Houston's Mayor wants to reduce euthanasia rates at shelters.

[Lisa0825]

If euthanasia stats make you sad, don't click on the link... but at least Mayor White wants to do something about it.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3576432.html

For most pets, local shelters a dead end
Critical report finds euthanasia lower elsewhere, suggests ways to spare animals

some snippets...

It says pet euthanasia can be reduced over the next five years if the city, county and three nonprofit shelters join forces to increase adoption and offer cheaper, better spay-neuter services .

"It is essential to shatter the widespread illusion that turning a pet into a Houston shelter means putting him up for adoption, when the truth is that the pet will most likely be killed," the report says.

Mayor Bill White appointed the task force nearly a year ago after the Chronicle reported on high euthanasia rates at area shelters...

"If San Francisco can eliminate pet euthanasia as a principal solution to the problem of abandoned pets, there is no reason why Houston cannot," the report says. "The choice to euthanize is a relic of an outmoded belief that pets are disposable property and that shelters exist to kill unwanted pets 'humanely,' not help them."


more at link above.

[ernstbass]

1. I wish other cities, towns and counties would follow suit

[wildeyed]

2. My city is making a concerted effort to reduce euthanasia.

It was at around 70%. I am not sure how far it is down now, but they seem to be doing much better.

They have a say/neuter van out in low income areas preforming free surgeries most weekends instead of once or twice a year. They spay and neuter animals at the shelter, before they are adopted. When I adopted my dog there, you got the animal unaltered and had to make an appointment at the reduced fee spay/neuter clinic. All the appointments were taken by shelter animals, so other people in the community could not take advantage of the service. Now there are many more appointments available. Also, they have animals up on Pet Finder, now, and a coordinator who answers questions from potential adopters. So it seems they have really improved over the past few years :)

[IndyOp]

3. Educate the Mayor about Trap-Neuter-Release programs, too!

The best way to reduce feral cat populations - which will reduce the number of kitties that are brought in by well-meaning animal lovers - is "trap-neuter-release"...

< http://www.all-creatures.org/ak/feral-tnr.html >

The result of unsterilized, domestic cats who were abandoned or lost, feral cats are born and grow up without human contact. They distrust humans and revert to the ways of their wild ancestors. Attempting to tame them is difficult, time consuming, and only occasionally successful.

The number one killer of domestic and feral cats in the United States is death in shelters due to overpopulation. For many years, the methods of choice to deal with feral cats have been to ignore or attempt to eradicate them. Neither method has solved the problem of their overpopulation.

ak-adm3.jpg (659708 bytes)The truth is that feral cats can live where they are found. Sterilized, vaccinated cats no longer reproduce and pose no health risk. Eartipping provides instant identification for managed ferals. Trap, neuter and return is the only method of population control for feral cats that actually reduce their numbers. The evidence from established TNR programs in the U.S., in Europe and around the world is proving that TNR is decreasing the populations of feral cats where eradication attempts have failed.

[superconnected]

4. 80k animals in 5 shelters were killed in one year.

More than 80,000 animals that entered the area's five primary shelters in 2004 were killed — 70 percent of the overall admissions. Cities with progressive policies to reduce euthanasia have achieved much lower percentages, the report says.

Sounds like a lot of people just kill animals all day for a living. F@#$ing monsters.

I have to go cry now.

[Lisa0825]

5. Yeah, I couldn't do it.

I used to work in medical research, and I refused to kill mice. I said it wasn't in my job description, and I wouldn't have taken the job if it was.

Sorry my post made you cry. But at least some cities are taking active steps to improve. At the shelter I work with, they only euthanize for really major quality of life issues. If an animal can be treated and have a decent life, it lives, regardless of "adoptability." They even take in HIV kitties.