Houston PetSet Aims To Curb 400,000 Homeless Animals Walking The Streets

HOUSTON, TX — Four dogs walk the streets in a quiet Houston neighborhood every day and every night, not knowing what they’ll eat or particularly where they’ll sleep. They just make do.

These dogs may or may not produce another litter of puppies, they might have a disease, carry mange and they could be aggressive. Then again, they could be sweet, cuddly, innocent and just looking for a loving human. They could possibly have a lifetime ahead of them, or they could be put down and never understand the reason why.

Four homeless dogs walking the streets in one small neighborhood might not seem like a huge deal. But multiply it by 100, and how does 400 homeless dogs walking the street sound? It sounds like a pretty big number. But in the streets of Houston and Harris County, that doesn’t even tip the furry scale.

To put Houston’s homeless pet population into perspective, those four animals walking the street would need to be multiplied by 100,000. Spread over the sprawling metropolis, it might be hard to notice there are close to a half million homeless pets. But for those working the front lines to help curb the homeless pet population, they’re trying to get the communities and cities to take notice.

“At any given time we have 400,000 homeless animals on the streets,” said Tama Lundquist, co-president of Houston PetSet. “We see a problem and it’s not getting better. We’re trying to find a solution to this, and we’re working on a plan that’s coming together.”

Tama is co-president with her twin sister, Tena Faust, for Houston PetSet, which is a non-profit funding arm for animal shelters all over town. Houston PetSet helps those who are “in the trenches” on a daily basis rescuing, spaying, neutering, fostering, adopting and protecting Houston’s homeless, neglected and abused animal population.

The twin co-presidents knew the homeless pet population wouldn’t go away with simply doing things the way they’ve always been done, so they took it upon themselves to better educate themselves on how to better raise money, and awareness, without putting the financial burden on the city or county.

“More than 100,000 animals get euthanized in our city every year, and no one was talking about a solution,” Tama said.

They began talking with local people and then others around the country. They visited the “Fix. Adopt. Save” program in Phoenix, Arizona. Since that program’s inception in 2012, there has been a 12 percent increase in spay/neuter surgeries, which led to a decrease in shelters by 42 percent — or nearly 36,000 animals in the Phoenix case.

The Arizona program held various adoption events, and the program itself has cut its euthanasia rate by 79 percent, or approximately 30,000 additional animals saved.

Houston PetSet hired a private firm to begin working on a strategic plan that would focus on transport, a more inclusive spay/neuter program and a better-educated public.

As the plan was coming together and ready to launch sometime in 2018, Hurricane Harvey reared its ugly head and left an incredible amount of more homeless pets in Houston. This fast-tracked some elements of the new strategic plan.

“We were moving at a rapid pace now,” Tama said. “We began transport, increasing adoptions, and spade and neutering.”

Following Hurricane Harvey, Houston PetSet carried out this mission by partnering with local rescues, including BARC, Best Friends, Houston Pets Alive, among others to help shelter animals displaced by the storm. They also coordinated numerous transports to shelters all over the country to help the animals find a new home

There were five transports around the state and country, which included loading animals on four flights and others on a bus to Santa Barbara, California.

To make it clear, the homeless animals gathered in the aftermath of Harvey were sent to a central location at the NRG Arena Pet Pavilion. Those animals were given 30 days for the owners to reclaim them or else they’d be put up for adoption. But room needed to be made for them, so they shipped off animals that had been surrendered and those that had been there the longest (and more than 30 days).

Houston PetSet has funded more than $2 million to the local shelters and clinics since 2004, with the majority of that in the last five years alone. They raise money through grants and local fundraising events.

They hold an annual Fierce and Fabulous Soiree event every September that accounts for more than 90 percent of its annual funds. PetSet said money raised will make it possible to soon open a new spay/neuter clinic in town, which will help trim down overall numbers.

“It’s a fun party that consists of a cocktail party, dinner, a program and then an after party,” Tama said. This year’s event was cancelled because of Harvey.

The new strategic plan has six pillars that include adoption, education and other ways to curb animal population,” Tena said.

Tama said many people are unaware of the homeless pet population in Houston, and it could be dangerous at times.

“People are unaware it’s such a big issue in parts of our city,” said Tama, who noted that the No. 1 complaint in 11 Houston zip codes is the number of dogs running in the streets. “This is a quality of life issue. You have parents scared to send their kids to school."

“A lot of dogs euthanized are getting sent to the landfill and this could be a financial drain on our city. Money’s going in but problem not getting solved.”

Photos courtesy of Houston PetSet