HOUSTON -- There's new controversy at the Houston Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, KPRC Local 2 reported Saturday.

Kelly Cripe has a passion for animal rights. She has volunteered at BARC and has taken dogs out of the shelter and placed them in her home.

Still, she said she has concerns about what she calls an institutionalized cruelty at BARC.

"Every time that I look at my dogs and think about what the animals at BARC go through, it makes me sick," said Cripe, who is also with Noah's Arc Political Action Committee.

She pointed to a recent allegation that KPRC Local 2 obtained where a woman named Nela Brown complained that she witnessed a kennel attendant strike a puppy repeatedly on the head.

City of Houston Health and Human Services spokeswoman Kathy Barton confirmed that there have been several complaints against the attendant. She said they are being addressed.

"Those complaints just started coming in (Friday), so we have not had an opportunity to investigate," Barton said. "He has been moved to an area where he has closer supervision where he has more training."

Barton said the BARC employee claimed that he was being bitten and hit the puppy only to free his hand.

Cripe said that answer is not good enough.

"When an allegation has been made that someone has physically harmed an animal, there really isn't any retraining that needs to take place. That person needs to go," Cripe said.

Barton confirmed that the puppy has been euthanized, but she said it was not because of the incident with the kennel attendant. She said it was because the puppy was believed to have distemper, a contagious and deadly disease.

Cripe also brought up a recent concern about a dog that allegedly had to be put down after suffering from a heat stroke. The owner complained his dog's spent hours in a hot BARC vehicle.

"That is a very unfortunate situation, but once again, we cannot account for what happened to the dog in the time we picked it up and we cannot happened to the dog after it left our care," Barton said.

Cripe suggested that BARC "clean house" when it comes to the employees in question.

Barton said that the kennel attendant position has been reclassified to "animal care technician." She said that the current kennel attendants will have to reapply for those positions. She said many of them do not meet the minimum qualifications for the jobs. Barton said this was an effort several months in the works to get more highly trained employees in the positions.