BARC in Houston Still a Trainwreck

The chief Veterinarian and a Veterinary Technician for BARC are out:

The firing comes nearly two weeks after Mayor Bill White hired Gary Fusco to turn the agency around. While Fusco was hired to be a “change agent,” some council members have questioned the decision to hire a man with a background in the manufacturing industry.
[...]
BARC has been rocked in recent weeks by well-publicized images of emaciated animals in their care, the mistaken euthanasia of a family dog and the discovery of improperly-designed cages after a puppy died in a drain last month. The puppy was brought in July 23 with its pit bull-mix mother and two siblings and mistakenly placed in a cage meant for older animals, officials said at the time. The puppy slipped through the floor grating in the cage and fell into an open drain — about the width of a soda can, officials said.

Not to mention the sad death of Coltrane. I hope BARC can get things turned around.

Mr. Nobody Strikes Again

If you've ever had roommates, you know that dirty dishes pile up in the sink, all by themselves. That is, Mr. Nobody used them.

From Houston:

One moment, Brad Lovelace's beloved dog, Coltrane, was in his garage, getting a weekly bath. The next day, he was in the agonizing throes of a fatal case of heatstroke.

What happened in between has become a bitter dispute between Lovelace and the city of Houston. The Kingwood man says his dog, a Labrador-German shepherd mix, escaped his backyard for about 15 minutes after a meter reader left his fence gate open. In that time, Coltrane was picked up by police and turned over to animal control, where he was caged inside a truck for six or seven hours.

The next day Coltrane was vomiting blood and bile all over Lovelace's home. He spent the next two days at a private veterinary clinic, where he was euthanized.

The city denies any culpability in the heatstroke that killed Coltrane, but Lovelace and local animal activists are convinced that the dog's death is another sad episode in Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care.

Although the blame for Coltrane's death lies with solely Mr. Nobody, I can't help thinking that after everyone gets through denying responsibility, and the house is quiet, there's going to be a broken-hearted owner and an empty chair by the window. I'm sorry Mr. Nobody failed you Coltrane.

BARC's No Kill Bait and Switch

Another stone on the track in the effort to foster a no kill Houston:

Some of you may have heard that Stephen Williams, Director of the Department of Health and Human Services which oversees BARC, has mentioned the fact that he thinks Winograd’s “snapshot” services, paid for by community donations, can be better used.

Instead of an overall assessment as to why BARC is broken, he thinks Winograd should just provide a training session instead.

If I'm interpreting this correctly, the community chipped in money to have Nathan Winograd come in and tell the shelter what changes need to be made in order to save more pets. Now some guy in charge is basically saying, "Thanks for the cash but I've got a better use for it"? Granted that use still involves bringing Winograd in but for what sounds like a completely different purpose than the community wanted. Is this legal? If so, is anyone in the community going to want to donate next time the shelter asks for money?