Pet Over-population Forces Shelters to Kill Thousands Each Year

Pet overpopulation leads to shelters killing thousands of dogsand cats each year; numbers of dead animals continues to rise

A pet should bring years of companionship and joy, but bringing one into your home is a long-term commitment and a financial obligation as well. Unfortunately, not all animals receive the nutrition, training and medical care they need. At times, owners find that they can’t care for them, so they simply let pets roam to fend for themselves. On any given day you can see unwanted cats and dogs wandering through neighborhoods and parking lots throughout the Rio Grande Valley, hungry and rifling through discards — or dead and littering the streets as victims of careless or sadistic drivers.
Animal shelters throughout the Valley kill far more pets than they can find homes for – thousands a month. Each year about 40,000 animals are killed in Edinburg at the Upper Valley Humane Society facility alone. To raise awareness of this issue, the society holds a public candlelight vigil for the unwanted, helpless and homeless pets. This year’s vigil is scheduled for August 19.
In Edinburg, the city’s Animal Care and Control workers picked up 2,719 animals and turned them over to the Humane Society last year. These numbers include the lucky few that were reunited with owners, those that were adopted, and others that had to be killed.
The first 6 months of this year shows an even larger number: more than 1,700 animals including 718 dogs, 618 cats, and 380 other animals so far in Edinburg alone.
“A few months ago I read that we were putting down (killing) around 95 animals a day,” commented Heidi Barragan of Banfield, the pet hospital located in the PetSmart on North 10th Street in McAllen. It costs the city $35 for each animal processed at the Upper Valley Human Society – over $95,000 of Edinburg’s tax dollars last year, largely due to the negligent pet owners who choose not to spay and neuter.

IT’S A SIMPLE OPERATION
Barragan said only about five percent of her clients are interested in spaying or neutering their animals; most want to breed them. Although Barragan’s efforts may seem to fall on deaf ears, she and her colleagues will continue to educate their customers on the importance of spaying, neutering and vaccinations.
One reason for the animal population problem is that Upper Valley Humane Society has been functioning without a full-time veterinarian for about two years, leaving many pet owners without low-cost services. One local animal rescuer drives three hours to a Corpus Christi-area clinic where services run around $35. Locally, spay/neutering costs from $120 to $200, depending on the age, weight and type of animal. Some pet owners who can’t afford this find themselves with an unwanted litter and simply discard the animals, hoping someone else will give them a home.
The Edinburg Police Department’s Animal Care and Control division has only two full-time employees, who are kept very busy controlling the city’s growing pet problem.
“It’s sad so many animals have to be put to sleep,” says Police Chief Quirino Muñoz. “Sometimes they are abandoned, left on the streets to fend for themselves. They start fighting, may attack other animals or pedestrians. It causes a lot of problems, which then become the taxpayers’ problems.
“We need a more aggressive public awareness of these complications and a campaign by private and/or public agencies for spaying and neutering, we need more vets to volunteer and to sponsor services, and of course we are enforcing the leash laws.”

A REGIONAL PROBLEM
At the Isabel Garcia/Laguna Madre Shelter in Port Isabel, Director Jamie Wright echoes the need for civic responsibility. “Owners must be more responsible in prevention, spay/neutering and vaccinating their pets,” she says. “Too often someone will buy a dog, not vaccinate it, and after it becomes ill and dies of diseases they’ll just go out and buy another.”
And animal lovers should be careful if they do buy a pet. Matthew Lozano, store manager of Petland in McAllen, says he strongly encourages customers to never buy pets on the side of the road or at flea markets. These animals are generally from unlicensed breeders and may be smuggled in from Mexico. To help educate the public, Petland offers Valley schools a free program on responsible pet care and other animal topics.
“I tell my customers if they aren’t looking to breed then go to the local animal shelters or rescues where there are lots of really great animals that need homes,” Lozano says.
Many suffer from poor nutrition, are sickly, bred in awful conditions. Some are taken from their mothers far too early and sold as “miniature” or “toy” breeds so the owners can make a quick buck. It is not unusual for a mother to get dumped after her puppies are taken to market.
“On opening day, our very first patient was a puppy with parvo (a potentially fatal virus that mainly attacks a dog’s digestive system),” says Barragan at the Petsmart veterinary facility. “Since then we are seeing two puppies a day with this disease, and in most cases the owners haven’t had the puppy even 24 hours. They are contracting it before being sold and probably aren’t being raised in good conditions.”
By purchasing animals from roadside vendors and flea markets, you are contributing to the epidemic of lost, discarded and disposable animals. A reputable breeder will provide a guarantee of health for the pet and pedigree. Wright says the Port Isabel shelter is fortunate to have an in-house veterinarian to provide medical treatment and spay or neuter pets before the animals are adopted. This saves the shelter money that can be put to good use in other areas such as finding homes for these animals.
“This week we had 15 adoptions, and last month we sent three dogs to homes out of state” through petfinder.com, Wright says. “We want to reunite pets and owners.”
If that’s not possible, then animal lovers hope to find new homes for those lost pets they encounter.
Many shelters and rescue groups work with local pet stores and hold adoption fairs throughout the Rio Grande Valley. If you know of someone who can no longer care for a pet or if you are interested in adopting, please contact your local rescue group or shelter.