Let's demand real answers to real questions so that everyone feels good about the care we expect for the animals of our community.
The organization that establishes criteria for the reporting of numbers in shelters is Best Friends (bestfriends.org). There is no designation for "live placement." They are the experts in the field of shelters. They have incredible data to support their tireless efforts to protect and promote the unwanted and misplaced. The industry standard that every shelter is trying to attain, as the Gold Standard of shelter care, is "no-kill." To be designated as "no-kill" you have to meet certain, industry determined criteria. It is the best measure of how compassionate a place can be. It is, as most experts will agree, unattainable if you are "open admission." When a large percentage of your operating funds come from the general public perception is paramount. Here, as above, the HCHS has not used the standard terminology of "live release" but instead "live placement." Marketing motivates money. See more on this here. Repeated requests for "live release" numbers have not been provided.
The issue with almost everything that comes from the shelter when they are scrutinized, held to accountability that requires the difficult decisions that a shelter inevitably faces, is that they are a private entity. This designation comes up a lot. It is the crutch the Board of Directors uses when they don't want to answer for their actions. It is the noose that the HCHS puts around the County Executors who have nowhere else to send the animals of the county. Being private provides them the latitude to decide who they hire. What they pay, and how they execute the contract they have with the county. The HCHS does not have to provide the same degree of oversight or scrutiny that a public facility would. They have a contract with Harford County to provide the services needed for the animals that are lost, found, relinquished, or seized. I don't think that most people would argue with this. There has to be a place for these animals. There also has to a large degree of trust in those who take care of the animals to the degree that this counties residents expect.
Let your numbers talk by providing the details that explain how you got them. This only happens with transparency. Transparency is integral to building, and maintaining trust. See here.
How do we find the numbers? You ask very direct questions and require very direct answers.
Where are the numbers for 2024? Why is there such a large difference on line number 15 on the 990 from 2024? How much is each staff member being paid? Are there, have there been "bonuses" given out?
In the latest meeting with the County Executives and the shelter can be found here.
The article in the Aegis about the budget meeting is here.
Listen to the audio of the meeting, maybe you will feel as I do?
The cronies network in Harford County is obvious and troubling. Why would the taxpayers want such cronyism? Isn't impartiality integral to objectivism? The audio of the meeting sounds more like a cocktail hour than a government oversight discussion. I kept thinking about Gayle Kings and her "have you all been to space?" Like some loss of reality to the commoners. They probably feel like its so absurd to criticize, but, as an outsider that's what I heard. They have each other, and they cover for each other. It just seems that they also forgot to ask any hard questions of each other?
There are so many points of omission that are impactful that the concerns of trust and transparency are even more obvious.
The numbers above are just from the numbers they want to give you. The numbers only indicate what you want to share. If you are asking for taxpayers money maybe have an outside, unbiased (i.e. no one from the Board or County Council), look at them. Its putting your money, and integrity, and trust, and transparency, where your mouth is. It is so convenient to be able to claim your "private" status, and yet shut out the public, its scrutiny, and the accountability that comes along with it. When there is nothing to hide you hide nothing.
From the head of the Board:
"We've addressed every single issue that has been out there, and it seems like once we do, something else pops up." Sounds like maybe you have a lot of problems that the "ignore them and they will go away" isn't working for?
Still waiting for that meeting Mr Heidelmaier. Rumor has it you are retiring soon.
"Euthanasia is under 90%." Is the shelter euthanizing 89%? Why is 90 % such an important number? See here
There are numerous animals that have been euthanized without meeting the MOU that is published. If I cannot get a straight answer about the parvo dogs who else has been euthanized without meeting your own standards? What happened to BC and Junior? If the parvo dogs were euthanized outside of the veterinarians care why? Why not utilize the resident experts? Let's also hear about how many hours they work? Stating to the public that you are "fully staffed" and yet I am told there are not 4 veterinarians still making up a full time veterinarian is, well, another careful omission, i.e. deceitful.
How much are the staff at the shelter paid? I am told that the part time behavior expert, also related to another staff member is being paid more than the veterinarians? What about the week long continuing education/vacation in Las Vegas? If you need to ask taxpayers for additional funds to stay operating perhaps the public scrutiny of a week in Vegas is another convenient omission?
On this Mothers Day My mom, with her dog Templeton, rescued from the HCHS at 16 years old
What harms the shelter? Not answering questions. Not being forthcoming. The good old boys network holds. No one will meet. No one will answer. I am still awaiting the meeting I have been told I will have. The excuse; don't answer the hard questions because more had questions might follow?
"We do not believe that we are doing anything wrong." How can you say that when you ignore those asking for clarification?
Admission of ED having no animal background. Lets ask the veterinarians what they think? Why wasn't this infectious disease outbreak overseen by 1 of "the four veterinarians" you have on staff? The answer I have been given by two of them is; "they are an employee. They are not given the authority." They have been undermined and overridden by other shelter employees without any medical experience.
Why is everyone afraid to talk? And how long can you hide behind the excuse that you are "private" when asking for taxpayers dollars as you euthanize our animals?
