Unwanted pets being dumped in park

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Wooded areas in Houston can become dumping grounds for old tires and trash. But what one man found at an east Houston park has upset him more than anything else.

Parks are where people play sports or play with their dogs. But Sunday when Steven Mueller drove through Herman Brown Park as part of his neighborhood patrol, he found something that stunned him. Huddled on the ground were six puppies, just a few weeks old. They had been dumped in the park.

"These are defenseless animals, especially those little puppies," he said. "They can't go out and fend for themselves and the momma not be with em."

These puppies are too many for Mueller to handle. He took them to Houston Animal Control. The little blue heeler mixes were, in a sense, lucky to be there. So many animals are left to fend for themselves and usually pay the price with their lives.

"There's a real mentality here that you breed your dogs, you get the pick of the litter, the nice ones, and you dump the rest," said Kent Robertson, director of Houston Animal Control.

A happy ending depends on people willing to adopt the dogs and cats. Cats actually make up the majority of the Houston SPCA's population right now. Like the puppies, a lot of them were abandoned, then brought there by good Samaritans. Those who dump animals, though, are breaking the law.

"Animal abandonment can be punished by up to 180 days in jail or on a third conviction prosecuted as a felony," said Stacy Fox with the Houston SPCA.

If you're interested in adopting any of these animals or to report animal cruelty, click on the links below.

SPCA Houston

Houston Humane Society

Friends of BARC

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local, deborah wrigley

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