The People Of HCHS

We all have a responsibility to take care of each other. The Harford County Animal Shelter is the place our lost, unwanted, found, and in need animals go to if there isn't a pet parent to advocate for them. If you have ever spent time in a place that doesn't have a local shelter you understand why these places are integral to the kindness towards animals. They are the best example of why compassion matters. They house the most vulnerable. The most desperate, and it is an immense responsibility. With these come difficult scenarios, challenges and obstacles. No one argues this. When the shelter is a part of a community that cares deeply about their pets the shelter has to be a reflection of the communities expectations. The good, the bad, everything in between. 

Leadership, ethos, and all that these include have to be the guiding principles.

Our local middle school made posters for shelter awareness

Preface; This was written in response to the parvovirus outbreak at the Harford County Humane Society in early March 2025. The videos I posted have been moved to my YouTube channel. They sparked a discussion so impactful it caused ripple effects I had not foreseen. This is one part of a many part series. This is what happens when you ask for answers and get obstacles, excuses, silence, and an emergence of a throng of others who all have been previously where you are with no avail. 

This is the letter I wrote to bring voices out into the open. To acknowledge the courage of so many trying to help the animals they care about. To shed light on a place we all want to succeed. To speak for those who cannot. 

Here goes opening the can of worms...

I am struggling with where to go from here. What to do with the stories, statements, suffering I have been hearing. 

There are many common threads. People feel exhausted from trying to improve the care of the animals at the shelter. People feel beaten up, afraid. I hear "retaliation" and "bullying" over and over. Many people tried to improve things via the chain of command. Started with their manager. Kept forcing the issue up the ranks. Finally, asked for a meeting with the Board and have never been given the dignity of an acknowledgment. Just silence. It makes you feel so insignificant you question your own motives, thoughts, intentions. 

In the end, and just as in the beginning, this place is supposed to be a safe place. A halfway house for those who need a second chance. A place where everything is centered around compassion and love. Pets are love. The purest form mankind will ever have. We have failed them, failed those who care about them. This is the communities responsibility. We all hold a fragment of that. None of us should need a shelter, but all of the animals do. Let’s get back to there.

 

My mom and Templeton. Her rescue from the HCHS

Preface; much of this was forwarded to me by previous employees who wanted to present these to the Board. They were never given an opportunity to share them. The Board has a position of not allowing people their time.

"Since my employment, before my promotion into management, I have been under constant harassment and verbal abuse from certain members of all departments. It was possibly one of the most toxic work environments I have ever been a part of, so toxic that it bled and intruded into my personal life as well as my professional life. I took a lot of this on the chin without retaliation, I did this because I loved the animals and my job and was not going to allow that to deter me and I knew it was unjustifiable for this treatment towards me.",, "I expressed how I have "compassion fatigue" and how I'm working on things from home often without compensation because I care so much and love this place, but I'm not getting anything back and I am being ghosted and I'm wearing myself down. I had a lot of frustration built up because of everything that transpired, I feel this was known that something was deeply bothering me and no one cared or wanted to give me the time to talk about it.." ,, "this is truly unfair and has ruined me mentally with these games that have been played with me and the rough treatment towards me. Silencing me and removing me has now cost me my position in a job I excel at and have nothing but love and passion for, and has ruined my life after how much I have given to this organization and the animals"

 The above was provided in a letter to the HCHS Board early 2024 after termination. Employee is seeking justification and explanation for termination.

A letter from a volunteer;

".. I don't believe the dogs are getting the best care.. I have been told that the dogs are supposed to go out for walks or at least out of their kennels twice a day and for the majority of the time I am at the shelter, that is not happening. I would even wager to say, on the days I am there, there are dogs that are not even taken out once. I know this because there is a board that lists the dogs and AM and PM walks and there are always many openings to show the dog has not been walked. I am there until 4 pm."

",, the junior staff,, they don't really care about the animals. It is just a job to them. The turnover rate is (high)."

Another volunteers thoughts;

"I have not been going to the shelter as much.  It has been depressing. We used to be able to let one cat out at a time to get exercise. Under new management, that was stopped.  The morale has not been the best. They work short staffed on certain days; also are overworked.  They got rid of a guy XX  because he advocated for the barn animals. XX. This burns the staff out covering animal care and the barn animals. Dogs in kennels are lying in feces;  sometimes they walk in it. Therefore it is all over the run.  I was shocked when I heard XXX left. She cared so much for the animals.  She was their best advocate.  They micromanaged her like no tomorrow.  She was the best investment they had. There used to be an abundance of adult cats where there were overflows.  I am not seeing a lot of cats. Not sure what is going on. Even the tech room was filled with them. There was a cat in isolation that someone had fostered. Thankfully that cat was adopted ASAP. With the money missing, not sure why the board and treasury weren’t overseeing the funds.  They also have a bookkeeper.  None of this adds up. Now they had to halt construction on finishing up the new building to lack of funds.  The board could care less. They are in it for their own status and gains. They make bad decisions. They allowed  bullying , harassing, and toxic environment with staff members. It was so bad that XXXX went to lunch and didn’t return . They did not like her because she was friends with someone the staff didn’t like. XXXX was amazing! They treated her so bad.  Meanwhile , they kept some of the bullies.  At first, I wasn’t going to adopt from there. I had a bad experience with the adoption director. XXXX is the reason why I adopted. She fostered and adopted the cats that were special needs or difficult. She was extremely dedicated and gave her life to the shelter! I feel like the board has no interest in the shelter because they have no shelter experience. Then they have a dog trainer on the board.  They have clients bringing their dogs to the shelter and training  the grounds and in the training room. So then the shelter animals do not have a meet and greet.  Who is not to say that one of their puppies could be shedding the Parvo virus.  It is so political. I feel sorry for the new executive director being thrown into a bad situation with no experience.  I am sure she is frustrated."