There is a secret to medicine that you only learn with decades of passage. The secret is to remain vulnerable. Remain hopeful, kind, and adoring to the companions that fill your life with gentle inclusion. Look into their eyes and feel what is reflected back. Be compassionate as the guide to healing both them, and yourself. The patients will never let you down, therefore, keep reinvesting in them.
These patients that I am entrusted with, the small, the weak, the voiceless, they are my WHY.
There are a multitude of reasons why vets stay at one practice for decades, or, their lifetime. I can tell you that with 20 years in, I will never leave JVC because my roots are so deep in my patients/clients lives that I can no longer dissect one from the other. These patients and families are my glue. They are my roadmap, compass, and cadence. They are my time, my waking moments, my daily guide and my nightly whispers. They are the first thing I check before bed. The first thing I wake up to, and the delightful fluff of the middle. My pets are an extension of who I am as much as everyone else's pets remind me how important they are to their family.
Last night I sat with a mid-20's guy who cried buckets of uncontrollable tears over the loss of his 6 year old cat. It was raw, and tragic, and gut-wrenching to be a part of. It was also the best example of a real moment of this life I am so honored and privileged to be a part of. It is a perfect reminder that all of us need to spend more time within. If you cannot feel empathy for a loss, as insignificant as others might think a cat's life is, then you are missing the only WHY that will ever give your life true color and beauty.
The WHY in medicine has to be more than the paycheck and the initials before or after your name tag. The WHY in medicine has to be so powerful that it gets you through the long, exhausting and grueling days. It has to be so powerful that you willingly and knowingly give up the yearning for beaches, and fast cars, and possessions as a way to remind others that you have achieved something envious. It has to be enough to be almost everything. Medicine is that way. The trick is to outwit it with willingness to accept its terms on your own. The trick is to adore it for all of its glory and ugly.
The WHY is all that matters when everything else is breaking your heart.
When the WHY takes the form of a fluffy kitten, a bouncing puppy, the client that you wait excitedly to see in your daily roster, or the cat that you spent months trying to save their leg and/or life, you get invested so deeply that you risk the green-eyed-monster of jealousy. Maybe we shouldn't admit this, and maybe, (in rare cases), we only mean it half-heartedly, but, veterinarians absolutely take ownership of their clients and patients.
When you tread on that WHY we get seriously protective.
You will a hear robust, boisterous, outcry if one of the other vets walks back holding a patient that another one of us has grown fond of. You will almost see bodily harm if we perceive that the pet parent is forming new bonds with another vet. Fistfights, or the bitter air of plotting passive-aggressive vengeance comes next. There have been occasions where (mysteriously?) one patient's appointment is switched with another's so that the vet can see the one they know and adore, versus the one they do not. It is a game of barter and bribe when one vet won't release possession of the others patient. You can almost get a day off if its the right patient on an otherwise difficult day. Our patients, and clients bring so much to our days that we bicker over them. We absolutely take it personally when one client chooses another provider, or, worse yet, refuses to see you.
Sure, we take our jobs seriously, and our patient claims vehemently, but, there is a lot to this job, so don't infringe upon our own emotional needs. We need to feel like we have purpose. That our patients rely on us. We need to feel needed. With that comes ownership. It is impossible to not be personally invested and not jealous when the care falls into another camp. That our cup o'WHY is kept topped off.
Me and Goose. I adore him as much as his family.. They are my WHY just as much as Goose is
Too often clients who say to me, "I know you are busy. I wanted to see you, but, I didn't want to ask for special treatment." This is most often because they have some need to be seen within the next few days or hours, and I am almost always booked weeks in advance. We have pets who we saw for all of their puppy visits. The cats who needed multiple urinary unblockings. The dogs who swallow socks; repeatedly. The cat with the leg that took 3 months of time, love, and dedicated worrying ourselves to pieces of harrowed existence, but is now walking on that leg that everyone else said to "just amputate." We take our little victories, our previous challenges, and we hold them near and dear. These patients become our obsessive labors of love. If you went into small animal veterinary medicine you did it because dogs and cats compel some little piece of your soul which is meant to care for them. It is the best part of everyday to be with them. I live for these cases. I throw myself into them. When we win our war against their ailment we regale! We never forget these patients. As an extension of these cases we bond to the pets parents. We all go through this together. I feel for them as they feel for their pet, and maybe, just a little bit, for me. Don't all teachers, doctors, caregivers, hair stylists, manicurists, everyone who has to provide care or a service face to face with someone repeatedly, don't we all feel some sense of friendship past the business transaction?
Allie, who is always this happy to see me.
I know I do. It's only human to get your feelings into the work you are passionate about.
"You can't add days to your life,
but you can add life to your days."
The best part of my job is all of the feelies. It isn't easy living a life based upon, and within them. Propelled, compulsed, and revolving around them. But, it is the heart/soul/integrity of medicine/rescue/life, so, you might as well embrace it and dive full on into it.
