HOUSTON – Animal shelters throughout the country are overpopulated. Many have closed or modified intake. Houston is not immune.
Whether you’re an animal person or not, this problem impacts you. Your money goes to programs and initiatives that support these animals and they need your help more than ever.
According to Humane Society of the US, every 13 seconds, a healthy, adoptable dog or cat is euthanized in a shelter. This comes out to approximately three million animals each year. About 80% of those dogs and cats are healthy and could have been adopted.
Whether you’re able to volunteer your time, donate money, foster or adopt; these are all ways you can help to alleviate stress in shelters.
It comes down to education and conversation. You can start by stopping by your local shelter and talking with staff and volunteers about their needs. Another solution: getting animals fixed.
“It is necessary to solve the problem of animal homelessness in Houston, Texas and the south,” said Tama Lundquist, co-president of Houston Pet Set.
Houston PetSet is a non-profit organization that aims to end homelessness of companion animals and alleviate their suffering. Lundquist admits spay and neuter even as a solution, presents problems.
She said accessibility to spay and neuter is also a concern.
“We know there are veterinary deserts in Houston, 30-mile radius where there are not vets, let alone vets who will spay and neuter. If we can provide access to free spays and neuters, or at least low cost spays and neuters, we reduce those numbers significantly,” Lundquist said. “We did that by providing a mobile unit that goes into the communities most underserved in the veterinary field. Our veterinary unit runs four days a week, every week. Once we put it out on social media, we had, in two weeks, 6,000 requests, that’s just on social media.”
“And we know there are a lot more, that’s just the tip of the iceberg; but also getting to those people and saying this is what you need to do, in order for your pets not to procreate, not to have those boxes of puppies where you bring them to the shelter and hope they find something to do with them,” she continued. “A lot of times they are euthanized, I hate to say it, but they are or you are giving them away only to have those puppies not be spayed and neutered or procreate.”
Lundquist elaborated there’s a great need for vets.
“If you are a vet, and you have a few spare hours a week where you can knock out three or four of these, we would be happy to pay for them, as long as you’re able to do them,” she said. “We need vets, that’s really where there is a lack of source for us. We also need the mobile units to go into the communities that are underserved, the lower socio-economic areas, and offer these free services.”
While most veterinary practices offer spay and neuter services, the procedures can be expensive. There are options for low cost and free spay and neuter similar to Houston PetSet’s initiative.
Aaron Johnson, director of Montgomery County Animal Services, said, “So, we have a low-cost clinic here. I believe it is part of the solution. I don’t believe over population, and everything is there is that one magic answer. We always talk about adoption rates, and if we are going to adopt our way out of the overpopulation we see, but I think it has to go along with responsible pet ownership, people keeping their dogs on their property. Microchipping. Getting pets back to owners. Along with spay and neuter so we can stop that cycle.”
Johnson agrees with Lundquist.
“Vet access, having enough vets, the shortage has been an issue,” he said. “Us for example, we have two positions that are open for vets, we are looking for vets, but we are not finding those vets to come in and work at shelters and shelters are seeing that all across the country. We are seeing a lot of vets who are doing contract work, making more money doing that way, and not having a full-time job at one location or even working at multiple places. I think there is a lot of burnout in it. I think some of the people who are going to the age of retirement, things like that, a lot of those retired with COVID and we have two things really happen that impacted the vet shortage.”
MCAS routinely hosts free spay and neuter clinics.
The Empty Shelter Project by K9 Angels Rescue pulls dogs at local shelters off euthanasia lists. It’s committed to providing free spay and neuter, microchipping and vaccination services to underserved neighborhoods throughout Harris County. Data from the project shows it has bettered the lives of thousands of pets through its mobile animal sterilization hospital events, which in return has saved tax-payers an upwards of $5 million.
“It benefits all of us in the end,” Johnson said.
“If we just change the way we think about animals, the way our community thinks about animals. Recognizing they have feelings, they are domesticated. Our moral responsibility, our ethical responsibility to care for them,” Lundquist said.
Los Angeles County and the City of Dallas are two major metro areas that require all residents to have their dogs and cats, older than 4 months old to be fixed. The question now … could it be Houston’s turn.