SPEAK FOR SHELTER PETS!

Please sign our letter asking the mayor to keep his campaign promises and implement the No Kill model of sheltering at Houston’s pound (BARC).   We have made it very easy.  It only takes a few seconds, but could save tens of thousands of lives every year.

Option 1

Clicking the below link will open a Pre-Addressed, Pre-Written email to the mayor and city council.  

 

Once the email is opened, please add your own words to the subject line or email body, so that all emails are not exactly the same. 

 

(If everyone's email is different, they are less likely to be blocked by the city's computer system.  Just adding a couple words, like your name, to the email will help. 

After you send your email, please SHARE this page with your friends and family and ask them to do the same.

(Since there are so many different Browsers, and email programs, it is nearly impossible to program a link that will work with all combinations.   We have posted several different versions at the 4 different links below.  Hopefully, one of these links will work with your particular Browser/email program combination.   If not, please copy and paste the letter and email addresses posted below into your own email program.  Thank you.)

Letter 1 with semi-colons between email addresses

* CLICK HERE TO SEND EMAIL*

 

OR

 

Letter 2 with semi-colons between email addresses

* CLICK HERE TO SEND EMAIL*

 

OR

 

Letter 1 with commas between email addresses

* CLICK HERE TO SEND EMAIL*

 

OR

 

Letter 2 with commas between email addresses

* CLICK HERE TO SEND EMAIL*

 

OR

 

Option 2

If you cannot use the email link above, you can also copy the email addresses and email text below and paste them into your own email.

 

Email addresses (copy and paste into the "To" field):

mayor@houstontx.gov, atlarge1@houstontx.gov, atlarge2@houstontx.gov, atlarge3@houstontx.gov, atlarge4@houstontx.gov, atlarge5@houstontx.gov, districta@houstontx.gov, districtb@houstontx.gov, districtc@houstontx.gov, districtd@houstontx.gov, districte@houstontx.gov, districtf@houstontx.gov, districtg@houstontx.gov, districth@houstontx.gov, districti@houstontx.gov, districtj@houstontx.gov, districtk@houstontx.gov

 

Body of email (to copy and paste into your email):

While running for mayor, Sylvester Turner promised voters that *Implementing a no-kill policy should be the ultimate goal for Houston’s animal control.  As mayor, I will champion policies in pursuit of that goal.*

 

To date,  you have not kept that promise. The lives of pets matter deeply to me and I want the mayor to work on issues that matter to me.

 

BARC had 81 percent Save Rate in 2017. This is better than previous years, but is not good enough when 5,596 pets were killed or lost by BARC.

 

There are 200+ Open Admission shelters, like BARC, serving 500+ cities and towns, who are saving ALL healthy and treatable pets because shelter leadership comprehensively implemented proven programs. Many have HIGHER Intakes Per Capita than BARC.   If 200+ shelters can do it, so can BARC’s director.

 

I expect that YOU will end the killing of pets at BARC by instructing your employee, BARC’s director, to implement the same programs --- or you will hire someone who will. 

 

OR CHOOSE THIS EMAIL TO COPY AND PASTE

 

We now have a solution to animal shelter killing and it is not difficult, expensive, or beyond practical means to achieve. No Kill is a humane, sustainable, cost-effective model that allows open admission animal control shelters to save all healthy and treatable animals. Unlike the “adopt some and kill the rest” form of animal sheltering that dominates in the United States and is responsible for the needless killing of millions of animals every year, municipal No Kill shelters are saving as much as 99% of all animals entrusted to their care. By working with people, embracing lifesaving programs, and treating each life as precious, a shelter can transform itself.

 

Here’s a free film that highlights several communities which have made the transition: https://vimeo.com/183035642

 

Here are free guides that demonstrate how they did it, including model policies and procedures for the operation of a municipal, No Kill animal shelter: https://goo.gl/V8rBc8

 

And here’s even more good news: the more animals a community shelter saves, the more money people in the community spend on those animals. A University of Denver study found that the total dollar value of additional spending and other economic impact realized by one city over a 6-year period as a result of passing a No Kill ordinance was over $150,000,000. Saving lives not only makes ethical sense; it makes dollars and cents: https://goo.gl/XA2yBL

 

The No Kill Advocacy Center has helped numerous communities in their transition to No Kill and they can help ours, too. Please do not hesitate to contact them: https://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org

 

Why are we doing this?

 

Houston’s taxpayer funded animal control shelter (BARC), killed or lost 5,596 pets in 2017 alone.  That is 15+ pets killed by BARC every single day of the year.    

 

It does not have to be this way. It has been proven, by hundreds of Open Admission shelters all over the country that they can transform themselves into No Kill shelters.  There model of sheltering – a groups of programs and services --- that when comprehensively implemented, ends the killing of shelter pets.

 

BARC has made some progress over the last few years, and more lives are being saved now than in the past.  However, moving from an “F” to a “C” is not good enough when it means thousands of pets are still being needlessly killed by BARC.

 

As animal lovers, and taxpayers, we should EXPECT our municipal animal shelter to use the very best practices known, and to work hard, in order to save every healthy and treatable pet.

 

In Mayor’s Turner’s response to Houston Voters For Companion Animals' candidate questionnaire, he stated that “Implementing a no-kill policy should be the ultimate goal for Houston’s animal control.  As mayor, I will champion policies in pursuit of that goal”.   We should ask him to keep his campaign promises.  

 

Elected officials listen to what a large number of voters want.  So, we need all animal lovers to SPEAK and tell the mayor and city council that this is important to you, as an animal lover and VOTER.  

 

We must SPEAK to ensure that this issue gets on the mayor's agenda.  Otherwise, nothing will change.

 

 

Help us reach every Houstonian! 

There are 2.2 million people in Houston.  That is approximately 1,430,000 pet owners in Houston.   Our goal is for all 1,430,000 pet owners to ask the mayor to end the killing of shelter pets.   But, it is expensive for us to reach that many people and we need your help to continue spreading the word.  

 

Please consider a donation to help us fund this effort.    Click here to donate.