Most people don’t know about Houston’s animal situation. It’s not like it’s a secret, but there isn’t a whole lot of press covering the overcrowding of shelters in the Houston area — like the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, which is over capacity by almost 200 animals.
The problem stems from a variety of sources such as people not spaying or neutering their pets, not wanting pets and instead sheltering the animals and a large amount of space for feral cats and dogs to procreate. The biggest problem, however, is pet owners simply not taking responsibility for their actions.
Most of the animals in these shelters are either strays or owner surrenders. That means that, for whatever reason, a pet owner brings an animal in and simply gives it up. This is a huge problem because the shelter is legally obligated to take the animal in question — because BARC is funded by the city.
But BARC isn’t the only place where animal overcrowding is a problem. Bellaire just passed a resolution banning residents from being able to feed feral cats, because there are simply too many of them and the stores the cats congregate around are fed up with the situation. It’s not the best solution — after all, people who feed stray cats have nothing but compassion at heart — but they are simply too large in number to be gathering in one place fighting over a food bowl.
It’s not just cats and dogs, either. On Tuesday, the Houston SPCA took 14 horses and three donkeys into custody. The animals were living in terrible conditions, with their health “being poor to emaciated” in addition to suffering from “long-term hoof and temperament issues,” according to Fox News 26.
It’s sad to know that animals around Houston are either living on the streets or not being taken care of. It’s worse, though, to know that only other Houstonians are to blame.
Take care of your pets, people. Spay and neuter them. And before you go pay a bunch of money for a new pet, think about adopting a cat or dog from a local shelter.
Please become informed on how Houston's five kill shelters (http://bit.ly/cyG5jy ) could stop killing animals if the shelter directors chose to do so. There are Open Admission (do not refuse intakes), No Kill shelters all over the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada now. Here is a list of just a few of them: http://bit.ly/9I7Gh9 Being an Open Admission shelter is no excuse to kill.
There is a model of sheltering that has stopped the killing (http://bit.ly/bBbqVp ), yet the kill shelters in Houston and others across the US refuse to implement this model. They are stuck in the dark ages of catch and kill and refuse to enter the 21st century.
Yes, there are irresponsible people in Houston, but despite the "irresponsible public" that are used as a scape goat to kill in Houston, other communities with the same "irresponsible public" HAVE stopped killing. Austin, Tx is very close to becoming a No Kill community. They have done it by following the no kill model of sheltering that is working all over the world. They will soon hire a new shelter director who will fully implement the No Kill model of sheltering that is working. Houston could do this too IF the shelter leaders and city/county leaders chose to do so. It is a matter of choice.
Please read Redemption (http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?page_id=164) and learn exactly how these communties have stopped the killing. Knowledge is power. There is no excuse for sheltering killing anymore because we now know how to stop it.
hi,my name is jasmin loredo and me myself am tacking care of a lonely cat that lives in my apartments,she has been pregnant almost 10 times sense i have known her i will not give her to a shelter because i love her deeply.i also have a dog i made a big mistake and i donated her,but the next week i coulnt live without her so i adopted her again.