...amazing how often a 'mistake' has been made at the HSPCA. First, they off dogs for foster groups, and now they take out their own mascot. Those folks need a serious overhaul....

Are you this is their "first wrong mistake"? They got rid of the person who made this mistake in the first place but why don't they have some checks and balances in place!

The HSPCA has made a lot of mistakes, and they have been making them for years. They truly have no checks and balances anywhere. There are many animals euthanized for reasons having nothing to do with health or quality. So many of t he people who work with and for the HSPCA have become so UNsensitive with very little compassion left. Animal Cops Houston is the one show I find hard to watch on Animal Planet. Compared to New York, Arizona and Florida, we just look like a bunch of "caring-less" fools. It is really sad to watch - so I don't anymore. I don't know why the HSPCA does get vets around Houston involved with the care of these animals. If every vet in Houston and the surrounding areas would agree to help with just three animals a year, it wouldn't solve the problem of so many animals suffering, but it would certainly go a long way towards easing the pain for many animals. Vets make a lot of money - there is no reason why they can't give something back to the animals of this City. And the list of which vets will and will not volunteer to help should be published for all to see.

This is just another example of the Houston SPCA Spin Machine. The HSPCA continues to insist that it is an 'open door shelter'. The dirty little secret is that while the front door is open, the backdoor where stray animals 'transferred' to local animal control facilities for subsequent euthansia is also open. The REALLY DISGUSTING part of all this is that the good people who turn these stray animals in often times will leave big donations with the idea that if they leave money, the HSPCA will treat the animals better. But that's not the case, the HSPCA transfers the animals AND KEEPS THE MONEY! There is one instance where a person turned in a feral cat to the HSPCA and left a $500 donation. Feral cats are NOT adoptable. The cat was transferred to BARC where it was euthanized upon arrival while the $500 stayed at the HSPCA thus enabling Patti Mercer to live in a $300,000 house. The HSPCA is just a buisness. A buisness that manipulates the good animal loving people of Houston into parting with their hard earned dollars.

Well, you all seem to know where to point the finger. Let me ask you what are you doing to reduce the unwanted pet population and the horribly neccesary evil of euthanasia? What's your strategy? Go ahead, tell us, how should the shelter rework itself? Where should the 40,000 animals that are taken in at JUST the HSPCA (not just cats and dogs) be housed when they can't all be found homes? I'm all ears.

The HSPCA does have an open door policy. It takes in around 35,000 - 40,000 animals a year. Do you know that many people who are willing to adopt an animal? They are funded soley on donations from the public. They receive no government or United Way funding. Volunteers make up about 90% of the total staff. Vets and Vet Techs work endless long hours. The HSPCA does a wonderful job with the resources it has available and has worked extremely hard to reduce the amount of euthanasias. Some shelters may be no kill, but they will turn animals away. What then? Drop them on the side of the road or take them to the SPCA? They are up front and honest about animals that can and cannot be put up for adoption. They have formed partnerships with other area shelters to help reduce the strain and to give the animals a better chance at adoption.

If people would act more responsibly and spay/neuter their animals (or not get rid of them just because they aren't cute little babies anymore), the burden would be decreased significantly. Go spend a Saturday in the next couple months and sit in the Cat acceptance area for a day and count the numbers of unwanted kittens from litters that could have been prevented by irresponsible pet owners - it will blow you away.

How quickly we forget the good they do when one horrible mistake happens that surely has the whole staff upset. What about the good they did during the two hurricanes when the HSPCA not only took in 600 animals from evacuees at the astrodome and provided food and housing - free of charge, more than 1500 others from Katrina alone, provided food and water to 5,000 animals in 6 counties after Rita bringing in over 1500 that needed medical attention and worked tirelessly around the clock to reunite these animals with their owners? I guess that doesn't count for anything.

Sure there's things that could be improved, and they are always looking at ways to do so. The HSPCA really is a wonderful organization that has the animals best needs at heart, instead of criticizing them or pointing the finger, go volunteer. Be part of the solution. Then maybe one day stories like this won't happen.

neuter neauter neauter, that is the solution, not HSPCA.

People, fix ALL the animals, feed a stray, make friends enough with it, catch, have it fixed and it can be a happy Feral cat forever. I have taken on feeding the cats at the warehouse here at work, what, $8-9 bucks for a 25lb of cat food, I put out food M-F. It's that easy. I just found someone who had a humane animal trap and for what, $50, I can fix this cat, get my receipte and still write it off on year end taxes. If you don't like where your donation is going, find a better source to apply it better. Animals deserve help also.

Frankly, I find this entire mess mysterious. For example, all adoptable dogs admitted to the HSPCA are vaccinated at admission for kennel cough. Scientifically speaking, it is difficult to understand how Harley then contracted the disorder some 9 months after admission. Could it be that he was an aberration of modern science... or did he possibly outlived his usefulness?

The sad thing about the HSPCA is not its mission, but its management. Why are there always "conflicting" stories? Why are there always disputed facts? Maybe the best question is this: who in the heck is steering that ship? Is anyone over there telling the truth about anything, and how the heck has this gone on so long?

Lives are at stake.

An animal citizen

The bordetella vaccine is for kennel cough, and does not protect against all strains of kennel cough. It is very possible to get kennel cough even with the vaccine. It just helps fight a bit more than if the dog had no protection at all.

The bordatella is not presto magic effective. It takes ten days to actually protect the dog. This is why so many dogs contract kennel cough in the shelters. If they keep kennel cough dogs in the shelter the disease spreads that much more. Foster care or euthanasia are the only options. Foster homes for the shelters are always in short supply. Where are all you holier than thou types in that regard?

