The above picture illustrates simply 1 reason out of so many why our current kill-happy sheltering system needs totally overhauled. This is a puppy that was either surrendered or brought in by Animal Control and placed in the intake cage that sits at the entrance of the shelter. It was likely surrendered from a walk-in. I saw the puppy when I walked out of one of the buildings, on my way to continue photographing. This poor dog was 90% dead. His head was moving slightly and he was attempting to stretch his little legs. With all the things that I’ve seen at the Carson shelter, even I was taken aback by a puppy in this kind of shape just openly laying out in the middle of the elements (it was very cold and raining) on the floor of this cage. I tried to talk to the puppy and then quickly opened the gate to get a picture. I wanted to pet him so badly but opted against it because he was likely really sick, and I wasn’t even halfway through with photoing so was concerned that I’d potentially pass something onto another dog. As I was backing up one of the vets appeared out of nowhere. He didn’t say anything to me, simply reached into the cage and stuck a cotton swab up this puppy’s backside, pulled it out and then walked away. It was so robotic, like a living being wasn’t actually laying there. I was amazed. I waited around for a few more minutes to see if he’d come back, he didn’t. I moved along and 10 minutes later had passed Aileen, who was also there photoing the dogs, and I asked her if she’d seen the dog out in the intake cage. She said that she hadn’t. 10 more minutes pass, Aileen makes her way out of the building that I was in and grabs her own peek at the puppy laying out in the front. She told me later that she’d actually went into the front office and asked them if they were aware of the dog being out there. Their response? “Yeah, we know.”

I don’t know about y’all, but I find it extremely depressing and disturbing that this puppy sat out in that cage for well over 20 minutes. Not only that, but while staff (admittedly) and at least 1 “vet” were completely aware, and they did nothing. This puppy was likely very sick, and I’m certainly not a vet, but who’s to say that it couldn’t have been saved? I don’t know, I don’t know if he’s still alive or what ended up happening to him. What I do know is that even if this dog ultimately died, the treatment and lack of attention that he got leading up to his death is really distressing. He was not taken back into their hospital or medical room, he was not even taken into any room. Either of those things should have been done immediately. Instead, he was just placed out in the cold, on a metal floor. Even if he was extremely sick, couldn’t one of the staff members put some gloves on and held him until he passed? Done something, anything. They just remained seated knowing full well that he was laying out there. Hell, I’d of reached in and cradled him myself (even though no one outside of the staff is “allowed” to open up those intake gates or touch the animals inside of them), had I not had only 30 more minutes of decent light and an another entire building plus left to photograph.

Couldn’t this shelter have offered this puppy anything more than what they did? Just as a basic response and reaction, anything more? My answer is a resounding yes. Yet here I sit detailing what did and didn’t happen. This is a proper sliver of insight into how this shelter operates. They have some good folks that work there, mostly long-established volunteers and a few that are on the actual staff. But they are outnumbered and out influenced by the opposite of what they are. It is a problem. It is the biggest problem that exists.