean. All it takes is basic “elbow grease” and bleach.
The prevention and control of distemper is easy: First, new animals introduced into the shelter must be segregated in order to prevent the spread of disease. And secondly, the shelter needs to be simply clean. All it takes is basic “elbow grease” and bleach.
Imagine taking your family member to a hospital where the bed sheets had not been changed since the last patient slept there, or was placed in a room with a highly contagious roommate. This is the situation at BARCC.
BARCC seems to depend solely on what they call “volunteers” which are, for the most part, criminal/civil offenders who are court-mandated into doing community service as part of their probation.
BARCC seems to depend solely on what they call “volunteers” which are, for the most part, criminal/civil offenders who are court-mandated into doing community service as part of their probation.
I spoke with one of these “volunteers” who told me he was given no training nor supervision. He said, “The “shirts” just sit in their offices on their Facebook and don’t care as long as we sign in and sign out.”
On that particular Monday at noon, dogs were fighting, sleeping in their feces and even the “meet and greet room” was smelly and littered with feces, urine and trash, and volunteers had signed out. This was the hour when BARCC opens its doors to the public. What did it look like before they deemed themselves “presentable”?
Meanwhile, I saw not one BARCC employee anywhere near the animals.
The oddest thing is that, according to the 2016 budget, there appear to be two “supervisors” and only six “worker bees”, including the dogcatchers.
The oddest thing is that, according to the 2016 budget, there appear to be two “supervisors” and only six “worker bees”, including the dogcatchers.
This brings to mind “too many chiefs and…” Even more curious, one supervisor was rehired recently at BARCC (leaving a BARCC position as a vet tech a couple years ago) after a brief stint as Program Director at Palm Valley Animal Center in Edinburg, right before the shelter which hit the national news in March of this year when it was revealed that they had had a chronic and deliberately under-reported distemper epidemic for several years.
Only after Austin Pets Alive stepped in March of 2018 did the situation get remedied. This individual who was responsible for supervising and reporting outbreaks at Palm Valley seems to have jumped ship there to become a (as I said, yet another) BARCC Supervisor just before the proverbial you-know-what hit the fan.
Little Bit lived a short life that ended in an absolutely avoidable tragedy, but if her story can make a change, then her existence was not in vain.
(P.S. I was warned by several people from Brownsville not to send this story to the press. Since BARCC is now under the Brownsville Police Department, they told me that I would be targeted and harassed. Let’s see.)
Little Bit lived a short life that ended in an absolutely avoidable tragedy, but if her story can make a change, then her existence was not in vain.
(P.S. I was warned by several people from Brownsville not to send this story to the press. Since BARCC is now under the Brownsville Police Department, they told me that I would be targeted and harassed. Let’s see.)
43 comments:
Set them free!
I did my community service at the animal control. Nobody told me what to do and they did'nt care what I did. Everybody told me it was the easyest place to do your hours. I felt bad about the dogs. The lady in charge went around rthe cages and checked off a clipbaord who was going to be killed that day, like she really liked doing it. It was way wierd. I have dogs at home. This place was hell for dogs. Never again going to work there
I went to visit the animal shelter a few weeks ago to look for my dog. Nobody at the reception area even wrote down my information. They said they would call me if they found her. I asked them how if they don't have my information. Then the manager came out and told me to calm down. She made it look like I was the problem when I was just concerned about my dog. They wouldn't let me go into the cage room to look for him. I finally left and kept on calling but nobody answered the phone except the police department who told me to call back. I never found my dog.
The Brownsville Animal Control is Auschwitz for animals in Brownsville and the woman who runs it is a sadistic killer who enjoys the pains the animals suffer before they die. And we call ourselves a civilized city???
I had to do my community service there. Everybody told me it would be easy cause nobody cared what you did. I am an animal person and wanted to do it but felt real bad about the dirty cages and the way they treat the dogs. Way wrong. My mom has dogs and she made me wash off before I came home. THANK GOD SHE DID.
Animal control (dog catchers) are under the police department. This position was run by a sergeant but currently is run by a patrol officer, who has no education but is well liked by commander Dale. All officers know she is only there for being a brownnoser, and nothing else.
culo
Hey girl they will be on your ass. The city is going to coverup everything they did. You will be taken out by the popo. I worked the dog pound too. Probation. Thank Jesus I am not a dog in this town.
Dante needs to add another circle of hell for this place. I tried to get information on the phone, no answer, the went to try and see if they had my dog. These fuckers killed him even though I tried and tried to find him. The chick in charge told me I was too late. But they never even answered my phone calls to them. This place has not right to exist.
