Building "Bridges" Across the Bayou City!
"The shelter has been operating above capacity for months. It currently has 490 dogs in its care, with the capacity to comfortably care for half of that. The shelter will not accept animal intakes from the public in unincorporated Harris County t…
Read MoreIs getting worse and worse. BARC is killing hundreds of dogs & their euth list is growing every day. Shelters here are bursting at the seams. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-BARC-animal-shelter-euthanizin…
Read MoreOver the last week, 5 dogs have died and more than 100 heat-related distress calls have been made to two of Houston’s largest animal cruelty tip lines.
Animal cruelty investigators have to walk a fine line when it comes to these situations. They don’t want to separate animals from their owners if it’s not needed and they need to follow protocol – but they also don’t want to risk an animal’s life. The heat can kill quickly.
It’s sad Houston has this problem. But the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, which went into effect earlier this year, is helping change things. The law aims to save dogs from dying on the end of heavy chains in extreme weather.
“When you go to communities like Houston, where there probably at one point were thousands of dogs on chains, that’s going to take some time to implement,” Shelby Bobosky, executive director for the Texas Humane Legislative Network said.
We still have a long way to go. Until then, please bring your dogs inside, Houston.
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Following the Uvalde mass shooting, the Houston Chronicle analyzed Institute of Forensic Sciences data to determine the number of local children who were killed by gun violence so far this year.
19 children died in Uvalde. 19 children have also died in Houston, in various forms of gun violence, excluding suicides, so far in 2022.
They died after being shot in the chest and head. They died on the streets of Houston and in homes. Sometimes, they died feet away from their loved ones.
They all died before the age of 18.
We remember their lives and stories here.
As Texas and the nation reel from the latest mass shootings, including Uvalde, the deaths of children and teenagers in the Houston area offer a clear reminder that young people are affected by gun violence every day.
For kids, any exposure to such violence can reverberate for the rest of their lives. One researcher said some studies show the impact can present mental and physical health concerns immediately as well as years later in adulthood, ranging from not playing at a park down the street to lifelong trauma.
“The impact on children living with our nation’s gun violence crisis is just enormous,” she said, “and in some ways immeasurable.”
Read more on Houston’s escalating gun violence and the toll it has taken on kids here.
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Story in the Houston Chronicle today on the city’s rampant stray animal crisis that has local rescues burned out:
Houston is in the midst of a stray animal crisis — part of a nationwide drop in adoptions coupled with an uptick in pandemic pet surrenders and abandoned animals — that is leaving volunteer-run rescues, fosters and shelter staff burned out.
“It’s just nonstop, there is no break,” Anna Barbosa of Houston K-911 said.
Houston-area shelters have seen a significant drop in adoptions and fosters that is pushing facilities beyond critical capacity levels.
As the pandemic waned and employees returned to the office, animals started showing back up at shelters in droves. The uptick in evictions after COVID relief programs ended has added to the numbers.
The crisis — which is unfolding in the midst of a booming kitten and puppy season — has Aaron Johnson of the Montgomery County shelter and Rene Vasquez of the Fort Bend shelter feeling like all the progress they’ve made in recent years is lost.
“We all feel a little bit discouraged kind of, because we have all been working very hard in this industry to elevate things and this feels like a big hit to the animal welfare community as a whole,” Johnson said.
The issues that maxed-out local shelters are facing trickle down to rescues, which heavily rely on volunteers who foster animals waiting for adoption.
“It feels like we are sinking, and we are trying to stay afloat,” Kali Cabrera of Spring Branch Animal Rescue said.
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Houston-area animal shelters are being pushed to critical levels thanks to a steep drop in adoptions and a stark rise in intakes that has several local facilities totally overwhelmed.
Local shelters are waiving or reducing adoption fees as part of a citywide event this weekend that aims to help alleviate strained facilities. The event runs April 30-May 1 and coincides with the National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day on Saturday.
See below for a list of participating shelters in this weekend’s event. (Interested adopters or fosters should contact a shelter directly for information on reduced fees, the adoption process and requirements.)
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Melissa Lucio’s execution is scheduled for next week despite serious questions about whether she committed the crime. If she is innocent, it wouldn’t be the first time Texas sent someone to death row for a crime they didn’t commit.
A new project from the Houston Chronicle profiles 12 former Texas death row inmates who narrowly escaped execution after fighting for their lives for years — or in some cases, decades: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2022/texas-death-row-freed/
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Houston-area school districts have seen a surge in requests to ban certain library books, many of which explore issues of race or have LGBTQ+ characters. Some longtime Houston-area educators have said they have never seen a push to remove books w…
Read MoreFYI for Houston pet owners: it’s against the law to leave animals out in below-freezing temperatures in Texas.
If you see an animal that has been left out in the elements tonight/during the freeze or you suspect animal cruelty of any kind, please contact the Harris County Animal Cruelty Taskforce at 832-927-PAWS or the Houston SPCA at 713-869-7722.
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From Saturday, Jan. 22 through Thursday, Jan. 27, six Harris County police officers were either killed or injured in the line of duty, prompting local officials to speak out on gun violence. submitted by /u/dukescrib [link] [comme…
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