My experience with the HSPCA (and it's been quite a lot) has been positive. They're not perfect but are still the best large shelter in town.

If I was an animal it's where I'd prefer to be - as opposed to some "no kill" shelters I've seen where animals languish in cages for years upon end (and I am aware that not all of them are like that). How is that compassion?

The fact that their clinic manager, Melvin (the most kind and compassionate person anyone could ever meet) has been there almost 30 years speaks for itself.

You must be kidding.

My recommendation is this: if you are a homeless animal, you choose to go to CAP. With the highest adoption rate in the state of Texas, I have to ask why you would choose the HSPCA - "Animal Auschwitz,? - over CAP? Why choose an agency that has proven time and time again that it cares considerably more about $$$ and image, than animals?

My conclusion is this: You are on the payroll. Your life really isn't at stake, is it? Only your lifestyle. If it were really your life at stake, I feel confident you would have already chosen CAP.

Allen S.

CAP? Do you know how many people are told to take the big dog they found to the SPCA? CAP has a 35 pound limit and 15 inches at the shoulder limit due to lack of space. CAP is tiny, cramped, dirty, and always shorthanded. I know this because I have actually volunteered there. Oh, and also if the dog turned in is a pure bred whose rescue isn't part of the idiot TARPA that dog will be killed- like the corgi killed this week.

HSPCA - 1000 animals - 75 employees

CAP - 250 - animals - 35 employees.

With that in mind, who gets better care? Which animals are cared for?

Did I hit a nerve or is this yet another person on the HSPCA payroll?

I actually volunteer at CAP. I don't get paid by any animal group. There aren't 35 employees at CAP caring for the animals. They are lucky if 10 people are there on a Saturday to care for the animals and do adoptions. I suggest you go on a Saturday or Sunday and see for yourself.

I too have volunteered - for both agencies. The employment numbers quoted here are accurate and reflect the total on the payrolls of both shelters, not those on duty on any given shift.

Speaking of payroll, my instincts tell me that you work for the HSPCA. There is no other logical reason for a well-informed animal person to disparage the work of CAP - an agency that tells the truth about the consequences of our irresponsibility to animals, and then puts its all ($$$) behind solving the problem.

CAP tells the truth about distroying animals, despite the damage to its donation prospects. CAP speaks honestly in the interest of STOPPING the onslaught of the unwanted, homeless, abused and discarded. That honesty is almost certianly costly in terms donations, but just as certianly, helps abate the pet overpopulation problem in the long-term.

Anyone who understands the magnitude of the issue would support CAP. That is to say, anyone whose genuine concern were the animals. Of course, when you are supporting the habits of a director (see: SPCA) who makes more money than the Mayor of Houston, I guess both the animals and the truth don't count much, the money does.... and count it, they do....

Pat

Again, I have never been employed by any shelter. I have been in rescue and have actively fostered cats and dogs for more than ten years for a couple of organizations including CAP. All I'm saying is that CAP isn't perfect. God knows the SPCA has angered me on more than one occasion. I was at CAP when a woman brought in a couple cats in traps. I asked her what the deal was and she told me her collector idiot neighbor moved away and left all her cats. She packed her bags, opened the doors and left. The neighbors called the SPCA for help with all these cats running around. The SPCA shows up with the obligatory news cameras. They do their schtick, catch a couple cats, and leave never to return. A couple of us CAP volunteers ended up going over there and trapped cats over several weekends. Between the neighbors and us there were more than 80 cats. I am very aware that the SPCA likes that good publicity when the news cameras are around. I also know that in sheer numbers they adopt out a lot of animals. Mistakes are made at every shelter in this town. You know why? Because they are run by people. These people don't make a lot of money (exception SPCA director). Burn out is high because of the idiot general public who when you tell them "we are killing your 12 year old cat at 5" and they leave them anyway, or the litter of puppies that are literally skeletons with skin that are turned in by their owner because the damn mother dog keeps getting pregnant and the puppies are too much trouble. For some it's the only job they could find until they find something better so they don't really give a damn about the animals. I'm saying don't hold any shelter up as perfect, because there isn't such a thing.

Samantha,

I am sorry if it seemed that I was holding any shelter up as perfect, I did not mean to. I am always suspect of anyone defending the SPCA because it's almost famous for hiding the numbers and nature of destroyed animals from the very same people who could solve the problem. Us.

In my opinion, CAP is more genuinely involved with animal welfare. I believe the SPCA is consumed with issues of money and image at the expense of the animals. And that is ONLY MY opinion.

Nonetheless, I thank you for your candor. You are obviously a person who cares.

Respectfully,

Pat

Hi Lisa,
I was wondering if you could help me find some places that need people to donate money to animals the most. I have some Katrina and Rita adreesses to mail to but I was wondering if you could give me some suggestions. I'm trying to get people more involved in this at my college and where I live. Also I was wondering mabey you could start doing adoption shows on the news for special needs pets and Katrina and Rita animals Sometimes they can get overlooked in adoption. Thanks for your time. Please email me back. Oh I would also like to sponser a cat preferably a Katrina or Rita, or a special needs cat that is in need cvan you tell me more on how to do that.

Thanks A Lot,
Emily

Hi Lisa,
I was wondering if you could help me find some places that need people to donate money to animals the most. I have some Katrina and Rita adreesses to mail to but I was wondering if you could give me some suggestions. I'm trying to get people more involved in this at my college and where I live. Also I was wondering mabey you could start doing adoption shows on the news for special needs pets and Katrina and Rita animals Sometimes they can get overlooked in adoption. Thanks for your time. Please email me back. Oh I would also like to sponser a cat preferably a Katrina or Rita, or a special needs cat that is in need cvan you tell me more on how to do that.

Thanks A Lot,
Emily