Below is a post that appeared on Unity for a
Solution's facebook page today. We think it's great that people outside of the
animal advocacy groups are demanding that Houston's animal overpopulation
problem needs to be addressed.
Tell your city officials how you feel about the issue- links to contact info included at the end of the story.
Check out today’s Houston Chronicle article “Dump an animal, get caught” By Ingrid Lobet. It’s only available to digital subscribers but here is a link where you can see the whole article: http://muckrack.com/link/wMWy/dump-an-animal-get-c...aught
We want to highlight this portion of the article near its end: “Chris Newport, a spokesman for Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, said the dumping is part of something deeper, not fully separable from the larger issue of strays. He says Houston needs a conversation with itself about pets, one that addresses people's reluctance to spay and neuter them, a service that is free in the city via a mobile clinic to those who cannot afford to pay. ‘A conservative figure is there are 750,000 strays on the streets of Houston,’ Newport said.”
We agree with Newport that Houston needs a conversation with itself about pets but let’s get the facts straight first:
1. BARC told Fox news reporter Natalie Bomke in a story that aired 9/21/12 that there are 1.2 million strays in Houston.
2. The spay neuter service mentioned in the article is provided by one (1) SNAP mobile clinic, which can spay or neuter up to 25 animals per visit. Even if the SNAP clinic operated every day of the year (including holidays), that totals a maximum of 9125 animals fixed per year. How does that compare with 1.2 million strays and countless owned animals that are not fixed?
3. One deterrent to using SNAP is that they require proof of government assistance which is a problem in several communities around the city.
Some of us have been out in the community signing up residents for free spay and neuter for their pets. Our experience was that many people want to spay or neuter their animals but they cannot afford to! While there are some out there who will refuse, there are many, many others who will gladly spay neuter their pets if they can do it at a reduced cost or free of charge.
Let the mayor and your city council member know how you feel about Houston’s animal overpopulation and what the city is doing to address it. If you do contact them, let us know their response. Thank you!
We want to highlight this portion of the article near its end: “Chris Newport, a spokesman for Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, said the dumping is part of something deeper, not fully separable from the larger issue of strays. He says Houston needs a conversation with itself about pets, one that addresses people's reluctance to spay and neuter them, a service that is free in the city via a mobile clinic to those who cannot afford to pay. ‘A conservative figure is there are 750,000 strays on the streets of Houston,’ Newport said.”
We agree with Newport that Houston needs a conversation with itself about pets but let’s get the facts straight first:
1. BARC told Fox news reporter Natalie Bomke in a story that aired 9/21/12 that there are 1.2 million strays in Houston.
2. The spay neuter service mentioned in the article is provided by one (1) SNAP mobile clinic, which can spay or neuter up to 25 animals per visit. Even if the SNAP clinic operated every day of the year (including holidays), that totals a maximum of 9125 animals fixed per year. How does that compare with 1.2 million strays and countless owned animals that are not fixed?
3. One deterrent to using SNAP is that they require proof of government assistance which is a problem in several communities around the city.
Some of us have been out in the community signing up residents for free spay and neuter for their pets. Our experience was that many people want to spay or neuter their animals but they cannot afford to! While there are some out there who will refuse, there are many, many others who will gladly spay neuter their pets if they can do it at a reduced cost or free of charge.
Let the mayor and your city council member know how you feel about Houston’s animal overpopulation and what the city is doing to address it. If you do contact them, let us know their response. Thank you!
Links to contact City of Houston's Mayor and Council Members:
