LIFTING LIVERELEASE RATES Since implementing its shelter-neuter-release program in 2017, Harris County Pets has seen a drop in the number of cats being euthanized. The Montgomery County Animal Shelter also started a community cat program in 2017; however, shelter data prior to 2017 was unavailable.
having piloted their own programs. In 2017, Best Friends assisted Har- ris County Pets with the implemen- tation of a shelter-neuter-return, or SNR, program that Lalonde said she believes has largely contributed to the shelter’s falling euthanasia numbers. Through the program, cats picked up by animal control are brought to the shelter, spayed or neutered, vac- cinated, ear tipped—indicating the cat has received services—and released back in the area they were picked up from if they are not identied as adoption candidates. Of the 7,306 cats taken in by Harris County Pets in 2016, 5,127 required euthanasia; in 2021, 84 of 5,574 cats had to be euthanized. According to Shannon Parker, Har- ris County Pets outreach manager, SNR programs not only prevent feral cats from breeding, but they can also curb problematic behaviors that often result in complaints to animal control. Additionally, once the cats are vacci- nated for rabies, they are no longer considered a public health concern. Deana Sellens, the executive direc- tor of Texas Litter Control, said com- munity cat programs are replacing catch-and-kill initiatives previously employed by shelters she claims have been proven to be ineective. “If catch-and-kill worked, we wouldn’t have any feral cats to be complaining about,” Sellens said. “It’s just better to x them and leave them and not let them have their three or four litters a year.” The Humble Animal Shelter’s com- munity cat program launched in January oers the same spaying and neutering, vaccination and ear-tip services as Harris County’s SNR pro- gram, but the free programalso allows residents to humanely trap feral cats, bring them to Texas Litter Control and pick themup later in the day to release them back into the community. Humble Animal Shelter Supervisor Lauren Hartis said the program has been in the works for several years. “There were hundreds of cats liv- ing at the Deerbrook Mall, and a lot of them migrated from the Timberwood subdivision,” Hartis said. “Once we had them xed, [the cats at the mall] colonized and made their own little group, and they wouldn’t let anybody else inside that group.” Further, Hartis said keeping feral cats in cages for extended periods of time can adversely aect the other animals in the shelter. “It makes [it] to where they get stressed out and they become sick,
LIVERELEASE RATES
2016 53.1%
2017 78.9%
2018
2019
2020 2021 98.8% 98.9%
Harris CountyPets
89.5%
94.2%
CAT & DOG INTAKE
CATS & DOGS EUTHANIZED
Cats
Dogs
Cats
Dogs
19,333
20,000
10,000
8,615
8,000
12,610
15,000
6,000
10,000
4,000
5,000
2,000
133
0
0
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
LIVERELEASE RATES
2019 2017 95.8% 92.3% 97.8% 94.5% 92.6% 2018 2020 2021
Montgomery CountyAnimal Shelter
CAT & DOG INTAKE
CATS & DOGS EUTHANIZED
Cats
Dogs
Cats
Dogs
20,000
1,200
999
13,979
1,000
15,000
800
8,846
476
10,000
400 600
5,000
200
0
0
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
SOURCES: HARRIS COUNTY PETS, MONTGOMERY COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Control, the Montgomery County Animal Shelter and the Houston Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care—that have partnered with Best Friends to implement programs aimed at boosting adoption rates and curbing feral cat and stray dog populations, which Lalonde said reduces the strain on local shelters. In January, the city of Humble announced a partnership with Texas Litter Control—a nonprot operating out of Humble, Spring and Tomball that oers spaying and neutering and low-cost vet services—to implement a community cat pilot program. The program—which was made possible through a $45,000 grant from Petco Love, a nonprot division of Petco—is one of several initiatives supported by Best Friends aimed at addressing the growing feral cat populations.
Lalonde noted initiatives such as community cat programs, adoption events and long-range transports for cats and dogs have been instrumen- tal in helping shelters achieve higher live-release rates. Despite the availability and success of these programs, Lalonde said many areas in Houston and Harris County— including a stretch along Hwy. 59 just south of Humble near Little York Road dubbed the “corridor of cruelty”— present a dierent set of challenges largely related to a lack of aordable and convenient animal services. Feral cats Community cat initiatives have gained traction in the Greater Houston area over the last ve years, Lalonde said, with Harris County Pets, Mont- gomery County Animal Shelter, the BARC and the Humble Animal Shelter
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services entities throughout the nation in its goal to achieve no-kill rates at shelters, said Carrie Lalonde, lifesaving program manager at the Houston division of Best Friends. According to Lalonde, the bench- mark to be considered a no-kill shel- ter is having at least a 90% live-release rate, which provides leeway for 10% of the animals that might require humane euthanasia due to severe medical or behavioral issues. “[Best Friends] works directly with those shelters to develop lifesaving programming so that they are not having to kill healthy, adoptable dogs and cats,” Lalonde said. “Our work is driven by wanting to end the killing of dogs and cats in shelters by 2025.” Harris County Pets is one of several local entities—including Texas Litter
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