Update on 2008 Dogfighting Bust in Harris Co, TX

You may remember in 2008 when the Houston SPCA "rescued" and then killed 187 unevaluated dogs in a massive dogfighting bust. The Hair Balls blog in Houston has an update on the legal cases against those arrested in connection with the case:

[C]ourt records filed in Harris County show that -- even though much of the dog fighting was caught on videotape and witnessed by law enforcement officers -- prosecutors doled out light sentences because, in most instances, the defendants were spectators, and were not witnessed entering dogs in fights. (Participants in dog fights can face up to two years in prison; spectators can get a year in jail and a $4,000 fine).

But in some of those cases, even defendants who officers witnessed entering dogs into fights had their charges dropped -- like William Stanforth, who was indicted on three charges of felony dog fighting, only to have two charges dismissed and receive deferred adjudication for the third. And then there's Albert Ramirez, who a grand jury said "unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly cause a dog to fight with another dog" in October 2008, and whose case was dismissed a month later.

Others who were sentenced to time in Harris County Jail were allowed to serve during off-work hours; some of those who were charged were never even arrested. Some had criminal records, like a man who was sentenced to 20 days for being a spectator, and who had previous convictions of assault of a family member, felony weapon possession, burglary of a vehicle, and auto theft.
[...]
On March 6, 2009, Darrick Ford was convicted on two separate charges of misdemeanor dog fighting -- he was a spectator -- and received a two day sentence for each. He also received a two-day credit for each. So things worked out well for Ford.

Ford got off much easier than Urias Contreras, who was sentenced to four whole days on one charge. Contreras was originally charged with felony dog fighting -- meaning he actually caused one dog to fight with another -- but the prosecutor lowered the charge to a misdemeanor.
[...]
[Animal Cruelty Prosecutor Belinda] Smith, who called the 2008 sting the biggest undercover operation in the country, has been vocal about her determination to bring dog fighters to justice. [emphasis added]

Well I guess we'll chalk that one up as a FAIL. And we can toss it on the pile of 187 dog carcasses left to rot in a landfill after Houston SPCA killed them without even having them evaluated.

Someone remind me what was the whole point of this 17 month investigation and bust. Because it obviously wasn't to prosecute dogfighters or save the victims of the abuse. From where I stand, it seems like the main objective was to kill a bunch of dogs. Success! Congratulations Harris County. You must be so proud.

No Help for Trapped Cat in Houston

If the power company called and asked if it was ok if they turn off your power briefly while someone rescues a cat stuck on a power pole, would you be ok with that? I would. Normally when my power goes out, it just happens - I don't get any advance notice. And I, like everyone else, deal with the situation until it comes back on. But in the case of a cat in need of help in Houston, no one even asked:

Lauren Kutac’s 8-month-old kitten spent 47 hours on the pole located in the backyard of her home in southwest Houston before she was electrocuted in the middle of the night.
[...]

The cat lover said she called several agencies including the Houston Fire Department, the SPCA, the Houston Police Department, and CenterPoint while she was sitting on the pole. They all declined her request for help.

“Not one person could help me,” she said.
[...]
CenterPoint Energy makes the decisions regarding the power pole. A company spokesperson said they could not turn off the power because it would affect several customers throughout the neighborhood.

I repeat: No one even asked.

The Houston SPCA spokesman, Meera Nandal, brings her usual fail:

“It’s a big misconception that [cats] should be free roaming and it’s OK for them to be outdoors, but actually, they need to live indoors,” said Nandlal.

kthx. So I guess it's the stupid owner's own fault the cat got stuck in the first place so the cat should just have to die. *cough*prevention-of-cruelty*cough*

The opportunity to help a pet owner in need, get some positive publicity for your shelter and educate the public while you're at it just got sucked into your vortex of pigheadedness. Thanks for playing.

I wonder where the owner will look when she's ready to get another cat? I'm guessing NOT the HSPCA, maybe not any shelter, after this experience.

New Dog, Old Tricks at HSSET

An article focusing on Max Mixson, the new shelter manager at Humane Society of Southeast Texas, raises some red flags:

When the board of the Humane Society of Southeast Texas (HSSET) advertised the job of shelter manager last year, the response was good with a number of apparently qualified applicants submitting their resumes. Nestled among the group, however, was a name that immediately popped out.