Miss Linda Forse:
I am very sorry for the loss of your pet. The police will not bother you. They need people like you, that care for dogs and cats, to pinpoint what needs to be changed to improve the lives of our animals.
We need a TEAM of individuals that can go and help clean. BARCC needs cleaning three times per day.
The employees and the staff will welcome us with big arms…..but we will not do their work, we will just go and keep the floors clean.
Many groups here in Brownsville and in Rancho Viejo take care of dogs and cats: foster homes. We just need a good group of volunteers that have free time to go and give a helping hand to our domestic animals.
Dogs are good companions. Cats are also good pets.
Let's do it.
Omg! My companion was also arrested by animal control and detained for a period of 15 days supposedly for qaranteen. Was cited for numerous violations to include not having a chip. 15 days later paid the detention fee and took the companion home. Three days later the k-9 became extremely ill an was diagnosed with parvo. The companion died. On the court date they still wanted to charge the fine. An investigation revealed the dog pound has no vet and the facility was dirty. This isn't a dog pound its a death chamber.
Tragic what can happen to those who adopt. My sympathies.
I volunteered to work at the shelter and I am NOT a criminal nor a civil offender and I am offended by your comments, which I believe are racial motivated. I guess your family is the most law abiding people on this planet.
Why go there as a volunteer if you're going to be label a criminal and/or a civil offender!! I for one will never go there again as a volunteer.
My boyfriend and I adopted a puppy there too. The next day he got sick coughing and runny poop and I took him back. The people there were really rude to me and told me it was my fault. They said that I was not a good pet person and said they would ban me from adopting ever again and I left there crying. My boyfriend was really mad at them I am so happy that Linda wrote this because now I know it wasn't my fault. I am so mad at this place. And it really does stink when you walk in.
I volunteered there. On my own. Just because I wanted to make a difference. Most the other volunteers were doing community service. No big deal. But their hearts weren't in the work and I get it. I am a Latina and I don't see any kind of racial motivation in this complaint - it is what it is - and a lot of these guys were white. I knew enough to clean my shoes before I left there and went home to my dogs. But the staff there never gave any of us instructions, not even asking if we had puppies at home. Even though I sterilized myself, a puppy I rescued on the street got sick. It was probably from the shelter. I want to volunteer there but the place is a breeding ground for every virus and it is very dirty. And it is true nobody who is getting a salary and benefits gives a f*** about these poor animals. It could have been such a great place but the full time staff dropped the ball.
Pues, let’s get La South West Keys Vatos to run the dog shelter. Like They are good at that shit pues wow.
Today, the Brownsville Herald is inviting the public to help BARCC and BAD to donate (toys, food, blankets, etc) for the shelter. On Saturday July 21 from 1:00 – 4:00 PM, the doors are open for all types of donations. The Donation station is outside and if you want you can tour the facilities. Take old shoes so that you do not contaminate your car or your home with the bacteria and parvo if you have dogs/cats at home.
If you do not have dogs/cats at home and you have time to volunteer, go and help. BARCC really needs help to improve. There are a lot of captains and no sailors in the BARCC ship.
Also, on the front page: a dog was accidently burned with hot oil by his owner. (dog lovers do not want to know the details…..)
That is another problem: we like puppies and kittens but not dogs and cats.
We do not take them to be fixed. We do not want to feed them or take them to the vet.
That is another tragic story.
Dogs require a lot of attention.
They eat your shoes. They scratch your car. They eat the furniture. They poop inside the house (if you do not open the door on time). They bark and wake up the neighbors at 4:00 AM. When they get sick, they cost a lot of money. When they are healthy they cost a lot of money: fleas medication, annual checkups, vaccines for rabies, etc
That is why we see:
Strays all over the city and some of them are thrown away at Rancho Viejo.
Dogs tied to a tree with a huge chain.
People that catch dogs and cats with animal traps because they mess up their gardens.
People that do bad things with dogs/and cats.
People that shoot at dogs.
People that tie dogs to the back of their cars and take them for a drive.
The list is endless….
Many human beings hurt dogs and cats here in Brownsville.
Where is Pat Ahumada and his PAWS?
You forgot burn dogs with oil. That's an old habit that came from cockroach europe...
American Owners and their dogs
….so Viggo’s son steals the car and kills the dog DAISY.
The whole town trembles: the owner of the dog is John Wick.
John Wick goes ballistic and kills like forty guys in 3 minutes.
