Third World Figures

America’s 4th largest city seems unable to elect local government that gives a damn about dogs and cats. The long-awaited Renaissance after Mayor White's Dark Ages is failing to materialize.

Numbers convey best the extent of Houston’s Mayor and City Council’s failure to mitigate the problem of homeless animals: The city-run Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care (BARC) has a kill ratio of 65%; roughly 27,000 animals every year. Try to wrap your mind around 60 to 80 cats and dogs killed under one roof every single day.

More's the pity when four other animal Golgothas operate in town: Houston SPCA (65% of arrivals killed), Harris County Animal Control (77%), Houston Humane Society (86%), and Citizens for Animal Protection (46%). (Percentages given by the 2005 Mayor’s Task Force.) Combined, Houston's five animal processing facilities (for “shelters” they are not) euthanize 100,000 dogs and cats every year. The rate at which Houston – or rather, the Mayor and City Council’s inefficacy – dispatches its homeless animals is 65% higher than the national average.

Stray or surrendered-by-owner animals are culled for reasons such as pregnancy (it's cheaper to kill the mother than surgically terminate/spay), minor treatable infections, growling, being an anathematized breed like a “pit,” or just because the technician on duty is in a bad mood. This system of animal control costs Houston taxpayers $5 million/year.

And there is more. We would be sickened to know the additional number of animals who die of neglect and abuse in the backyards, junkyards, streets, fighting pits, etc. of Harris County. In sum, concerning its non-human residents this city has joined the Third World without a whimper.

The triage mentality, the despair, the hopelessness that permeates BARC and other kill organizations are a direct consequence of a city government that is insensitive to the challenges a civilized society must – must! – tackle concerning animal welfare. Which is why in a recent email I asked Mayor Parker, the City Councilors, and the director of Administration and Regulatory Affairs, Alfred Moran: “Would it kill you (as it kills 250 fine dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens every day between the time you eat breakfast and dinner) to support creative solutions to re-home Houston's homeless animals?
“Abandon the doomed Gragg Park shelter plan (White's curse on his successors) and find an accessible, safe, location out of the flood plain, where people can go adopt a pet without fear.
“Launch an all-out spay/neuter/vaccinate public education campaign; work with SNAP and other organizations to make low cost (or free) sterilization available in problem zip codes.
“Listen. Not just to your political career advisors but to voters who are asking nothing for themselves, but for those who silently die in droves.”

As things are now in Houston, 9 in 10 littermates die of unnatural causes before reaching maturity. This IS the Third World.