What Is Wrong With People Today?
I received a link to this article from my Laurell K Hamilton newsletter, and lets just say I became even more disgusted with how some people dare to act in this day and age...
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Vandals leave shelter in desperate position
By Leigh Jones
The Herald-Zeitung
Published July 18, 2006
Cheryl Krueger alternated between smiling expressions of gratitude and floods of tears Monday as she stood in the reception area of the New Braunfels Humane Society Animal Shelter.
The heart-felt “thank-you’s” were directed to the citizens who brought car loads of pet food donations throughout the day. The tears were for the animals killed and maimed by vandals who broke in over the weekend and unleashed a torrent of destruction.
“It’s so hard,” Krueger said, her voice cracking under the strain of describing the situation. “I just can’t understand why anyone would want to do this to the animals. They basically destroyed the shelter.”
The suspects broke into the facility sometime between 9 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday. Not content with hurting the shelter’s four-legged residents, they also poisoned the food supply, contaminated the store of cat litter and defaced the rest of the shelter’s rooms and offices. Krueger, the facility’s executive director, estimated 5,000 pounds of food and 1,200 pounds of litter was destroyed.
Volunteers began cleaning up the mess first thing Sunday, but the shelter is expected to remain closed through today.
“Every surface has to be wiped down - cages, walls, floors, desks,” Krueger said. “And the remaining animals have to be bathed again.”
New Braunfels police Detective Jesse Villarreal, who is investigating the case, would not give any details as to the number of animals killed or injured, the agent used to poison the food or the nature of the damage done to the facility. He did verify the building was quite a mess.
“When I walked up, I just prayed that it was under construction or something. That’s how bad it was,” he said.
Although volunteers have made progress in their cleanup efforts, Krueger is asking for more volunteers today to give any time they can to help clean and ready the shelter to open Wednesday. In addition to manpower, the shelter needs donations of dog, puppy, cat and kitten food and cat litter to replace the stores staff members had to throw out. Cleaning supplies and cash donations also are desperately needed.
“So many people helped us during the hurricane evacuation situation. We just hope they’ll be generous again,” Krueger said.
The loss of supplies comes at a difficult time for the shelter. Every spare penny was being saved for their future new location, a dream that somehow seemed farther away Monday.
Although the board of directors has discussed potential new security measures, including an alarm system and video surveillance, they have not made any firm decisions yet.
“We’ve just never had anything like this happen before,” Krueger said. “It’s heart-wrenching. For someone to come in and do what they did ... it’s just unbelievable.”
HOW TO HELP
The New Braunfels Humane Society Animal Shelter needs the following items to help recover from this weekend’s vandalism:
Dog and cat food
Puppy and kitten food
Cat litter
Cleaning supplies
Cash donations
Volunteers willing to donate a few hours of “elbow grease” to help clean the building today
Donations can be dropped off at the shelter, located at 1920 Kuehler Ave., or at the Herald-Zeitung offices at 707 Landa St.
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The link to this article and more about people who have helped out go here.
*****
Vandals leave shelter in desperate position
By Leigh Jones
The Herald-Zeitung
Published July 18, 2006
Cheryl Krueger alternated between smiling expressions of gratitude and floods of tears Monday as she stood in the reception area of the New Braunfels Humane Society Animal Shelter.
The heart-felt “thank-you’s” were directed to the citizens who brought car loads of pet food donations throughout the day. The tears were for the animals killed and maimed by vandals who broke in over the weekend and unleashed a torrent of destruction.
“It’s so hard,” Krueger said, her voice cracking under the strain of describing the situation. “I just can’t understand why anyone would want to do this to the animals. They basically destroyed the shelter.”
The suspects broke into the facility sometime between 9 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday. Not content with hurting the shelter’s four-legged residents, they also poisoned the food supply, contaminated the store of cat litter and defaced the rest of the shelter’s rooms and offices. Krueger, the facility’s executive director, estimated 5,000 pounds of food and 1,200 pounds of litter was destroyed.
Volunteers began cleaning up the mess first thing Sunday, but the shelter is expected to remain closed through today.
“Every surface has to be wiped down - cages, walls, floors, desks,” Krueger said. “And the remaining animals have to be bathed again.”
New Braunfels police Detective Jesse Villarreal, who is investigating the case, would not give any details as to the number of animals killed or injured, the agent used to poison the food or the nature of the damage done to the facility. He did verify the building was quite a mess.
“When I walked up, I just prayed that it was under construction or something. That’s how bad it was,” he said.
Although volunteers have made progress in their cleanup efforts, Krueger is asking for more volunteers today to give any time they can to help clean and ready the shelter to open Wednesday. In addition to manpower, the shelter needs donations of dog, puppy, cat and kitten food and cat litter to replace the stores staff members had to throw out. Cleaning supplies and cash donations also are desperately needed.
“So many people helped us during the hurricane evacuation situation. We just hope they’ll be generous again,” Krueger said.
The loss of supplies comes at a difficult time for the shelter. Every spare penny was being saved for their future new location, a dream that somehow seemed farther away Monday.
Although the board of directors has discussed potential new security measures, including an alarm system and video surveillance, they have not made any firm decisions yet.
“We’ve just never had anything like this happen before,” Krueger said. “It’s heart-wrenching. For someone to come in and do what they did ... it’s just unbelievable.”
HOW TO HELP
The New Braunfels Humane Society Animal Shelter needs the following items to help recover from this weekend’s vandalism:
Dog and cat food
Puppy and kitten food
Cat litter
Cleaning supplies
Cash donations
Volunteers willing to donate a few hours of “elbow grease” to help clean the building today
Donations can be dropped off at the shelter, located at 1920 Kuehler Ave., or at the Herald-Zeitung offices at 707 Landa St.
*****
The link to this article and more about people who have helped out go here.