Houston City Council Tackles Stray Animal Overpopulation with Major Funding for Spay/Neuter Initiative
Houston City Council approved $974,558.40 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Recovery funds to be awarded to Houston PetSet and Spay Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP) for spay and neuter services for Houston community pets at today's City Council meeting. Both groups, who are existing partners with the City of Houston, will enter into three-year contracts to expand upon existing services for Houstonians. Funding includes:
- $181,300.00 with Houston PetSet to fund surgeries for 1,400 cats and dogs
- $793,258.40 with SNAP to fund surgeries for 4,880 cats and dogs
"Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and in the wake of its impacts on Houstonians, I have been committed to providing resources promoting responsible pet ownership, such as spay/neuter programs, and mandatory microchipping aimed at keeping Houston pets united with their owners. To further address Houston's stray animal overpopulation issue at its core, we must expand upon strong collaborations with partners like SNAP and Houston PetSet," said Mayor Sylvester Turner. "Through this targeted funding, more than 6,200 animals can be spayed or neutered, as the City continues a long-term strategy targeting pet homelessness and the threat to public safety that a stray animal population may pose. "
“In the past year, our enforcement team received 7,000 more calls for service from the public, resulting in a 48% increase in the amount of animals brought into the shelter by this team,” said BARC Shelter Director Jarrad Mears. “Proactive partnerships with groups like Houston PetSet and SNAP are crucial to targeting the source of the stray animal problem by providing the public with more access to spay and neuter services.”
BARC, the City of Houston's Animal Shelter and Adoption Center, takes in more than 25,000 animals annually regardless of behavior, breed, or medical condition. BARC works each day to improve Houstonians and their pets' health and safety by pioneering programs such as low-cost and no-cost spay/neuter services, mobile adoptions, transfer/rescue partnerships, and community outreach.
These additional funds expand upon existing City efforts aimed at the source of the stray population, such as BARC’s Healthy Pets, Healthy Streets initiative, which expends $520,000 annually to support the spaying and neutering of approximately 3,500 animals per year. These surgeries are free of cost to Houstonians and are performed through local spay/neuter clinics.
In 2022, the City also supplemented its annual spay/neuter funding by $500,000 to allow BARC to partner with additional local organizations such as Houston PetSet, K-9 Angels’ “Empty Shelter Project,” and Houston Spay Neuter. With all BARC and partner efforts combined, more than 7,700 dogs and cats were spayed or neutered in Fiscal Year 2023.
Learn more about the benefits of spaying and neutering your pets at https://bit.ly/BARCspayneuter.
Source: COH
