(Beth Clifton collage)
Policies meant to discourage owner-surrenders may have led to pack killing two lambs and a goat just 1,500 feet from the Gulf Coast Humane Society
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas––Adam Beam of KRIS-6 television in Corpus Christi, Texas, “neighborhood news reporter for San Patricio County alongside Victoria Balderama,” on February 26, 2025 broadcast a sob story for anyone who cares about either animals or children.
Natalie Casas, a senior at Mary Carroll High School in Corpus Christi, and a four-year member of the school Future Farmers of America chapter, arrived at the school barn around 5:40 a.m. on February 11, 2025, discovering when she turned on the lights that a pack of six dogs including several apparent pit bull mixes had mauled her lamb and goat so badly that they required euthanasia, had injured two more of her animals, and had killed fellow student Adrian Salazar’s lamb.
Natalie Casas sits with one of her goats. (Lorraine Valdez-Casas photo)
Called her mother
Casas called her mother, Lorraine Valdez-Casas, who along with comforting her daughter and snapping a photo of the six dogs lying in a field nearby, estimated to Bean of KRIS-6 that the loss to the Casas family would be more than $4,000.
A Go-Fund-Me posted after the incident by a family friend raised just $1,170.
“The money she would have earned off these animals this year was going toward Natalie’s college education,” Lorraine Valdez-Casas said.
Animal advocates will recognize at this point, even though Beam and Balderama omitted it, that Natalie Casas’ animals were doomed anyhow to imminent slaughter, having been raised, like all other Future Farmers of America project animals, specifically to be auctioned, killed, and butchered.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Boot camp for the meat industry
Future Farmers of America, like the 4-H programs that feed into it, is boot camp for the meat industry, designed to break the hearts of children who first bond with their young animals as they hand-raise them, then must sell them to their deaths.
This supposedly inures future farmers to their future work, raising animals to be killed by the tens of thousands.
But bad as all this is, from an ethical perspective, even identified by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (among many others) as an institutional form of child abuse, children finding their animals in the process of being dismembered alive by dogs is not part of the program.
Future Farmers of America and 4-H animals are at least supposed to receive the very best of care right up until they are trucked away out of sight.
(Facebook photo)
Gulf Coast Humane Society and Corpus Christi Animal Care Services policies
The worst of the Mary Carroll High School animal massacre by dogs running at large, though unmentioned and unexplored by Beam and Balderama, is the likelihood that it occurred because of Gulf Coast Humane Society and Corpus Christi Animal Care Services policies that prioritize protecting dogs from euthanasia over protecting the public––and other animals––from dangerous dogs.
The Gulf Coast Humane Society is located less than 1,500 feet, according to Google Earth, from Mary Carroll High School––and incidentally, is even closer to the Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School and not much farther from the John Paul II High School.
(Beth Clifton collage)
A quick & easy run
The schools, in short, are a very quick and easy run away for any dogs dumped outside the Gulf Coast Humane Society by dog owners frustrated by the society’s admission policies.
The major obstacle for such dogs would be Saratoga Boulevard, a busy street by day, but practically deserted late at night. Livestock smells and sounds would be an obvious attractant to a probably bored and hungry dog pack.
After the attack on the Future Farmers of America animals at Mary Carroll High School, at least two of the dogs, including at least one of the pit bull mixes, apparently ran back across Saratoga Boulevard to the 2800 block of Cactus Road, where Corpus Christi Animal Care Services captured them about 1,500 feet behind the Gulf Coast Humane Society building.
The other end of Cactus Road, just two short blocks long, terminates at the Gulf Coast Humane Society building.
Beam of KRIS-6 mentioned that, “This is not the first time such an incident has occurred at the barn.”
Cody Leal, “one of the two agricultural science teachers at Mary Carroll High School and an FFA advisor,” introduced Beam, “noted that a similar attack happened about 10 years ago.”
(Corpus Christi Animal Care Services photo)
Chain link fence & insurance
Said Leal, “Back then, the community thought there was some kind of crazy cult running around harming animals. The reality is it was probably another pack of stray dogs. After that incident, more chain-link fencing was added to the barn to secure it as best as possible.”
Currently, Beam paraphrased, “Leal said the Future Farmers of America are exploring insurance policies to protect student’s investments in their animals.”
