To Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Harris County Public Health Executive Director Dr. Umair Shah,

It has come to the attention of Harris County taxpayers that Judge Emmett is interested in seeking out measures to reduce the euthanasia rate at Harris County Veterinary Public Health (VPH). It is thrilling to see top officials place focus on Harris County VPH, the shelter that takes in nearly the same amount of animals as neighboring BARC[1], despite having only 1/3 the budget[2]. When calling a summit to discuss change at Harris County VPH we ask that you strongly consider the following significantly more cost-effective options which would prevent animals from entering the shelter, rather than simply transporting shelter animals out of state.

 

While transporting animals out of state (as mentioned by Judge Emmett), may reduce the euthanasia rate, it is a reactionary, non-cost efficient temporary treatment of the symptom as opposed to a proactive approach at the root of the problem. In 2015, BARC spent $402,375 on transporting 6,251 animals out of state with Rescued Pets Movement (RPM)[3]. RPM then spent an additional $156 per animal in transport, totaling $1.3M[4], none of which reduced animals coming into the shelter system. In the same year, BARC spent approximately $85,215 on free spay/neuters for 1,311 city pets.[5]  Altering pets allows owned pets to remain in their homes and subsequently prevents an estimated 914,000 animals from being born within seven years.[6]  A reduction in the birth of additional animals would result in future reduced animal control and shelter costs.

Proposed Alternative Options:

Prior to establishing a program for transporting animals in the shelter out of state, the tax payers of Harris County propose the following cost-effective, long-term proactive solutions that would reduce the number of animals entering shelters.

1.       Allocating funds to target pet spay/neuter/wellness in highly populated low-income and high owner-surrender areas with an outreach program to provide citizens with the knowledge and resources needed to take advantage of these programs, or basic low-cost veterinary care information.

    a.       Currently, Harris County has no consistent programs for citizens seeking free spay/neuter/wellness services. Most animals being surrendered are from low-income areas in which low-cost or free veterinary care is not accessible. According to the 2013–14 American Pet Products Association (APPA), National Pet Owners Survey, 83% of owned dogs and 91% percent of owned cats are spayed or neutered in the United States. However, according to a study done by The Humane Society of the United States in underserved areas, data indicates nearly the reverse of this, where the proportion of altered to unaltered pets is flipped, with a strong majority (87%) of owned pets being unaltered.[7]

    b.      Positive outreach in communities allows Harris County VPH to be seen as a resource in the community as opposed to the “dog catcher” mentality. A partnership between paid staff and volunteers can be used to communicate with constituents about low-cost and free veterinary care.  Several existing models of outreach such as Pets for Life by The Humane Society of the United States, map out exactly how to implement such programs. In targeted outreach programs where free spay/neuter is offered, it has been shown that an average of 75% of pet owners will agree to spay/neuter their pet, and of those, 89% will complete the surgery.[8]

    c.       Not only do spay/neuter services allow for higher owner-retention and lower shelter intake numbers, it also addresses the public safety risk of dog bites, in which Houston leads the nation. Houston has the highest number of dog bites of Postal Workers in the country, with 77 dog attacks in 2015, a 22% increase from 2014.[9] Intact (unneutered) male dogs represented 90% of dogs presented to veterinary behaviorists for dominance aggression, the most commonly diagnosed type of aggression. Intact males are also involved in 70 to 76% of reported dog bite incidents.[10]

    d.      To further impress the importance of this issue, we ask that owner re-claimed animals must be spayed/neutered before being returned to the proven owner.

2.       Implementing a surrender prevention program: Preventing animals from entering Harris County VPH by offering low-cost services to keep owned pets in their homes.

    a.       In exchange of shelter costs to house, vaccinate, medicate, feed and euthanize surrendered animals, shelter employees at their discretion, within set limitations, can counsel pet owners on solutions of how to keep the animal in their home, or temporarily keep them until a new home is found. Most citizens surrendering their animals live under the poverty line and minimal costs could prevent animals being surrendered, lowering intake and increasing the live release rate. Common owner surrender causes such as: costs of vaccinations, no access to affordable or free spay/neuter resulting in multiple litters, lack of funds for food and some pet deposits, would still be less costly measures than the costs associated with the shelter housing the animal.

    b.      This again proves the shelter to be a community resource in which constituents view Veterinary Public Health as a resource instead of the “pound” mentality. This program could also greatly reduce the dumping of animals as we have seen lately on the news. 

                            i.      Surrender prevention programs have shown to work by providing alternatives to surrendering in Jacksonville Florida.  In a span of 8 months, a wide range of 17.8%-50% of animals were deferred from entering the shelter that were either kept in the home or adopted directly from the original owner. [11]

3.       All programs mentioned above will, of course, take funding that needs to be carefully planned. In order for the county to see any significant change in the welfare of animals and the safety of humans in relation to stray and unwanted animals, it will require funding that is aimed at long-term solutions. According to national spending and in our own state of Texas, Harris County falls embarassingly behind on animal shelter funding.  Specifically, with the approximately 2.1 million unincorporated Harris County residents and a budget of an estimated $4.64 million annually for Harris County VPH[12]; it results in a per capita spend of $2.32.  The national per capita average is $8.00. Neighboring Texas areas such as City of Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin have animal shelter per capita spends of $5.30, $6.92, $7.91, $8.50 and $11.76, respectively. As the largest county in Texas, third largest county in the country and the host of the 2017 Super Bowl, the funds to combat animal overpopulation are not only necessary for the upkeep and reputation of Harris County, but for public safety.  The fact that the county shelter serves twice as many of people as the city shelter, takes in only 15% less animals, and does so with a 1/3 of the budget shows a severe lack of importance placed on animal welfare and public health/safety.

 

The staff of Harris County Veterinary Public Health has shown time and time again to be leaders in animal compassion and care, with mediocre resources. The leadership of Dr. Michael White has shown an increase in live-release numbers, number of partner rescues, and positive publicity.  But with limited resources to offer the public and minimal funding, the shelter will forever stand as it is now. Animal overpopulation, dog bites and dumping of animals are community problems, in which the Department of Public Health, the department in which Veterinary Public Health falls, is in need of solutions which educate the community on how to create social change within.

The tax payers of Harris County, the rescue community, and those who support the shelter thank you for your consideration.

[1] HC Intake report
[2] Houstontx.gov/budget BARC
[3] Houstontx.gov BARC At a Glance
[4] Rescuedpetsmovement.org
[5] Houstontx.gov BARC At a Glance
[6] Snapus.org/spay-neuter-facts. Assuming 80% dogs and 20% cats and 50% females at HPHS events.
[7] Pets for Life Community Outreach Toolkit. Animalsheltering.org
[8] Pets for Life Report. HumaneSociety.org
[9] USPS.com Postal Service Releases Annual Dog Attack City Rankings
[10] AMVA.org A Community Approach to Dog Bite Prevention (abstract)
[11] Target-zero.org Surrender Prevention Programs
[12] Based on a very aggressive 100% increase of the last published budget, 2012 of $2.32MM (http://www.harriscountytx.gov/CmpDocuments/90/VPH%20report/VPH%20Report%20Feb%2029%202012%20Final.pdf