Excerpts from other employees/former employees; left within the last year.

"The shelter was often at full capacity with dogs, ,, management would bring in puppies from high-kill shelters down south to take to adoption events like the car show at the Baltimore Convention Center to make money. The shelter brought in 3 litters of puppies from Texas for one auto show when the shelter was already full of dogs who deserved the chance to go to events for exposure. However, every year the long-timers got left behind because the puppies generate more money for the shelter and attracted a lot of publicity. In addition all the puppies had to be housed at the shelter for several days/weeks and were often kept in small airline crates and left in offices overnight because we had no open kennels.An urgent plea was often sent out asking for fosters because we were already out of space before bringing in the puppies, however, dogs that were already under the microscope for euthanasia were then euthanized to open space for the puppies."

* note from me; this story is disturbing on a few levels;

The response from the HCHS on why the parvo puppies were not able to be attempted to be saved/treated was because they couldn't quarantine, or had no space to do so. And, they do not have “the financial luxury of gold standard of care.” My response was to remind them that all we offered was free. There seems to be some doubt in our genuine intent. Perhaps another defensive deflective tactic? Further, it is described previously, on multiple occasions that animals spill over into other areas of the shelter for care when needed. I believe that there is also a building halfway completed, but funds ran out? Previous puppies who needed quarantine time (prev vet tried to save a puppy who needed rabies quarantine, although it was her professional opinion that the puppy did not have rabies) were euthanized by management, after she told them she would take the puppy for the quarantine period (ask me I have done it with my kittens, it can be done), that the puppy was best euthanized then kept in a crate. It is possible to quarantine in a room inside a room. The vets puppy would have had a better life than their car show puppies.

"Staff would be terminated or forced out of their position if they spoke up on behalf of the animals, (*note; I have heard this repeatedly). It was made known that "Maryland is an at-will state" and staff could be terminated for any reason. 

Let me go off on the idea of "terminating volunteers."  If any organization is lucky enough to have a volunteer you embrace them whole-heartedly. People are reluctant to step into a shelter, (too depressing, sad, etc), and you are going to threaten to fire them? Or fire them? (PS late entry, I heard two others were recently terminated from volunteering). How many is this in total?

"The animals were being fed twice a day, however, the decision was made by "leadership" to reduce feeding the animals to only once daily to save money. The dogs were only fed in the morning and it was obvious that they were hungry and underweight. Some dogs that were extremely underweight were requested to be twice daily by the staff. Because of the decrease in feeding, dogs were exhibiting signs of food aggression and those that already food aggression got worse and were ultimately euthanized."

Dogs, burn calories at very high rates when they are stressed. Any animal, or anyone in any unfamiliar environment, is going to require a higher caloric intake due to their body having to meet the incredible number of stressors they face. Being in survival mode burns calories at a rate higher than anything else.

"Funds were spent on staff parties and the dogs went hungry. These dogs are stressed out all day. They jump at the door. They run in circles. They run on adrenaline and need extra calories (among a lot of other things)."

Another employee who left last year;

"We had dogs surrendered to us with known health issues that they didn't examine and just threw in kennels to where xx staff found them collapsing and dying because they weren't receiving the care they needed. The dogs in the tech kennels would never have water and would be covered in feces and urine. They thought it was beneath them to care for the dogs....."

"I could go on for days about how poorly they treat the animals. ,,, I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I still have screenshots of emails from my time there, I still have names and dates of the animals that passed away. ,,,, I wish things could get better they need to make a change."

Here's what strikes me as strange. No one in any of the letters complains about the inherent nature of the shelter. No one even mentions any of the things a regular person would. Things like; people left healthy animals there to adopt a younger one. Animals were surrendered that had no evidence of being ... well, whatever (too old, too loud, too hyper). No one ever complains about any of the things that keep adopters from entering a shelter. The stigma of a shelter. The inherent sad, depressing reality that shelters need to exist. With all of the hard realities of a shelter these people accepted them and still felt purpose and belonging within them. They still wanted to be a part of the shelter, for all of its difficulty, just to be there with the animals who needed them too. To hear they are punished, discriminated against, because of this? That’s ludicrous and perhaps grounds for their compensation/retaliation?

92% placement?
What does that even mean?

These are people of trauma. People who live with despair and heart ache. These people all were there because they care about animals. They deserve to have their voices heard. They asked to have their voices heard. They deserve a thank you and a place of gratitude and compassion for trying to help the animals of our community. The shelter is an incredibly hard place to be, the people and animals there deserve nothing but compassion and support. 

There is more to this. More stories. I have to read them in small amounts. Then call/email the author to say, "I'm sorry. Thank you for all you did. It made all the difference for those animals. They needed you and you were there for them. It is the most generous, kindest form of love. You are amazing. Someone needs to tell you that. Someone should have told you that before me."

Multiple people have spoken about the dog with the pyometra surgery who was “found dead with her intestines hanging out” the next morning when her family came to adopt her. The cause of death provided was given as “complications related to surgery.”

The stories go on. The grief goes on. We have to do better.