We are writing this petition to demand that the City of Houston puts an immediate stop to animal cruelty, abuse, torture and neglect inside of their city animal shelter (BARC). Houston BARC management team has failed to provide proper care for injured animals in their custody which has caused unwarranted suffering and agony for countless homeless animals who cannot speak for themselves.

Houston is the 4th largest city in the US and has become an infamous example for the entire nation because Mayor Sylvester Turner and Tina Paez, Director of Administration and Regulatory Affairs (ARA), fail to hold BARC employees accountable for criminal animal cruelty.

Animal cruelty, abuse, torture and neglect is not acceptable regardless of who the offenders are. Government employees should be held accountable as any citizen with the same standard stated in Texas Penal Code Sec. 42.092 - Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animals.

Cayden, a beautiful young German Shepherd entered Houston BARC on June 16th, 2021 after being hit by a car. BARC x-rays showed a dislocated right hip and a complete break to his left tibia, leaving him unable to stand or walk. Sweet Cayden’s body was covered in puncture wounds and he had an extensive skin infection. He also had a painfully enlarged scrotum (the size of a baseball!) and tested positive for Heartworm. 

Cayden remained in the care of BARC for 7 days without receiving proper emergency medical treatment, unable to do so much as stand in his kennel. Unable to relieve himself otherwise, he soiled himself for 7 consecutive days. It was later noted by medical staff at the emergency animal hospital, where he was taken to after being rescued from BARC, that the urine saturation in Cayden’s skin and fur was so bad that he would have to wait at least a week before he was cleared for what would be first of many surgeries. There was never a question to Cayden's suffering. BARC by their own admission admitted that Cayden had extensive injuries that were causing excruciating pain and that he needed immediate medical treatment. 

What happened to Cayden is inexcusable and unacceptable!

BARC is the responsible authority and the custodian of impounded animals in Houston. According to Texas Penal Code Sec. 42.092 Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animals -

“Custody” includes responsibility for the health, safety, and welfare of an animal subject to the person’s care and control, regardless of ownership of the animal.”

“Animal” means a domesticated living creature, including any stray or feral cat or dog, and a wild living creature previously captured.”

Houston BARC’s current chosen policy of neglect has allowed unwarranted additional suffering to unimaginable numbers of injured animals because the management team has continuously failed to provide the animals with adequate medical care.

It is also not BARC's current practice to treat cases like Cayden's as an emergency. BARC does not plead to the public for any help, albeit financial or otherwise, when injured animals are at stake.

The proof of under utilization of free resources is recurring and astounding.

We must ask why BARC does not do more community outreach in an effort to better take care of the animals that require specialized medical and behavioral care, while they constantly defend themselves with budgetary constraints.

Why does BARC not have a community partnership with a local Houston animal hospital who can work with them to treat the sick and injured animals that the shelter is responsible for? 

Cayden is one of hundreds!

BARC’s cruel intentions to leave an injured Cayden in his own urine and excrement for 7 straight days was harmful to his state of health and wellbeing and depreciated his quality of life rapidly. It caused the skin infection to exacerbate exponentially.

BARC's negligence cost Cayden a paw in addition to excruciating and unnecessary agony!

The rescue group “Lost Ball Canine Rescue” has since incurred over $10,000 in medical expenses just to save Cayden and to restore a normal quality of life for him. After a series of unfortunate events and torture at Houston BARC, Cayden deserves to be saved because every life matters!

Not only did BARC grossly neglect Cayden’s very noticeable injuries upon intake and fail to immediately transfer him to a rescue organization that could have alleviated his suffering, the BARC management team did not plead to the public for help and as a result, allowed Cayden’s condition to deteriorate with zero proper care during his 7-day stay.

Houston BARC then deemed sweet Cayden worthless to save and put him on the kill list to be destroyed on June 23rd, 2021 out of convenience.

Despite the unjustifiable and cruel manner towards Cayden, he continuously displayed a calm and loving disposition throughout his painful and cruel stay at BARC.

Cayden’s unconditional love is evidently monumental. More importantly, Cayden wanted to live.

It is obvious that BARC is not complying with its own mission and vision statements, Houston BARC states very clearly that they “promote humane animal care” and aspire to be a “nationally recognized model of excellence in animal care and placement where City governments throughout the United States see BARC as the beacon of best practices dedicated to delivering humane, efficient and high-quality service.”

Houston BARC has been known to deem injured animals “aggressive” and discard those precious lives on a regular basis. Cayden was just one of many. It has become blatantly obvious to the whole nation that the life of Cayden, a sweet German Shepherd with treatable injuries did not matter to Houston BARC and its management team.

A better ordinance must be put into place so this does not happen again. The City of Houston needs to codify animal protection through passage of legislation to have provisions to ensure life affirming options for every animal, every time.

In the meantime, we are asking city leaders of the City of Houston to PLEASE have compassion for these voiceless animals who are sentient beings like us. They feel emotions and are fully capable of building a symbiotic bond with humans that can be traced back at least 15,000 years ago. For centuries, dogs have been labeled as "man's best friend," offering companionship, loyalty, therapy and assistance to their human counterparts.

By signing this petition, you agree empathy matters and Houston BARC should enact an animal ordinance to enable furtherance of the symbiotic bond that is much valued by Houstonians and Americans.

Let’s remove governmental animal cruelty in Houston BARC and let compassion begin!

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