Choosing to adopt a pet should be a permanent decision, but sometimes life changes in a way that prevents a family from keeping a four-legged friend. Animal surrenders are heartbreaking, but they happen. Recently, though, there has been a trend in Houston, Texas, that will make you sick to your stomach.
The Harris County Animal Shelter in Houston, Texas, can typically only take care of 200 animals at a time. However, they are currently experiencing a strange surge in animal surrenders. In just one week, the surrender rate exploded and the shelter has over 500 dogs and cats desperately searching for loving homes.
Wanting to euthanize as few animals as possible, the shelter is looking for help.
Source: Harris County Animal Shelter / Facebook
It’s unclear what caused the strange spike in abandoned animals, but most of the people that came to the shelter claimed that a “lifestyle change” resulted in them being unable to care for their pets.
The individuals working at the shelter, although they are never happy to see an animal be surrendered, were devastated by all the pets being dropped off.
Source: Harris County Animal Shelter / Facebook
The rate of surrenders was so high, one day there was a 2.5-hour wait to drop off an animal.
Some heartless people were getting so desperate to get rid of their animals, they simply left them in the parking lot and hoped that the shelter would take them in.
Source: Harris County Animal Shelter / Facebook
The shelter is now well beyond capacity. Without the help of fosters and adopters, innocent animals will lose their lives. “We are now at 534 animals in care! There are 5-6 animals to a kennel. We need your support to maintain a 90% lifesaving rate,” they posted on Facebook.
Source: Harris County Animal Shelter / Facebook
The animal shelter is officially at their max for cats and cannot accept any more, so they are pleading with people via social media to foster cats and kittens. They are even offering to supply potential foster families with litter boxes and other materials, just so the cats have somewhere to stay.
Source: Harris County Animal Shelter / Facebook
The unwanted pet epidemic is difficult to understand — most people cannot fathom abandoning a beloved family member in a shelter. However, selfish individuals in the Houston area are apparently only interested in shirking their responsibilities, not caring for their four-legged family members.
Overwhelmed shelters like this one are exactly why families should adopt instead of purchasing purebred dogs. There are so many animals in desperate need of a loving home — and each one has so much joy and affection to give. If you have an animal, make sure to spay or neuter them. If you don’t, unwanted puppies may suffer and end up in a desperate situation like this one.
The shelter’s plea in the Facebook video below will break your heart.
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There is a 2 1/2 hr wait today to surrender an animal at Harris County Animal Shelter. That is how many animals we are receiving! If people can’t wait or don’t want to wait they tying them up to a tree and leaving or abandoning them in a box in our parking lot. We are now at 534 animals in care! There are 5-6 animals to a kennel. We need your support to maintain a 90% lifesaving rate.Please adopt, foster or tag for rescue. Help us, help them.We are open weekdays from 1pm-5:30pm and weekends from 11am-4pm.If you are a Houston or Harris County resident and can foster for 2-3 weeks, please email foster@phs.hctx.net.
Posted by Harris County Animal Shelter on Tuesday, June 25, 2019
