Shelter, State Rep. Say NO! to Animal Euthanasia

HOUSTON - Houston animal shelters euthanize roughly 80,000 dogs and cats each year, but one state representative and a local animal shelter are hoping to significantly reduce that number.

State Representative Jessica Farrar wants to introduce "no kill" standards to animal shelters statewide and that's exactly what the Friends for Life animal shelter here in Houston practices.
They are the fastest-growing “no-kill” animal adoption and rescue organization in Houston, and they're all about redefining what "adoptable" means.

“Friends for Life does do things differently in addition to bringing animals into our shelter who need help. We have a ‘thinking outside the shelter’ program where we look at each individual situation to find out how we can keep those animals in the home in the first place and never enter the shelter system,” said Friends for Life communications manager Kim Domerofski.

Unfortunately, thousands of animals end up homeless every year.

“There are animals that are too young for other shelters. For examples kittens or animals based on breeds, like pit bulls would be killed at other shelters, also animals with treatable conditions that are killed in other kennels,” said Kim.

“Oh it just makes me so angry I can’t even explain how angry it is. It’s so unnecessary that they don’t give them a chance and there’s so many ways they could give them a better chance and this organization can really prove it on a daily basis. We’ve taken so many cats that would’ve been not even considered adoptable and they have found some really great homes,” said Friends for Life volunteer Roxann Schanzenbach.

The nonprofit relies on volunteers like Roxann to care for the cats at their facility in the Heights. It also relies on foster parents like Jackie Sklar to provide transition homes for dogs until Friends For Life can find that animal a true friend for life.

“To me, fostering is just one life at a time. You take them in, provide a home for them, until a forever home can be found and friends for life. You’re making a smooth transition for a dog or cat on the street to a home where they can get treatment, nourished back to health and shown love and then put into a home that’s really the best fit for them,” said Sklar.

Farrar is on board too. In her bill, the Texas Companion Animal Protection Act, she's calling on Houston shelters to kill fewer animals.

“The aim of the legislation is to prevent the needless killing of dogs and cats mainly through maximizing fostering and adoption strategies and also through compelling spaying and neutering practices. We are a larger city and we have a larger problem and so I just think it’s a change of attitude really and the way we see animals and we see our collective responsibility for them,” said Farrar.

The city of Austin adopted similar standards back in 2008 and claims to save 92 percent of animals that pass through its shelters.

Online Resources (non-mobile):
> Friends for Life