Affirmed Leal, “I’ve already reached out to an ex-ag teacher who works with insurance to see what policies are available. This way, if something like this happens again, the students would be covered financially.”
Beam did investigate the Corpus Christi Animal Care Services response to the Mary Carroll High School dog attack.
(Corpus Christi Animal Care Services photo)
“Border collie mix & Labrador retriever mix”!?
“The Border Collie mix and Labrador Retriever mix pictured above,” Beam wrote beneath photos of two dogs on the KRIS-6 web site, the same photos posted by ANIMALS 24-7 here, “are believed to be two of the dogs involved in the barn incident.
“Both dogs were listed for adoption and later removed.”
The chief faint resemblance either dog has to a border collie or a Labrador retriever are four legs, a tail, and fur.
This may not have been noticed because Corpus Christi Animal Care Services also failed to notice whether the alleged “Labrador Retriever” was male or female.
“The two captured dogs have been deemed a threat to public safety and have been euthanized,” Beam reported.
“One of the dogs aggressively bit an animal care officer while in custody, and the second dog did not pass a temperament assessment.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Where the 4-H was an ACO?
Animal care officer? Where the 4-H was/is an animal control officer?
Well, never mind. Despite three human fatalities from dog attacks in 12 years, two of them by pit bulls, Corpus Christi does not appear to believe in controlling dangerous animals, only about caring for them, damn their victims.
(See Corpus Christi: 30th U.S. dog attack fatality of 2023 is 21st by pit bull.)
“Regarding posting the two impounded stray dogs on Animal Care Services’s adoption platform, Petconnect,” Corpus Christi Animal Care Services said in a prepared statement, “posting all impounded animals on Petconnect is common among municipal animal shelters nationwide. This practice allows owners to identify and claim their animals or be issued citations. Additionally, any patrons inquiring about a dog are informed of its availability for adoption. Just because the animal may be on Petconnect does not mean it is available for adoption.
“Animal Care Services followed proper procedures in this case,” the prepared statement concluded.
In which alternate universe, Corpus Christi Animal Care Services did not specify.
(Beth Clifton collage)
What suggests the dogs at large were turnaways?
What suggests that the six dogs running at large were likely turnaways from surrender to the Gulf Coast Humane Society, or were dumped there after hours?
To begin with, the Gulf Coast Humane Society, with an annual budget and expenses of about $2.5 million a year, recipient of $23,394 in grant funding from the Best Friends Animal Society in 2023, accepts owner surrenders of animals only by appointment, with an advertised waiting time of 3-4 weeks.
Gulf Coast Humane Society spokesperson Jackie McCollough on January 29, 2024 acknowledged to Faith Colbert of KIII television news in Corpus Christi that the waiting time had become six to eight weeks.
According to the Gulf Coast Humane Society, “Due to an overwhelming number of requests, we are unable to accommodate walk-ins. All owner surrenders have a fee of $35,” which for six dogs would be $210.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Surrenders “may be denied due to behavioral issues”
“All intake applications must have a photo emailed to [email protected] in order to be considered.
“Animals may be denied due to behavioral or medical issues if we are unable to handle the issue in question.”
All of that might be somewhat workable if Corpus Christi also had an open admission animal shelter operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to accommodate situations such as family emergencies, evictions, and unexpected deaths of pet owners without survivors able to accommodate animals, among many other relatively frequent crisis situations.
Unfortunately, Corpus Christi Animal Care Services––the same outfit that apparently does not do animal control––also posts, “Appointment Required to Owner Surrender Your Pets.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Surrender fee of $50, $100 “if a Bite surrender”
Specifies Corpus Christi Animal Care Services, “Pet(s) are accepted by appointment only and based on available space in our kennels. There will be a one-time $50 surrender fee per pet ($100 if a Bite surrender).”
Please note the significant economic disincentive for anyone to surrender any dog with bite history, no matter how dangerous, to Corpus Christi Animal Care Services.
Surrendering six dogs with probable bite history would cost $600.
If and when one can get an appointment.
(Beth Clifton collage)
So what does someone with six fractious dogs do in a crisis situation?
People in Corpus Christi and every other community whose shelters have similar policies need to be asking that question.
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The post Did shelter policies cause FFA animal massacre by dogs at large? appeared first on Animals 24-7.
