I've had several people ask me what happened to Karma, and why it happened. While I don't normally post things like this, because it can lead to fear, I just wanted to explain a bit what is happening in not only our shelter, but MANY shelters across the country. While I don't know every story for every dog, working with a rescue that deals directly with the city, I have learned things that I never wanted to know.

For those of you that know how passionate I am about adopted rescues, this is a large part why.

Karma was a 8 month old female husky. She was found tied to a pole on the playground at the beach in downtown Corpus Christi.

When she came into the shelter, the vet wanted to put her down. From what I understand, because she was a husky, and ALL huskies are vicious. I had NEVER met a more sweet, even tempered and loving baby than Karma. Not even MY dogs are that loving.

I was called to foster her, from death row. I agreed. I went in last week, to pick her up, and as a few of you know, I was given the WRONG husky. This husky WAS aggressive. She bit my dogs and me. This dog, however, the vet informed everyone that she was the one worth saving, and that Karma was worthless. He would not vaccinate her, because she was going to be put down, and had he agreed to vacc her, she would have lived, because in the end, it was the distemper that killed her.

When we finally got everything straightened out, I go pick up Karma. She has a crusty nose, so I asked about it. I wasn't told anything in the shelter, but when I got home, I was called by the president of the rescue and informed that if they say that she is sick inside the shelter, the vet will have her immediately EU'd. Since both of her kennel mates were ill, and pulled through, they assumed she would too.

We all know this didn't happen.

I shared this story because this in NOT a one time occurrence. The more rescuers, organizations, and shelter staff I talk to, the more I realize that this is almost an epidemic in our government animal care.

This wasn't shared to induce fear into everyone, but to help maybe open a few eyes, and realize that there are things going on, that are not only inhumane, but against the oaths that these people took to care for animals.

It saddens me that those that are entrusted to care for the homeless, and unwanted animals only treat them worse than they were on the streets.

As of right now, the rescue board has written a very long letter to upper management, about the treatment and care of the animals. They are hoping to get changes to our city AC, and the people that take no care in really helping these animals.

I will continue to help, where I can, and hope that this helps others to understand.

oh wow that is just awful! So sorry to hear this!

thank you for your view of what is going on with your city shelter, i know many shelters are this was and its sicking. we try to pull as many huskies as we can with our rescue but we are lacking the foster homes to put them in. it really sucks. i hope with the push your rescues is doing there can be some change....

The more people we can get to volunteer, push stricter legislation, and get more funding... the better a shelter can become. Broward animal control (where Mickey, Rodeo, and Valkyrie all came from) has improved 100% each time i've been there. It is a completely different place than it was almost 5 years ago when I adopted Mickey. And it got that way through people being more informed and more proactive. Any shelter can change!

^+1 Even the shelter I volunteer for has improved so much since I was a little kid (I've been dragged to animal shelters for as long as I can remember!) mainly because of one lady. She convinced the shelter to start a volunteer and foster program and things have been getting better ever since.

BTW, even if Karma was given her booster shot, wouldn't it have been too late for it to really have taken affect? Not saying what they did was right, but I thought shots took 2 weeks or so to really start working and if a dog gets sick before then, the shot really does nothing.

This is so aweful, I'm so sorry this happened.

Thanks for sharing this information.. Thanks for volunteer with the rescue..

I am not real sure how the AC shelters in this area work.

SaraB wrote:

^+1 Even the shelter I volunteer for has improved so much since I was a little kid (I've been dragged to animal shelters for as long as I can remember!) mainly because of one lady. She convinced the shelter to start a volunteer and foster program and things have been getting better ever since.

BTW, even if Karma was given her booster shot, wouldn't it have been too late for it to really have taken affect? Not saying what they did was right, but I thought shots took 2 weeks or so to really start working and if a dog gets sick before then, the shot really does nothing.

That is true, but Karma had been there for almost 2 months before I got her. The vet refused to give her the vaccine, even though he knew that distemper was already seen in other dogs. She had only been visibly sick for about a week. That's not to say it still wouldn't have happened, but the possibility would have been much less.

BUT, he was fired today I'm not happy that some one lost their job, but I'm happy that changes have started being made.

Oh wow. Yeah, he should have given her the shots. I thought she had only been there a few days. People like that shouldn't work at shelters.

I'm so sorry girl, I don't like city shelters a lot of them work like this and its so sad. We rarely have huskies up here in shelters, they end up in rescues as fast as they come in..

Tiff&Kya wrote:

BUT, he was fired today I'm not happy that some one lost their job, but I'm happy that changes have started being made.

I'm pleased that this poisonous man has been taken away from all the other animals. Hopefully they can get someone who knows what they are talking about, and has a true passion for the dogs.

Freya's Mummy wrote:

Tiff&Kya wrote:

BUT, he was fired today I'm not happy that some one lost their job, but I'm happy that changes have started being made.

I'm pleased that this poisonous man has been taken away from all the other animals. Hopefully they can get someone who knows what they are talking about, and has a true passion for the dogs.

Some should leave him in a cage for 2 months with no proper medical care and see how he feels. Oh, I forgot, he has a right to medical care. This is definitely why we need stricter animal laws.

I hope this schmuck is blacklisted as a vet and loses his license. He violated his oath.