Max Mixson was the manager of the Petco store on Dowlen Road in Beaumont and had previously been a senior cruelty investigator at the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In that capacity, he had been prominently featured in the hit cable series “Animal Cops: Houston,” where he made a definite impression on viewers in any number of high-profile cases.

Many remember Houston SPCA for their November 2008 secretive killing of 187 seized Pitbulls without a single evaluation before any of the owners had their day in court. I don't watch their TV show but their apparent zeal for Pitbull killing "made a definite impression" on me. A former shelter employee relates some specific incidents with Mr. Mixson at HSSET that have a ring of familiarity:

Brandi Furr, 26, was a shelter employee for most of 2008. She resigned in February because of unspecified family issues, but she said mainly due to her inability to deal with events taking place in the shelter. Described by people on both sides of the issue as “caring and compassionate” and “a good employee,” her story is worth exploring not only because it is deeply felt but also because it conveys how Mixson is perceived by the dissident faction at the Humane Society of Southeast Texas.

“I love that place,” said Furr. “I loved my job, but Max Mixson — you see him on ‘Animal Planet,’ but he’s a totally different person. He lies to the public.”

Furr said her problems with Mixson can be traced to a sharp difference in how individual dogs should be treated.

“Max does not work with the dogs, he doesn’t know anything about the dogs,” she said. “He’ll make rounds and decide which dogs will go down. I would be really mad about the euthanizing and I would let them know. I would talk to the board members and our employees and Max would get mad.”

Her allegations are not shy on details. In fact, Furr cites numerous instances involving specific animals.

“Max came in and his first day there, he went into the kennels — I was working in the kennel area — and he went up to a dog,” recounted Furr. “It wasn’t an aggressive dog; it was a hyper dog. (Max) went up to his cage and it started barking at him. I walked over to him and said ‘That dog’s not aggressive. It doesn’t know you.’ He said ‘Well, that’s the first dog on my list.’ That dog got put down; that was the first dog to get put down when he was there.”

According to Furr, scared or shy animals found no favor with the new shelter manager.

“Dogs would come in and they would be shy, this is my main thing,” she said. “Shy dogs are being put down; this never used to happen. They would come in from the street. They had a family once; we don’t know their whole story. They come in off the street not knowing where they’re at, not knowing to trust people, they hide under their bed and just shake. They wouldn’t bite, they’d let you pet them and stuff, but weren’t the dogs at the front of the cage barking."
[...]
Furr sounded near tears as she recalled the fate of a dog named Omega.

“He was a Lab and something else; he was a big, big dog,” she said. “He looked really mean, but he was not mean at all. He went on Channel 6 News as one of our pets of the week and so many people called wanting him. … but Max wanted to put it down because he thought it was mean. When you’d go to the cage, it would charge and jump and bark, but it was because he didn’t know Max. The environment those dogs are in, they’re going to act that way. But instead of Max giving him time, he made the decision to put the dog down. We had call after call after call to adopt that dog out, but he was already dead.”

The image of Mixson as a cold, unfeeling bureaucrat seems far-fetched — except in Furr’s telling of events inside the shelter.

“Another situation, somebody brought in a pit bull,” she said. “For some reason, I guess he doesn’t like pit bulls. I know they have a reputation, but still. A pit bull came in and instead of taking it to the sick room — I think somebody was in the sick room cleaning it — he took it into our break room and put it to sleep right there on the floor. It’s just crazy; I love my job, but I can’t work with a monster like him.”
[...]
Mixson acknowledged the pit bull was put down in the break room, but observed it was a closed room within the facility that was not in use at the time and that the dog’s owner had described it as “dangerous” when he brought it in. He noted that euthanasia is always a difficult decision for him, and that he believes every animal is worth saving if a good home could be found for them.

Right. But I guess you wouldn't know if a good home could be found if you kill the dog upon entry into the shelter based upon the owner's description. Newsflash: Sometimes dishonest people surrender dogs at shelters and lie about the reasons why. Every dog deserves a fair evaluation.