All the bad hombres respect John Wick and they know the dog should not have been killed.
Mexican Owners and their dogs
…so the story goes that there was a bridge at La Piedad Michoacan…where two rivals fight for the love of Lupita. Gilbert had a black dog (the guardian) and don Julian (the rich one) wants to kill Gilbert.
One day when the black dog was not at home, Don Julian kills Gilbert. But at that moment, the black dog arrives and kills Don Julian. The black dog spends all his life next to his owner burial plot. He dies next to his master (refused to eat and move away from the cemetery). They do have a statue of the black dog next to the bridge in La Piedad Michoacan. And Lupita….she took flowers to Gilbert.
Brownsville Owners and their dogs
….they have to work hard to save all the dogs from Brownsville.
We also need a statue to honor the dogs and cats of the Rio Grande Valley.
Your stoy petered out, started ok but ended in the garbage no pun intented.
It will give me hope if Little Bit's story can make a change. The animals have no voice, even less so in Brownsville where the abuse is horrible and everyday. But that Brownsville Animal Control can perpetrate such abuse is beyond words. We need to hold the people at Animal COntrol responsible for their acts of cruelty and negligence. Getting a group of volunteers to clean the place is a bandaid on a wound that will never heal unless we replace the current too-well-paid employees with qualified and caring people and have regular inspections. Do you know that Animal Control's budget is nearly $500,000 a year? Where does that money go? Into the 2 supervisors pockets. And they can't even bother to answer the phone. Just try calling them today.
Why not put it in private hands
Commentor at July 21, 2018 at 10:47 AM
You are correct. The Health department has to check BARCC, they have to visit the shelter once per day (unannounced). This has to stop.
It is obvious that the employees need training and you are correct again: we need people that love animals to work there.
I am going to donate toys and food right now, but we need to contact the Health Departmet to check for the well being of the animals and to distribute
Warnings and Fines when the staff are not doing their job.
You are a very smart person 10:47 AM
Thank you
I think that this last comment deserves consideration. Prisons have been turned over to the private sector, with so-so results but apparently better managed than when run by the local governments (and their death rate is much lower than BARCC). Perhaps it is time to consider this idea. When I was waiting at BARCC to pick up Little Bit after surgery that Monday, I overheard the receptionist tell a couple and their child that their two dogs who had escaped their yard and were impounded for 6 days accumulated boarding bills of $240. If they had been neutered/spayed, it would have been half that amount. BARCC is most definitely making money on the side in this operation (outside of the $500,000 budget they already have) yet can't seem to make ends meet in order to provide basic care for the animals. In addition, they are charging $99 for adoptions which include only the basics. (In Little Bit's case,"the basics" did not even include a temperature check before major surgery.) Yet BARCC cries that they can't make ends meet in order to provide simple basic care for the animals their "care". Instead of organizing a group os volunteers to clean up the poop at the the pound, perhaps we should try to clean up the potentially underlying corruption and most definite laziness and/or misuse of funding at BARCC.
Forget about hiring qualified personnel. They have a director making 80k a year with a GED. Think about IT...
I am back from BAD and BARCC :
1. BAD doesn’t believe what you all write in blogs.
2. BARCC doesn’t read el Rrun Rrun (nor BAD)
3. I asked the Director if the City Health Department checks BARCC and he says it is the sate of Texas that does random checks. I asked him if the place got a good evaluation. He gave me a phone number: A call center 546-HELP and that they will answer all my questions.
4. The Director asked for my name and what I was doing there. I told him that I went to donate food and toys for cats and dogs.
5. I told them about Lil Bit and they just listened. I mentioned Linda Forse’s name but there was no comment about this story.
6. He told me they clean in the morning. Later he told me they also clean in the afternoon. They have no PARVO.
7. Then another lady went by and she says Yes we have Parvo , depending on the animal and the symptoms. But that Parvo is everywhere in the city (at the HEB parking lot).
8. I told them about the couple that were labeled as not good with pets and that they will not be able to adopt another dog. According to them, this never happened.
Conclusion.
Passionate owners of dogs and cats need an intermediary to talk to the staff and the Director. The staff and director are working there, it is their life, and they do not take it kindly to people that get angry, that ask questions, that go and create problems…I guess that is fair.
There was a great number of bags with cat and dog food donated today. There were a lot of volunteers helping. BAD was wearing shirts with their slogan and it was a big group. Maybe dog lovers need to infiltrate these two agencies and groups. I was invited to tour BARCC but I did not want to see dogs and cats in cages.
