Animal welfare groups hit the streets to rescue strays as situation reaches crisis point (Houston)

[douglas9]

Sochi's stray-animal problem that stunned Olympic athletes and caused international outrage pales in comparison to the struggles facing Houston, a region that euthanizes roughly 85,000 animals a year, advocates said.

Animal rescue organizations and city officials agree the Bayou City has reached a crisis point.

"What happened in Sochi is nothing compared to what's happening here," said volunteer Larissa Gavin, who spent part of Saturday looking for stray dogs in Houston.

Reports that roughly 300 dogs were rounded up and killed in Sochi prior to the Olympics prompted some athletes to adopt dogs and moved a Russian billionaire to open a new animal shelter.

But according to city statistics, Houston and Harris County average nearly that many animal euthanizations every day because of overcapacity shelters and animal control officers who are unable to keep up with the breeding capabilities of dogs already out on the street.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Animal-welfare-groups-hit-the-streets-to-rescue-5261204.php?cmpid=htx

[TBF]

1. BARC has been a problem

here for awhile. I know there are many rescue groups (both general and breed specific) working on this issue. I have lived in the area 10 years and have seen some improvements but I don't know the whole background on BARC and why we don't have more focus on adoption like San Antonio and Austin. I'm not sure if it's an education issue, funding issue, or other factors.

I can tell you from my general knowledge our mayor Annise Parker is a very practical person so if it were just one thing it would likely already be fixed.

Here is an interview where she is asked about this:

LIFE+DOG:

Do you think Houston will soon be a more dog-friendly city? What are the roadblocks to more public support?

Mayor Parker:

Houston is becoming a more dog-friendly city constantly. We have more and more dog parks. I personally helped to draft the original dog park ordinances and the “pooper-scooper” ordinance, as well as the ordinances we use to regulate how we create dog parks.

I was at the groundbreaking for the first City of Houston dog park. I can also tell you that we are working toward more pet-friendly policies throughout the city. I hope at some point to explore how we deal with pets in public spaces.

The key, however, with a dog park or pets in public spaces is responsible pet owners. You can’t ignore your Labrador all day and then decide you are going to take it to your favorite restaurant in the evening and expect it to behave. You must also pick up after your pet. Additionally, we have spent a good amount of time that I have been in office reforming the city’s shelter, BARC, into a much better, more humane place. We are adopting out more and more animals, but until Houstonians get the message that they should not have fertile pets that are having kittens and puppies, and that animals are a lifetime commitment, we are going to continue to have problems with the supply of unwanted animals coming in. Spaying and neutering and licensing of pets is of the utmost importance. We wouldn’t worry about licensing pets if there weren’t any fertile pets. If there weren’t fertile pets, we could get out of the shelter business.

Of course, there are always going to be animals that are un-adoptable, but those should be rare circumstances and every animal should have a chance.

See more at: http://www.lifeanddog.com/annise-parker/#sthash.uPhFMoad.dpuf

[narnian60]

2. I totally agree with your opinion of the mayor.

I am a huge supporter.