UPDATE: Please do not believe the whitewash that the city of Amarillo is trying to do on this. They realize that what they did was indefensible and are trying to cover their tracks with "new details." Recognize it for what it is; a cover-up.
On May 10, shelter volunteer Darcia Anderson alerted staff from Amarillo Animal Management and Welfare that the dog in kennel G7 had already given birth to one puppy, and she didn't have a whelping box.
That dog was surrendered to the shelter by its owners the previous day, according to Animal Management and Welfare director Richard Havens, who told KAMR those owners characterized the dog as "vicious."
However, pictures show this dog to be anything but vicious. In fact, Anderson walked into the cage and the dog was friendly and clearly asking for help in birthing her litter.
"She was friendly, but scared, and jumped up on me for comfort," Anderson wrote in her post. "I am aware that euthanasia is a reality at the shelter. I am well aware of the overpopulation problems. I am also well aware that AMW has to make hard decisions. However, I feel that this action is the exact opposite of a what 'the most humane community in the Panhandle of Texas' would do."
According to KAMR news, Shelter Director Richard Havens confirmed to KAMR that the puppies were euthanized along with their mother. She was put down due to what Havens says was her violent demeanor and a history of aggressive behavior.
But that still leaves Anderson with two gripes. First, that the dog was still in labor at the time she and her pups were put to sleep.
"Her last moments, while she lay dying, were spent still trying to clean her newly birthed puppies," she wrote.
And second, why did the puppies not get a chance to be adopted? Both Anderson and Havens acknowledge the overcrowding in and Amarillo shelter, the same issue that haunts shelters across the state and the country.
Why would a shelter--that people expect to help save, foster and rehabilitate dogs--not only kill a mother during child birth, but kill the puppies as well? All are dead.
What kind of a "humane" shelter allows a dog to be killed while in the process giving birth??
Demand better; add your name to a list that will require the staff involved to be fired and replaced with competent staff that cares for--and not kills--animals they have been charged with caring for.