BARCC most certainly reads El Rrun Rrun: I received two phone calls at home on July 17 (hours after my article was posted, at 5:35 and again at 5:37) from Nellie, one of the supervisors of BARCC, demanding to know why I wrote this article "about her".
We need a Shelter Director, a commissioner and a Mayor that want to help animals. To have a no kill shelter, to offer free spay and neuter and to create events to raise money.
Until that happens, we will continue to rescue dogs and cats. Feed the strays, take them to Matamoros, take them to the vaccination clinics around the city and keep hoping that Brownsville works together to help the animals. We need a mayor that barks and bites and pushes this agenda. The police officer in charge of the animals, maybe later can become the director of the Shelter and these changes can be put to work.
Gerardo Salazar said...
As the Director of the Public Information Services Department(PISD)
July 17, 2018 at 9:10 AM
I can't believe that BAD and BARCC don't read this blog. Just read above this posting, if the director of PISD reads this blog than other departments do read El Rrun Rrun, but WAIT LOOK at the time it was posted. Those are working hours over at the COB...
I heard that they caught the dog that was causing all the flooding and its at the shelter. No wonder the shelter's underwater.
Brownsville has more abused animals per square mile than any city with our population in the US and, even if these creatures were to make it to BARCC, they will be tossed into an already contaminated cage, given some kibble and then, later, put down by the way-too-highly paid "supervisors" who have already figured out that it is more economical, and "looks better on paper" ("Oh, that animal came into BARCC with distemper") to put the once-healthy healthy animal down. I am ready and willing to find solutions. You can contact me at 956-546-1995 or LINDAFORSE@GMAIL.COM
Pets, the elderly the handicapped and the low wage earner or not important, they prefer to cater to special interest groups that's where their heart and their deep pockets are and they only corrupt the nation's soul.
Somebody needs to unite all these groups into one big coalition, for the betterment of this community.
All tax funded agencies need to be held accountable, every single one. It can be done if the citizens of this community unite and VOTE all these corrupt officials OUT.
Maybe its something LF is interested in doing.
Even after all of these comments and the obvious fact that the City of Brownsville reads El Rrun Rrun (as evidenced by the phone calls to me from Nellie, Supervisor), not one person from the City of Brownsville has responded to my letter. I have written an email to Art Rodriguez today. I will let you know if he responds. Thanks to all who told their stories. It might help. The animals appreciate any help they can get.
Welcome to Brownsville, Texas!
Please lower your Expectations
I went there and I have never seen or smelled such filth in any animal holding place. I have a farm and one of my dogs got out and I went there to look for her. Thank GOD she wasn't there - I did find her out on the road near my place later. It's like nobody cares there and they don't even answer the phone that's why I went there in person. The place smelled like an outhouse even in the front room. And the girls working couldn't even be bothered to look up when I came in like they were too busy on their ipods. What the hell are we paying for???????
Maybe this story about Little Bit is having a good ending. I called the pound yesterday and they answered the phone pretty quick and gave me the information I needed. Big difference from last time when they would't even pick up the phone. They even kindof seemed polite. Maybe Little Bit did'nt die in vain Maybe her little soul will save others at the pound. She is such a beautiful little girl I am so sorry. Rest in peace Little Bit your name will live on forever in brownsville.
I called last week and somebody actually answered the phone. Maybe this Little DOG is doing something good for all our dogs. But they said they dont have a file system that can make sure what dog is there , they just say I don't know. But they answered the phone. I never found my dog and that happened before too. I care about my dogs but there is no reason they should not care.
First, I'm sorry for the loss of your adopted puppy. I know what you feel, I hope you're not closing your door to adopt again and give love to the pets from the shelter. Second, For the shelters, please be inform and explain to us regarding in your agreement form and coordinate to the pet parent after the adoption if needed. and Lastly, I experienced that, after the adoption, we end up in pet cremation houston after a month, but in my case, the management of the shelter is coordinating to us and they are willing to give help.
I do not live in Brownsville anymore and miss the RGV a lot. I adopted several dogs and cats from the shelter there, a few who made the move with me to Houston. Two of the cats are still alive at 14 years old and thriving. I hope the people of Brownsville listen to Linda's comments. She is a very dear friend of mind, and her interest and love for animals is awesome. A recent addition to my fur baby family is a Chipoo dog who I have had for 4 years and adopted from the Harlingen Humane Society. Olivia had been fostered before her adoption. Please improve your care of the animals. Sally Dunne
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