Anna Mollie. A visit from her newly adoptive mom, many years ago, started a friendship that has become the one I treasure most.
Every great pet parent wants to have a veterinarian who knows what their WHY is. One who makes that WHY visible, palpable, obvious. The sticky-feely-WHY also makes us more human, more capable of being the companion our companions inspire us to be.
Pippa. Whose family has become a part of my own.
P.S. I want to add that we have abandoned the ability to decline providers in an emergency. We all live within the same WHY here at JVC. None of us is here to diminish or infringe upon it. We are a team of equally emotionally burdened powerhouses. If there are open options for picking and choosing a vet, for example, we have multiple openings available with different vets, you can choose who you prefer to see. But, if you are in need of a same day appointment and you want to try to cherry pick providers when only one is offering to see you, you are out of luck. We have collectively decided to support each other and not permit the hard feelings declining a provider brings.
There's always a guy who takes it for the team. The fall guy. In some cases they land on the sword to save the rest of the troops. The Captain who goes down with the ship. The Emmett Till open coffin that puts a real face on the brutality of racism. In others they are set up without volunteering. We call this..
The Patsy
definition;
noun
a person who is easily taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something
A patsy is often used as a scapegoat or fall guy by someone else who wants to avoid responsibility or consequences for their own actions. This term can also refer to a person who is taken advantage of in a scheme or scam. The word 'patsy' often carries a negative connotation, suggesting that the person is foolish or gullible, and has been made a victim of someone else's scheme or plan.
How many patsy's are out there that don't know their lives are being set up behind their backs?
Zoey, Pyometra surgery 4/9/25
To explain where this is going I need to catch you up. There is a place that is the safety net for the animals to go when they are unwanted, unable to be cared for, on hold to be used as "evidence" in an investigation, or just plain old 'found' in our county. This place is also designated as an "open admission" shelter. It is what I refer to as a "necessary" institution. No one wants to need a shelter, and yet if we don't have one we will end up with animals on the streets attempting to fend for themselves, and often meeting pretty horrible deaths and suffering because of this. If you have ever been to a third world country you will see it all around you. Animals trying to survive off of trash. Freezing to death. Walking around wounded. Trying to raise offspring under very demanding, and unkind conditions. It is cruelty married to neglect via poverty. We no longer live in a country that provides care to people who love pets yet have financial limitations. We used to be a profession that put pets first. We no longer do. We are all to blame for this. Lost and found pets have very little good options. The safest option is to be brought to a shelter with a microchip so their owners can be notified immediately. Once at the shelter they have a minimum, (guaranteed by law, every place is a little different on time), holding period. This is about the only right they have. We hope that they are treated kindly and compassionately, but, this is not a guarantee and this is also in the eye of the beholder.
On March 10, 2025 a press release was delivered to my veterinary clinic notifying the county of a parvovirus outbreak at the shelter. As soon as we were notified we reached out to the shelter to offer help. We were notified a day later that all of the dogs had already been euthanized. What has ensued is a series of strategic missteps to try to avoid public scrutiny.
See the series of videos on this outbreak unfolding
here;
I remain determined to have a few questions about these dogs answered openly and honestly. This has yet to happen. The parvo puppies (from what I have been told) were brought in by Animal Control. They were sick if not on arrival, very shortly thereafter. One was so sick it was not given its intake vaccines and was sent to the ER. This (I thought was case 1, was really case 2). This is the only dog that I know of who was under veterinary oversight. The rest remain still unaccounted for as to whether they ever saw a veterinarian, were on their stray hold, (which is supposed to guarantee them the time for their family to show up to claim them), or be euthanized by one of only three people; the Sheriff, a veterinarian, or the Executive Director of the shelter. The current ED has no animal care experience. It appears that she decided to euthanize these dogs. It is difficult for me to accept that she made a decision on their denial for medical treatment when she has no credentials to assess them. She absolutely should have had a veterinarian oversee this outbreak, and these dogs.
These questions remain. When did each of them arrive? Under whose oversight were they brought to the shelter? Who authorized their care? Who authorized their euthanasia? What are their credentials in doing so? Why wasn't this infectious disease outbreak overseen by a veterinarian from start to finish?
For the whole time I have been a veterinarian at our practice (20 years) the shelter has seemed cursed. For about 2 years, (a few years ago), I volunteered once a week to help provide rabies vaccinations so pets would be protected and be able to find homes. We cannot adopt out a pet without a rabies vaccine. I was a volunteer. I never got paid for my time. I also adopted out at least 12 animals who needed homes, were too sick to be housed there, or were slated for imminent euthanasia. I understand personally and professionally the difficulties of the shelter.
