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.
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| 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.
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| 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?
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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.
