Houston, TX – Over the past year, I have written several times regarding the horrific activities and sky high kill rates that have been a constant at Harris County animal control, under the direction of Dawn Blackmar. After much negative news publicity and many complaints from the public, the Harris County Attorney, Vince Ryan, performed an 8 month investigation and produced a report which confirmed that the complaints were true.
The report confirmed that Harris County animal control has been breaking state humane and shelter laws for a number of years.
The report also confirmed that Harris County animal control has a shocking 83% KILL rate!
Yet, more than 6 months after the Harris CountyAttorney’s report was issued, there have been no repercussions to those employees who broke the law. None.
The Harris County Commissioners’ Court did not fire or even reprimand the county employees.
The Harris CountyAttorneydid not fire or reprimand county employees, nor did he even recommend that they be reprimanded in his report.
The Harris County District Attorney has not filed criminal charges against those employees who have broken the law and treated animals inhumanely.
Absolutely nothing has happened. Harris County officials are trying to sweep it under the rug.
It is clear that the people running Harris County animal control, and the elected officials running our county, will not voluntarily make the changes necessary to stop the inhumane treatment and mass slaughter at Harris County animal control.
It is abundantly clear that, if we want changes in our shelter system, it will be up to us to force those changes. That means making sure that Harris County has leadership dedicated to saving lives. We have the power to accomplish this with our VOTES.
Therefore, No Kill Texas Advocates is considering organizing a Candidate Forum for the Harris County candidates who are ultimately responsible for Harris County animal control. (The elections are in November, 2012.)
This would be an opportunity for you, a voter with the power to makes changes, to listen to the candidates and decide if they represent your values.
This would also be an opportunity for the candidates to see just how many people care about this issue and who will use their votes to make positive changes.
But, before we move forward and organize a Candidate Forum, I want to see how many people would be interested.
So, I am asking all animal lovers who are eligible to vote in Harris County to answer the below poll question. Note: The Candidate Forum would take place on a weekday evening after most people get off work.
An Animal Advocate 
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MANDATORY SPAY/NEUTER !!! Stop the back yard breeders, and lower the cost to spay/neuter. Require legitimate breeders to pay a hefty fee, yearly, to stay in business. This will cut down on the problem. I’ve been fostering needy dogs, with several rescue groups, for years. We’ve got to get to the source of overpopulation to fix this.
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Lisa, mandatory spay/neuter laws have been passed in other communities and they have not worked to reduce shelter killing. In fact, they have caused shelter intakes to rise which resulted in higher kill rates. The reason is that the number one reason that people do not spay/neuter is cost or lack of access to a low cost clinic. When a mandatory s/n law is passed, these people still cannot afford s/n, so what do you think happens to those animals? In order to avoid a fine, people end up dumping their pets on the street or relinquishing them to “shelters”. This of course, raises intake numbers and kill numbers.
To read more about where these laws have been passed and their utter failure, click here: http://www.nokillhouston.org/legislation/mandatory-spay-neuter-laws/
We KNOW what stops shelter killing. There are over 50 No Kill, Open Admission shelters/animal controls which are now saving 90% or more. These shelters are servicing around 200 communities. That is 200 communities in North America which are No Kill.. They are all utilizing the exact same No Kill model of sheltering. This model works everywhere. See it here: http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/shelter-reform/no-kill-equation/
There is no point in re-creating the wheel because we already know what works. It has been proven over and over and over.
I urge everyone to become very familiar with the shelter model that is working so you can advocate for it in your community. Start with.the No Kill Advocacy Center’s website. http://www.NoKillAdvocacyCenter.org and No Kill Houston’s website: http://www.NoKillHouston.org and No Kill Texas Advocates’ website: http://www.NoKillTexasAdvocates.org
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Spoke with Dennis L. Barker, Jr., Investigator on 9/6/12, inquiring as to the progress of this Dawn Blackmar case. Was told that since the compliant, You, would not testify under oath, he could not proceed. What the &^#! Is going on?
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Dennis, I don’t understand your comment. What type of investigator is Mr. Barker? Who does he work with? What exactly did you ask him to do?
No one has ever asked me to testify, in any forum, regarding Harris County animal control. The Harris County Attorney talked to many people when preparing his report. I sent them some information however, again, I was never asked to testify.
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Thanks Hope! Please pass on to all of your friends and family. We need to know that every Harris County voter will join with us to force changes in Harris County.
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Yes! You can count me in! As an animal lover and concerned citizen, I will do what I can to help.
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