This shelter, well, it's always had its challenges. Every place does. And yet, they still seemed to be cursed on top of that. I have spent the last three weeks trying to understand how things got so bad. I spent 3 weeks talking to people who work there, volunteer there, donate there, got fired/terminated/resigned from there. The stories people shared had so many common themes that my idea of cursed turned into inevitable. It is inevitable that things have turned out the way they have. Just like expecting parvo to hit when you bring 33 puppies in together. (See previous parvo puppy blog here). Disease is just waiting for you. The only, (yes only), way a shelter can be run as the community that supports it wants it to be, is to be a reflection of that community. All communities are different. Areas of the country view pets/animals differently. As a practice owner in this county I will say that people love their pets like family. They expect their pets, even if they are under their a different entities roof, to be treated as such. This is called trust. We inherently want to trust in the system, and people, put in place to provide this care. (See open letter to HCHS on trust here).
Birdie. My kitten. Local rescue
HCHS tactic number one; ignore and hope it goes away. I spent weeks asking for answers. If you do get a reply it is paltry and dismissive. After that, if you keep asking you just get ignored. (references; ED, Head of the Board. Notefull also occurring at AC dept).
There is little argument that the staff turnover is too high in the shelter. There are numerous reasons for this. As someone who did volunteer there, there is an overarching desire among many there that they want to help. They specifically want to help the pets in the system who struggle to find placement. For me it was the elderly, sick cats. The ones that weren't cute, round, cuddly. The ones overlooked. The ones that didn't have a great chance at getting out. It was very hard to go every week, but, the faces that I knew would be waiting for me always tugged me back. I was there for them. There is an incredible sense of purpose that leads to powerful persuasion in helping those without anyone else.
Why is the turnover so high at the shelter? The answer, (reminder again, this is all my opinion), is that poor leadership breeds poor performance. By the accounts of previous employees it is a toxic (their word) environment. (See their own stories here).
Why does it seem the same thing repeats over and over and over? I have been in this county for 20 years, and it always seems the same. Rumors swirl about the state of affairs at the shelter. Animals are being neglected, denied the care that is outlined in the Standard Of Care manual that is utilized and posted for the public, someone catches wind of it, and a cleaning of the house occurs. (They do get most of their funding from the taxpayers). And yet the overseeing humans who hire top staff and are charged with making the remains relatively intact with very few animal care experts on it. (How can that be ideal for the animals?). The place is not cursed. The place runs by keeping the staff afraid to ask questions. Afraid to advocate for the residents. They are terminated via an email without an in person explanation. The people, pets and the status quo is disposable. People and pets there are treated the same. When there is accountability being asked for you get silence.
Here's what I am wondering. (Disclaimer time, this is my personal blog. I do not know any of these people personally, and I have no feeling for them one way or the other). How can a place with such an important purpose be inspirational, uplifting, life changing and healthy for all involved? Isn't the answer that it has to be supported, cared for, and believed in? If it has that infrastructure it can create protocols for people to know what is expected of them. But, if it is closed, secretive, and loses its purpose the power plays evolve. Pets are love. Love has to be at the center of every decision, every action and every persons ethos. It has to be. We do not live in a place where pets are viewed as anything else.
Don't we all need to hear this every so often?
Tactic Number two; Bully and intimidate. Secretly hand out termination letters. Post a public announcement that all of the inquiries are for "social media" attention. Every person at the shelter who has spoken to me explains it the same way. The management wants employees to feel that they are permitted there by the grace of the powers above them. If you want to run a magnificently successful shelter this ethos is upside down. The management exists at the mercy of those who get their hands dirty for them to stay in their executive attire.
The typical scenario is that it is the Executive Director (ED) is the face of the shelter. They manage the facility and its occupants/staff/etc. They are hired by the Board of Directors. (They have a website, you can see for yourself). The Board is smart enough to know, based on decades of Patsy's, to pick someone who won't know they are being set up. When your past two top hires have left on uncertain/unfriendly terms the common denominator is the the people who decide who gets to decide everything that follows after, OR, the directives you give the Director.
The pattern of behavior is that the Board terminates, or forces out with willing resignation, the ED, the shelter manager follows, and then the hiring process begins again. When it does they say things like; "It's a new day! We have new people. A fresh new approach to wipe the slate clean." Sounds like another deflection from responsibility, and certainly doesn't build transparency. Trust, well, that's another tough nut to put your whole heart and soul into.
It seems that the current choice for ED is a person with little to no animal experience. You don't know what you don't know, and the shelter is a tough place to get your training wheels. We were all young and green once. Some of us realized that growing up fast could be painful. Ask me what being sent to a military academy at 17, with a hatred for women, and an administrations penchant for hazing does to you?
My personal opinion is that they chose wisely, vs. chose for expertise. Apparently the last guy was recruited by a headhunter, and these days there is (allegedly) still money missing from the operating fund. The rumor mill (always this place,, we also have an issue with transparency,, but more on that later), is that they couldn't afford the head hunter this time. (They are, after all facing a budget crisis. They haven't posted their numbers in a few years, so even this is speculation, hearsay from members who have attended budget meetings, and the staff being told they cannot purchase items, or house sick parvo puppies, or provide "gold standard of vet care" (I actually was sent that email). Turns out they have budget constraints but are sending people to Vegas for a shelter conference. I'm all for investing in your people. I do see them as your most valuable asset. Inexperienced doesn't mean unqualified, but it does beg the question as to motives when the Board consistently provides directives/objectives to the ED, and then claims to not have direct involvement with the shelter or its day to day activities. You can't have it both ways. It appears that there is always enough distance and nescience to keep their hands clean, but, never leadership to be a backstop. There is always plausible deniability.
