EVICTED: City boots Humane Society out of shelter

By JOE R. BOWLING, JR.

Volunteers at the Laguna Madre Humane Society and Isabel Y. Garcia Animal Shelter gather with pets just mo¬ments after receiving notice from the City of Port Isabel that they had three days to surrender possession of the property. (Staff photo by Joe R. Bowling, Jr.)

A tense situation is now far from resolved as the City of Port Isabel and the Laguna Madre Humane Society are locked in a struggle for con­trol over the Isabel Y. Garcia Animal Shelter.

A lease that had expired, several complaints from citi­zens, past and present board members and other concerns listed in a release from the city are the basis for taking imme­diate control of the facility. Thursday morning a hand de­livered letter of demand gave notice that the city would take over within three days.

“Nobody saw this coming,” said acting President Becky Johnson, “they are affecting a lot of animals and workers and we are doing our best to react.”

According to Laura John­son, who has been managing the shelter now for well over a year, representatives from the City of Port Isabel demanded copies of the keys last Friday morning, this after a meeting on the February 10th of this year in which the city first in­formed the shelter of its inten­tions.

“They sent us an email on Wednesday, had a meeting on Thursday,” and by Friday morning they were demand­ing the keys.”

For more on this story, pick up a copy of the Feb. 17 edition of the Port Isabel South Padre Press or click the PRESS link on the homepage.