PRICE, Utah — Dr. Dan Harmer has been helping the Carbon County Animal Shelter for the last six years.
“I’ve spayed and neutered thousands of dogs and cats for them,” said Harmer, the owner and veterinarian at Castle Country Vet. “Any time they had a sick animal, they’d bring them over. Nearly all the work we would do is either pro-bono or we’d be reimbursed for the supplies and things — but not nearly enough to cover the cost of what we do. It’s mostly charity work.”
At the end of November, Harmer met "Waffles" and realized something was wrong.
“The employees of the shelter brought the dog to me, and they said all of their dogs are losing a lot of weight, and Waffles is one that seems to be doing the worst," Harmer said. "So they brought Waffles in, I did lots of tests, we did blood work, we did tests to look for parasites, and there was nothing wrong — except he just didn’t have enough food."
He says shelter employees told him they’d been ordered to feed all the dogs only half a cup of food a day.
“I don’t understand what’s going on because they receive plenty of donations from the community,” said Dr. Harmer. “There’s always a surplus of food.”
When "Waffles" was first brought in, he had lost a third of his body weight Harmer said. Feeling heartbroken for the poor dog, the vet’s family adopted "Waffles." They have been feeding him well, and he’s already gained 17 pounds in two weeks.
“While we had him hospitalized, he also needed companionship, and he needed to be around people, and he just kind of snuck his way in,” said Dr. Harmer.
Although "Waffles" will likely make a full recovery, Dr. Harmer is concerned about all the other animals still inside the shelter, which is why he wrote a letter to the editor to ETV News, expressing his frustration and calling for an investigation into the shelter.
“I think the shelter is in need of new leadership and new oversight,” said Dr. Harmer. “I don’t think the current system of having the shelter underneath the sheriff's department is working.”
Dr. Harmer’s letter was addressed to Carbon County Commissioners and the sheriff; FOX 13 News called all three commissioners and we have not heard back yet. The sheriff’s office told us they will not be available to speak with us until Monday.
