No Homeless Dogs & Cats in Houston by 2013

A US group called Saving Animals unveiled today a five year plan which aims to prevent the destruction of almost 80,000 dogs and cats each year in area shelters.

An estimated 125,000 homeless dogs and cats entered Houston, Texas shelters last year; twenty tons of destroyed dogs and cats are disposed of each week from Houston shelters. Saving Animals is opening five new sterilization clinics for dogs and cats across Greater Houston to dramatically increase spaying or neutering and incrementally decrease the number of homeless animals in Houston. The first Fix Houston(SM) clinic opens today at 17575 Katy Freeway.

PetSmart Charities’ investment in Houston includes nearly $1 million in funding for Saving Animals to build four new ‘Fix Houston’ clinics and equip all five. This historic grant to Saving Animals is the largest gift by PetSmart Charities to a single project or organization in Texas.

“Reducing the need for animal sheltering and control in Houston could save taxpayers much of the $15 million in taxes and private donations spent each year to operate the five major local shelters,” says Houston City Controller Annise Parker. “Preventing homeless dogs and cats by spaying or neutering is not only kinder than destroying them, it’s much less expensive in the long run.”

The lead gift by PetSmart Charities is part of its $5 million overall commitment to the Texas spay/neuter initiative. The estate of Mickey Hagey provided funding to build the first Fix Houston(SM) clinic. Citizens for Animal Protection, the estate of Ann Slemons Young and Weingarten Realty provided land to open all five clinics across Greater Houston. An additional $3 million will be required to operate the Fix Houston(SM) community-wide plan over five years.

In early 2006, PetSmart Charities reviewed spay/neuter efforts in a number of locations across the United States. The results of these earlier efforts suggest that sustained, targeted spay/neuter services can help a community reduce shelter intake and the number of homeless dogs and cats euthanized in animal shelters. Inspired by these results, Saving Animals developed a plan to build five clinics that would, once fully operational, sterilize an additional 50,000 dogs and cats each year across Houston. With five Fix Houston(SM) clinics, Saving Animals’ goal is to reduce shelter intake significantly and end the destruction of healthy and adoptable dogs and cats by 2013.

Houston-based Saving Animals was selected by PetSmart Charities to demonstrate the success of this model, creating Fix Houston(SM). “The team at the helm of Saving Animals includes the leaders and visionaries who built and operated the first mobile spay and neuter clinic in the United States in 1992 and went on to establish best-practice approaches to opening and operating

high-volume, high-quality mobile and stationary spay and neuter clinics across the United States,” says Saving Animals’ president Sean Hawkins.

“We have quantified the number of animals needing to be sterilized over a specific period of time and determined a financial cost to significantly reduce dog and cat overpopulation in Houston for the first time. We’re thrilled to be recognized as innovators and leaders and given this opportunity to develop a model so that every city in America can end the euthanasia of healthy and adoptable dogs and cats. With strategic grant-making and advances in non-surgical sterilization, the previous dreams of ending dog and cat overpopulation will become reality in our lifetime,” says Hawkins.

For more information about Saving Animals and Fix Houston(SM) visit http://www.savinganimals.org

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