Oil spill orphans

Dear Jan:

Much as I want to help your friend Brenda in New Orleans network with organizations that can save from being euthanized the many animals surrendered by fishermen and others affected by the BP oil spill, I can’t. My contacts in animal rescue here in Houston are up to their necks in dogs and cats. The problem in border states and the south in general is uncontrollable backyard breeding. Even when organizations like Spay-Neuter Assistance Program and others bring to the neighborhoods free surgeries and inoculations, newcomers to the USA don't believe in that shit. Their culture believes in many children for themselves and, by extension, for their loosely-called "pets.” The more the merrier … because their own kids, the New Americans, are well provided for by the host country’s taxpayers; as for their dogs and cats … not much thought goes into their welfare and they end up roaming the streets or in shelters. In fact the most "responsible" New Americans, those who bother to bring new litters –one after another— to the city shelter or the SPCA, actually think they are “contributing” to our subsistence. Some even ask for money. No amount of explaining sinks in. And it’s getting worse.

It would be unfair not to mention that some of the most frustrated people about this state of affairs come from the same culture but do all the right things, like the founder of Barrio Dogs, a new organization that provides humane education for Hispanic kids and backyard fencing (in order to liberate dogs who live in chains) in Hispanic neighborhoods. Many caring employees and volunteers at HSPCA and other organizations are from Mexico and Central America. It’s a mixed bag, but the uneducated folk who cross the border illegally exacerbate a problem that may have been in remission.

Concerning the economic victims of the BP oil spill … While I understand that there are fishermen and others seriously affected, I’ll bet my 1982 Volvo that those who surrendered their pet/s didn’t give up beer, their gas guzzling SUV, their cell phone plan, their Cheetos, their visits to the hair salon, or weekends at Walmart.

Unless one is in his or her death bed, all it takes to keep a pet is to be willing to share your shelter, no matter how humble, and your plate of food, no matter how meager. I've seen homeless people with well fed, happy dogs. It's a matter of wanting.