Oh and by the way, if you are so eager to kill an incoming dog that you can't wait for the euthanasia room to be cleaned and have to use the room designated for shelter employees to take breaks - that's some kinda problem you got there.

***

If you are a Houston area resident, you may wish to attend Nathan Winograd's seminar on March 28, 2009. See No Kill Houston for details.

Thoughts on the Houston Pitbull Killings

Harris County TX prosecutors are hoping to find more Pitbulls to kill. Cos 187 just ain't enough apparently. The plan:

...[A]uthorities will band together in January to launch a Crime Stoppers campaign cracking down on dogfighting.

The monthlong initiative — patterned after a similar effort in Chicago — will encourage callers to anonymously report illegal dogfighting to the Crime Stoppers tip line and will deploy a task force to investigate all leads. Crime Stoppers also will spotlight the crime on billboards across the county.

Great! What could possibly go wrong? Well for starters, authorities might kill every dog they "rescue" from any fighting operations. I am absolutely all for busting scumbag dogfighters and the freaks who like to watch. But as for killing every single dog "saved" without an individual evaluation by a qualified canine professional - not so much. Every dog deserves a fair evaluation.

And what about false tips they receive in the course of the investigation? Responsible Pitbull owners not involved in dogfighting may be targeted by neighbors who only know what Harris County and the Houston SPCA have taught the public about Pitbulls - that they are all evil and must be killed. What if those dogs get seized during the course of the investigation? Will they too be immediately killed without evaluation before any determination of guilt or innocence can be made in the case against their owners?

Which brings me back to the 187 Pitbulls killed by Harris County. The wheels of justice turn slowly. Have ANY of these suspects been convicted of a dogfighting crime yet? Cos I can't find any reports indicating they have nor can I imagine all 50 suspects having already had their day in court. Again, let me reiterate, if these people are found guilty of dogfighting, animal cruelty or anything in those realms, I absolutely agree their dogs should be confiscated by the authorities. In the meantime, the dogs should be cared for, individually evaluated and held until either the owners have been to trial, the owner signs the dogs over to authorities, and/or a judge issues an order releasing the dogs. At that point, the dogs belonging to anyone found 'not guilty' would be returned to their owners and the others would be released to rescue groups so the dogs can be rehomed.

I appreciate that when you get any large group of dogs in for evaluations, there may be some determined to be too aggressive to be handled. In the Michael Vick case, evaluations determined 1 dog out of the 50 seized had to be euthanized due to aggression. I am not advocating for every single shelter dog in the country to be adopted out. But every dog deserves a fair evaluation.

I further understand that even a normal, friendly Pitbull might have to be euthanized in a dogfighting case as this Vet points out:

"These animals really get chewed up and suffer greatly," Harkness said. "This is a point where death can be a gift."

I agree. If a Veterinarian determines the dog's case is medically hopeless and that dog is suffering, that's what euthanasia is for - to hasten the inevitable so as to avoid prolonged pain and misery for the animal. But that's not what anyone has said regarding the 187 dogs seized in the Houston case. They were killed due to "aggression" with no information provided on the individual evaluations each dog should have received. What are the odds of a group of 187 dogs each scoring an identical result on their evaluations - that is, too aggressive to be handled/recommended for euthanasia? I'd say it would be about impossible for all 187 dogs to receive the same exact determination. In fact, I am suspicious that evaluations were never performed at all, despite the reporting earlier in the case. If that is the case, then 187 dogs were senselessly killed without reason by those who "rescued" them. How is that significantly better than the situation the dogs were saved from?

I'm not asking for a blanket pass for any breed or any case. All I'm asking for on behalf of rescued dogs in shelters is a chance. Let's not pre-judge them because of who abused them or what they look like. Let's take each case, one by one, and judge the dog on his own merits. Is that too much to ask? Every dog deserves a fair evaluation.

Action: Contact the Houston SPCA and let them know, politely and respectfully, that the next group of dogs seized in a dogfighting bust deserves more than automatic death. If they need assistance, tell them to ask for it. The dog community rallies for causes every day. But we can never support senseless killing - not now, not ever. We are a no-kill nation. I hope the Houston SPCA and Harris County authorities will join us.