We’ve all heard that saying at some time or another. Well, you or I might not, but what about the City of Houston? Two former employees who got fed up with the city’s animal shelter took their message to the council Tuesday, and that message is the City ought to cite itself for animal cruelty:

They provided many photographs showing problems with cages.

Some are too small for larger dogs that can’t even turn around or wag their tails.

They also said there are serious problems with the grates.

“The grates have holes in them that are large enough for animals to get their feet caught in and if you don’t catch it within a few hours of it happening, then you end up euthanizing the animal in the cage because you couldn’t get their foot loose,” said Michelle Haberland.

Haberland says she’s witnessed it all first hand.

She was a veterinary technician there until last month. She says she couldn’t take it anymore.
“They were hanging art work that costs thousands of dollars in the lobby and we couldn’t order antibiotics for the dogs that we were euthanizing day in an day out for an upper respiratory infection. I said, ‘That’s it. I have got to go,'” said Haberland.

Artwork? Honestly, some buildings you want to dress up, because they should look imposing and/or be a culturally positive addition to the city. They are a mark of city pride. City Halls are obviously such, but so are libraries, and some public works. We could have dull, flat gray concrete retaining walls on the Southwest Freeway, but instead we’re putting in nice tan ones with a pattern and climbing ivy. So artwork in public buildings or architecture, per se, isn’t a bad idea.

The art work was indeed ordered and installed to improve the shelter’s image and to make it more people-friendly. Manager Cynda Lewis says it did not cost thousands of dollars.

“I think it was about $1,500 for materials and an inside person did it for us,” said Lewis.

Fifteen hundred dollars to decorate the lobby while the animals went without antibiotics or decent cages. Assuming they weren’t put to death.

Last year, of the 26,243 animals picked up by BARC, 21,214 animals were euthanized.

There were 1,463 animals adopted and 1,579 animals reclaimed by their owners. There were 1,698 animals saved by rescue groups and 289 animals lost or unaccounted for. Some of them were actually lost down the sewer drain.

Put to death, or lost down the drain. While $1,500 gets spent on artwork. Wonder if any bonuses were handed out there for best-looking lobby. Or killing dogs more efficiently.

I bet it’s a nice lobby, but just for the record, if you put pink cake frosting on a turd, it’s still a turd.