Dog attack leaves more than 100 birds dead at Furr HS agriculture pen

Furr High School ( Marie D. De Jesus / Marie D. De Jesus ) Furr High School ( Marie D. De Jesus / Marie D. De Jesus ) Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Staff / Marie D. De Jesus Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Staff / Marie D. De Jesus Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Dog attack leaves more than 100 birds dead at Furr HS agriculture pen 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Furr High School’s birds were supposed to move into their new, more secure home on Thursday.

Construction crews had just finished one of two new pens for agriculture students’ hens, geese and pheasants Wednesday evening, fortified with strong fencing.

When a maintenance worker arrived at the school early Thursday morning, however, he found all but eight of the birds dead.

A pair of dogs apparently crawled underneath two layers of fencing into a pen at the school’s agriculture facility late Wednesday or early Thursday, and mauled more than 100 birds.

Juan Elizondo, Furr High School’s agriculture teacher, said the ground was littered with blood, feathers and bird innards when he arrived at school Thursday morning.

“We were a couple hours too late,” Elizondo said. “It’s painful for the kids come to school in the morning and just see a massacre. It was a very morbid sight.”

READ ALSO: Fort Bend ISD students lose livestock after dogs get into agriculture center

Thursday’s grisly discovery was not the first time a Houston-area school’s agriculture animals been attacked by stray dogs.

Five livestock animals were killed in two separate incidents in Fort Bend ISD this school year. After one animal in the Ronnie Davis Agriculture Center was killed in November, Superintendent Charles Dupree wrote, maintenance workers reinforced pens and fencing around the facility.

The structural changes were not enough to fend off a second dog attack during the last week of January, when three strays broke into the facility and killed three pigs and a lamb weeks before the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

In April, stray dogs in Pearland killed 47 birds and 15 rabbits at a flea market pet shop.

Furr High School’s agriculture facility also was the site of a canine attack in April when a dog got into the animal pens and killed about 30 chickens. Jarrad Mears, a division manager for Houston’s Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, said that dog was captured and ultimately euthanized due to a health condition.

“Typically wouldn’t euthanize an animal for something like that,” Mears said. “Most dogs, given the opportunity, will chase a chicken. I don’t care how good the dog is.”

Mears said BARC takes in about 2,600 stray or abandoned animals each year, the majority of which are dogs, often from low-income neighborhoods.

RELATED: Stray dogs 'consume' 47 birds, 15 rabbits at Pearland flea market pet shop

“They’re all areas of low economic means, and unfortunately, stray dogs tend to be in those areas,” Mears said.

Mears said the area around Furr High School, nestled between the eastern side of 610 loop and Interstate 10, is not known for strays. On Wednesday, an animal control officer was able to track down a mail carrier who said he had noticed a new German Shepherd-type stray several days ago.

The officer tracked the dog to a backyard located about 100 yards from Furr’s agricultural facility, Mears said, sitting with a smaller dog. The homeowner said the smaller dog was his but the larger dog showed up about three days ago.

The homeowner was cited for having animals running loose in the neighborhood but was able to keep the smaller dog. The larger dog was transported to BARC’s facility, where it will stay for a 72-hour hold while it is evaluated by a veterinarian. Mears said it likely will not be euthanized because of the bird attack.

Elizondo said the animals were part of Furr High’s 200-student-strong agriculture and natural resources magnet programs. Students used the bird’s droppings to create compost and nutrient-rich fertilizer for more than 100 fruit trees that have been planted on the school’s campus and across the street at a community garden. They spent the entire year learning how to raise the fowl, with plans to give their eggs to neighborhood residents during the summer months. Elizondo said students were “disappointed, frustrated and angry,” though he did not fault the school or the agriculture facility’s security.

“It’s not an isolated campus problem if it’s happening to other agriculture programs,” Elizondo said. “It’s a problem with owners and the dogs.”

shelby.webb@chron.com

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