Plausible deniability is a tactic a lawyer would employ. I think the Board has those?
Stacking the deck with youth and naivety is a great way to deflect responsibility elsewhere. That and the 5th. They seem to employ that often too.
The other thing I hear a lot is the political nepotism in the county. I don't have direct first hand experience of that, but if there is smoke, and if you hear it often enough, there probably is some truth to it. Tomorrow is the day I look into this. If the puppies were picked up by AC they were supposed to be on a stray hold. Was this one, simple, integral right of theirs pardoned? If so was any licensed, credentialled veterinarian at the helm of this decision?
Professionalism. Well, I suppose it is a soapbox others can stand on, but, when you tell me there isn't a guarantee of 100% success with this treatment option, therefore it justifies euthanizing all of the parvo dogs, we might want to reconsider what does offer 100% in life? See post about the shelter declining to treat the parvo puppies with the treatment we offered (for free, just in case we need a reminder) here.
The previous employees I have spoken to all chorus the same things. The patterns repeat themselves.
"I was punished because I cared too much."
"I didn't speak out because it never got the other people anywhere."
"I stayed quiet because if they fired me I wouldn't be able to see the dogs/cats anymore." (How many abused/battered people stay because of this? Trauma is trauma).
"The Board doesn't care."
"They euthanize for space."
"The numbers don't add up." (The No-Kill status and the operating budget).
"The Board never is seen, or heard, or a part of the shelter." (Leadership at its finest, was tagged numerous times).
"The dogs are euthanized for no reason."
"The dogs are set up to have a behavioral problem and then euthanized because of it." Withholding food. Reducing meals to once a day. The stress of the facility. Dogs are going to respond to stimuli. In almost all cases dogs are mis-read and punished for it. Making an assessment of a dogs responses when they are in the most stressful place they will ever be placed in is unfair.
Snoop. Found in a steel leg hold trap. Local rescue.
Tactic Three; The Patsy.
The system will always make the Patsy pay. Until we all unite against political pressures, power grabs, and the insidious nature of wealth accumulation, this will never stop. If you asked me to predict the outcome of this it is; the Board never cared enough to be invested to begin with. They would prefer to save face at the witching hour and will quietly ride off into the night, versus stand up when the challenges meet the pavement. They will leave from embarrassment instead of humility and hope that the next guy can do a better job. Leadership is about passing the baton for the sake of the troops you respect. The Captain goes down with the ship is how I was raised.
The ED will be replaced. After the silent treatment didn't work, the intimidation didn't squelch the mob, the Patsy goes next. (This will supercede the above). If the above doesn't happen the whole cycle repeats again. History loves to repeat itself if you aren't paying attention. At some point I will take the time to do a follow up on the previous ED's. A whole "Look at where they are now," series. Wonder how many of them are going to look back and feel really good about taking one for the team. Or have Jerseys with a new company logo that says; "Hello, my name is Patsy."
The Patsy extends beyond the board and the executive Director. The Patsy extends to those people who are taking care of the dogs and cats on a personal and individual basis. What kind of place fires a volunteer because they’re more concerned about their image their face and their dollar generating ability then the pets themselves. There is no volunteer who’s gonna volunteer with the trauma that it takes to be in a shelter and then worry about being fired. How can you even do such a thing.Why aren’t they treated like the precious valuable commodity that they are. That’s the ultimate Patsy. Their video here.
Open letter to the community, board members, staff and
residents of the Harford County Humane Society,
As a private
veterinary practice owner, previous volunteer at the shelter and compassionate
advocate for animal welfare I would like to open a productive discussion to
assist in providing transparency and preventative/interventional care for the animals
in your care. This letter is a direct result of the current parvovirus outbreak
that occurred the week of March 9, 2025 and my previous experiences with the
shelter.
I, and the staff at Jarrettsville Veterinary Center, want to
offer our support and acknowledgment of understanding with the impossibility to
remain free and impervious to infectious disease. No shelter, hospital, or
organization can be vigilant enough to remain disease free. Infectious disease
outbreaks, and the subsequent turmoil they bring, cannot be underestimated or
overstated. It is a reality that every pet care professional lives with and
fears regardless of our fastidious efforts to avoid it. The shelter has been,
and will always be, the most vulnerable and fragile environment for our
companion animals. What the shelter also needs to be is the most proactive,
prepared and educated resource for this inevitable vulnerability. I have great
doubt that the current executive personnel and board members provide adequate
care for the pets inside the shelter. I also believe this example presents
significant deficiencies in the current decision making for companion animal
welfare and infectious disease outbreaks for the shelter residents. Further, these
cases provide an example for how the current ethos affects the shelter staff.
It is unknown how many animals were at risk, (i.e. not
current on vaccinations to protect against parvovirus), tested, tested
positive, sick, or euthanized, (and in what condition as examined by a licensed
veterinarian), upon euthanasia. It is also very difficult for me personally to
know that there were any dogs euthanized without first being offered care at no
cost. Did the Board, executives, (whomever made this decision to euthanize),
even know that there is an FDA approved treatment option? Did you know it was
being offered at no cost? If so, why was it not provided?
Trust and transparency are the foundation to compassionate
care in the shelter system. It is with these in mind that I would like to
highlight the following;
Transparency is closing the shelter when infectious disease
becomes apparent. It is also notifying and assisting the recent adoptions who
may have been impacted.
Trust is including all members of the team so that their
input, emotional investment and exposure which might subject their own family
pets to disease contracted in the workplace feel valued and protected.
To have the degree of trust the community deserves, and the
degree of compassion the pet residents warrant can only be done with a licensed
veterinary doctor at the forefront of all of the medical decisions these pets
face.
The financial risk at the shelter has always felt like it
was paramount to the pets, the staff and the community. I say this with the
following examples as points of concern;
The last executive director was removed and
placed out of view, without explanation. It appears this was done after an internal audit occurred. The shelter has a chronic epidemic of
losing, firing, removing personnel at alarming rates. As a volunteer
veterinarian, and knowing previous Executive Directors and veterinarians there
are consistent concerns that pet care is never at the forefront of life and
death decisions. Currently it is speculated that pets are being euthanized for
behavioral concerns at an alarming rate. Are there any checks and balances to
these pets being put to death? Is there more than one credentialed person who
is not related to one another making these decisions?
The Board should never be making medical decisions without a
veterinarian’s advice as the guiding influence from the onset. The Board has
instead consistently chosen to protect liability above the resident pets lives.
It has been my experience that the financial face is consistently placed above
the faces of the pets that you care for. It is possible to be honest,
vulnerable and maintain integrity that the pets are our purpose.
The timeline as distributed by representatives appears to
insinuate that parvovirus was present before the March 10th press
release. Was there a veterinarian overseeing the residents, intake and public
interactions at the first positive case? Has anyone taken responsibility for
these decisions?
Timeline for assistance as provided by JVC is as follows;
Monday March 10, 2025 immediately after I was notified
of an outbreak, I called and offered assistance of any kind needed. The
veterinarian on staff given full access to veterinary representatives for
parvovirus monoclonal antibody use at no cost.
Tuesday, March 11, 3 pm called Executive Director, no call
back as of Thursday afternoon when this was sent.
Wednesday, March 12, 1047 am, XXX, shelter vet care assistant, called to
notify that 4 positive dogs had been euthanized. She stated that their
condition “deteriorated rapidly.” I would like to know who made this decision,
what their veterinary credentials are, and if any of these pets were considered
for free care with the monoclonal antibody offered.
It is my understanding that a dog was adopted out and then tested
parvovirus positive due to exposure at the HCHS. Were these adopters notified
before their dog became sick? It was also relayed to me that the newly adoptive
pet parents were given two options from the HCHS; return to be euthanized, or,
seek care at their own cost. If this is true I find the response unacceptable.
It is so upsetting that I took it upon myself to reach out to the ER they were
at to offer treatment at no cost to them in your absent responsibility to do
the right thing to a family who deserves support and compassion at this time.
To summarize I am asking for full disclosure on the current
ethos that guides this shelter. I am seeking accountability, responsibility and
appropriate credentialed experts to be guiding these pets lives. For all of the
donations, dollars, fund drives, and face put forth there is not a degree of
trust that personnel dismissed for (alleged) embezzlement, neglect and political
reputation preservation are made public. Why have the past directors been
dismissed/fired/let go? Where are the dollars the community has worked so hard
for gone? When will your staff be given the reigns to care for the pets in your
care without liability and cost used as the reasons to sacrifice their
emotional well-being? When are you going to be honest about why the budget is so
tight that it does not allow the pets in your care the treatment they deserve. It
appears to me that you are more interested in covering up than caring for.
While I recognize the degree of difficulty inherent in a
public county shelter, I also recognize integrity and responsibility to all
that the shelter employs and houses.
It is time for hard self-reflection, honesty and putting the
pets back where the public expects them to be; first.
It is time to protect the pets of our community better.
As always, we are here in any capacity that we can assist in
the health and well-being of the pets of our community. All you have to do is
ask and we will help.
Sincerely,
Dr Magnifico
Jarrettsville Veterinary Center
P.S.
I was asked to not publish this while we, (I will just say I, because at this point it appears as if this is a singular effort in namesake), sought the appropriate chain of command channels. This resulted in the others (credentialled, established, embedded members of the HCHS) tried to decide what their responsibilities and personal preferences were. This should have been sent weeks ago.
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.
It's Wednesday morning. I am drinking coffee like its an Egyptian reincarnation elixir. Smooth, strong, bold. I close my eyes, grip the cup firmly. Sit back and breathe hoping that some magic vapor of it will infuse my body and reignite its desire to go on. There are remnants of the ashes of me left to try to re-assemble into a human being once again. Feel alive. Get up. Just move forward. For just one more day. If I can make it to Thursday I think it will be ok.... I think... I hope. I breathe. I sip,,,
My mom,, she loved her coffee
It is the same every week. The long, endless days of too many people with too many sick patients and never enough money to allow them passage anywhere else. This is my life now. Arduous and yet so fulfilling I cannot remove myself from the pride shadowing the exhaustion. Breathe. Sip.
I love mine too
I remember being in the Ukraine. The exhaustion I existed within there. That place, those memories. It is my litmus test for measuring grit, determination, and life. It is my pivot point. The inflection marker. The spot in my timeline that has become the yardstick for everything else. All of life before, and after, can be boiled down and reduced to that. That survival for all you know, and how hard you will fight. How hard you will push your body because your mind is so determined to make this existence not become your life-long reality. Nothing will measure up against Ukraine. Nothing ever could.
Ukraine. Our compound cat
Ukraine was an ominous, looming feeling more than a place. Equal parts haunting, cruel, and inspiring. Mankind is always at their most impressive when its at its lowest, most desperate place. I remember driving for hours. There is no airport inside. The trains are few and far between. In a war the infrastructure gets hit first. It cripples the country. Cuts them off from the outside. Choke holds are strategic. You see mountains of fortified make-shift guard posts along the roadside. Whole town's blown to pieces. Detritus of shambled foundations with jagged edges and displaced lives beside them. As if still staking claim to a place they used to belong to. Elderly people staring off as if entranced or paralyzed. That despondent despair is pervasive, catatonic, sad married to depressing. People are lost, afraid. The air raids go off all day and night. The constant reminder that Russia has sent another weapon into their home. There are no middle class residents left. They all bailed in the beginning. The teenagers were all drafted via the fast track into soldiers. Alert, swarmed, clustered in groups, heavily armed, chatting like teenagers do, giggling and yet not looking at each other. Always scanning their surroundings in a reverse football huddle. Army green fatigues obviously new to them, but already worn out from the accelerated training they were thrown into. A visual reminder that these kids were forced to grow up too fast. Around them barricades of sandbags 2 stories high. Always smoking. People looking at death within months smoke, and get pregnant. The only place a teenager is not glued to their phone is a war zone. I rarely left the compound, hours deep into the country, but when I did I always traveled with a translator. A Ukrainian resident who made my passage, as limited as it was, safe. I never spoke in public. I never gave myself away. I recorded everything in photos and a journal. It seemed too unreal to be believed later without current proof that it had all happened. The indelibility of it all put to paper and video. Photos of the 500 plus dogs at the Droog shelter hidden away in the middle of a blown apart country.
Droog shelter. 500 dogs crowded and trapped
One of the many byproducts of war
So many things stir inside from that time. The oddity of not seeing my feet for weeks. (You never change your socks if it is cold, wet and you have no access to laundry. As long as my feet were warm and dry I just had to believe the toes still lay beneath). The degree of dirty your hair gets in a dark compound full of dogs and cats and a kerosene heater. The walking the dogs all day, trip after trip. Some mad carousel with no destination. Walking the dogs was my only escape. They loved it more than I did, and I can tell you I cherished it. An abandoned parking lot around some dilapidated warehouses with few areas of grass. The few grassy knolls we could find were littered with broken glass and needles. Another reminder that peace would not come easy. The hardness and grief that sticks and stays. You cannot ever get away from it. It owns you, worse than fear, more suffocating that despair. It is loss, and fear, and mercy, wrapped in hope with shards.
I went to Ukraine for reasons that will never be fully explainable. I have written and admitted to most of these before.
The reasons I left have not been disclosed. Not fully.
In the last days of my well-intentioned-visit I realized the full extent of the naivety of the self-inflated avaricious goons, (mostly American, Canadian and Bulgarian), I was housed as a guest with showed its true colors. These chain-smoking tatted hooligans were so broken and medicated that their intentions to rescue and protect the animals stuck in the middle of this war zone were never completely thought out, nor discussed. They went on these secret middle of the night raids to "save" animals and rarely understood, nor planned the consequences of these decisions. They had recruited me to be the vet for these rescues, yet they never asked for their experts perspective or advice on anything. I was a credential expert expected to be quiet and clean excrement. Cleaning cages and commiserating with the caged rescues was at least a purpose. These rescue trip charades, their testosterone fueled mid-night escapades, brought horrors of epic proportions. I was the only one who saw and prepared for the inevitable consequences of pillaging and hoarding animals in a war torn country without rails. I was brought into Ukraine to help the animals. I was recruited into the country by the ringmaster of said gang by urging me that I just wouldn't be any help outside the borders of Ukraine. (He was right about that). Getting anything out of Ukraine was ridiculously muddled and therefore impossible with ever changing policies, people and paperwork. Getting in, well, that was easy. Ukraine took anyone willing to step across three zones of barbed wire, an Army of assault weapons, tanks, and air so stale it felt suffocating. Nothing on this planet can describe the transition zones of a country at war and their geographically free neighbors. They met you at the border with open arms, and a smarmy shadow of lost boys trying to negotiate anything to be permitted the chance at being smuggled out (anyone between 14 and 60 was drafted and required to stay). There is a cafe, just inside Ukraine at the border entrance that stays dimly light, serving never ending cups of rancid coffee, 24/7. It is the gas station you fill up at as you wait the days it might take to get wherever you think you can alive in. This is the dead zone. Dead to those trying to leave. Dead to those weary of wandering in. 12 hours into the country by car the compound with the rescued animals I was supposed to care for sat. A cement barracks so dark you couldn't do anything without a flashlight we were warned to use with caution, or waiting for daybreak. Everything was done while the sun was up. A dozen dogs and cats caged to keep safe for some unknown break in a war so they could resume a life. It was long days and a bleak existence. I might have been recruited to be a veterinarian in a place that needed one desperately, but, I was not permitted to actually practice what I had been trained to do.
A fridge of vaccines sat quietly hooked to the only generator we had. It was the only thing that was kept cold outside of a cooler used for the long car rides the boys had to go rescue some pet somewhere when the Ghostbuster phone rang.
It is all a muddled dream of mankind's worst and humanities intentions. All gone awry in between.
Two weeks in to my stay and the moral in the compound was low. This team existed on the next adrenaline fix and the tank was low. One early morning, (the gang always left after midnight), they took the trucks and rolled out. When they returned that afternoon, the boys showed up with 33 puppies in 5 cages. They marched into the compound full smiles.Lumbering in like Santa with a gravid sack of new presents. They legitimately thought that they had "rescued" them to have them be better off with us. I had witnessed them before buying the animals as some kidnapping meets hijacking ransom. They had paid for the bear, the wolf, the diabetic dog. They had cash from their viral videos and they had no problem buying an animals "freedom." I knew the second that I saw these puppies that they were all likely to die. I still believe that these puppies were props for social media fodder and fundraising. The rest of the volunteers spilled them out like candy. They spent the rest of the day in bouncing, baby, bitey-kissey puppy piles. The kids with their Christmas toys. All new and excited. I left the next day. Over the next weeks all but 3 died. The veterinarian who remained, (also recruited), and two others worked all day and night for 14 days to save them. This is not just the outcome of war, this is the outcome of power plays and idiots deciding how to manage infectious disease. I heard that three of the other older dogs also died. Three of the dozen that the "head vet tech" wouldn't let me vaccinate. I was told I couldn't vaccinate because I wasn't a Ukrainian vet. The dogs and cats didn't care who vaccinated them, but most of them died because no one vaccinated them. I left because I was part of some guys mistaken altruism. I left because I knew I wasn't helping animals I was harboring infectious disease agar. I left because I can help the pets of my community in a real way. There is parvo in my own backyard. There are unvaccinated dogs in my own backyard.
This plays out to this day. The local shelter is stuck in a save face powerplay that is just costing pets their lives. Infectious disease is going to find a way to survive in the weakest, smallest and most vulnerable. It is an inherent, omni-present reality of too many lives in too small an enclosed space. It is the cost of mixing populations. Housing the lost, surrendered without previous adequate medical care, and just plain old bad luck fate. I purchased the parvo treatment on my own dime to save the lives here I can try to save. I offered it for free, and any supplies that would be needed, to save the 30 puppies I couldn't in Ukraine. The shelter had an outbreak. These are inevitable in large populations of animals. When it happened I offered care immediately. I was dismissed and the puppies were euthanized without a chance at recovery, and to my knowledge without veterinary oversight. A tragedy yet again, and this time in my own backyard.
There are a lot of layers to this tragedy. A lot of people who are responsible and want to make excuses as to why this is acceptable. I will fight for these three puppies (there were 4 that died in total), and hope that it makes the next outbreak allow some survivors. There is no chance when euthanasia is the only option provided. There HAS TO BE A veterinarian at the forefront of medical cases. There has to be a group effort to save them and not just try to eradicate the disease that they are afflicted with as collateral consequence. The common thread is that you have to have credentialled experts leading the decisions. If you don't it will cost lives. If you don't the responsibility for those lives is on the hands of the leaders behind the decisions. That is called accountability. It's the collateral damage to being in charge.
There is a treatment in a bottle that offers help. As soon as it came on the market I bought it. It stays in the freezer at the clinic with the hope that it might save one puppy I couldn't save in Ukraine. I give it away as some small way to pay it forward. There will always be that vial in my freezer and that hole from those 30 puppies in my heart.
Watching a dog die, always a puppy, from parvovirus is wrenching. Knowing it died when it was preventable, infuriating. If needed I would give that vaccine away too if it meant I never had to endure watching that suffering.
My puppies. Rescued from shelters.
Did we talk about the shelter buying/transporting from high kill states down south puppies for adoption events at the Motor Show at the Baltimore Convention Center? Why bring your own dogs when you can import puppies? More on that soon. (Deja vu, right? except wrong continent).
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