Houston, TX –  Many people believe that the Houston SPCA is a No Kill shelter, or that they are “working as hard as they can” to place as many animals as possible, or that they kill only truly “unadoptable” pets.  They repeatedly advertise that they place “100% of all of their healthy and behaviorally sound animals“.  To a lot of people, this sounds like they are a No Kill shelter, so, you might be shocked to learn what the Houston SPCA says is “unadoptable” and therefore should be killed.

Contrary to their advertisements and proclamations, the Houston SPCA is actually a high kill shelter, with a 65% KILL rate the last time that they were honest with the public.   Obviously, they are very good at hiding the truth from the donating public.  Animal lovers watch Animal Cops or see the nice press releases showing a “rescue”, however they never see what goes on behind closed doors, once the cameras go off.   Below is an example of what is really going on at the Houston SPCA.

I ran across this story posted by “Anne” on a complaint website. Anne’s story absolutely broke my heart.   I’m posting it in its entirety below (I edited only with line breaks or indents to make it easier to read).

“On Saturday March 23rd, 2013 I was faced with a difficult decision.  I had to give up my 2 yr old Neutered male Domestic short hair cat.  I recently had to take a job that is 90% travel.  After having a friend look after my baby boy for a month, she stated that she couldn’t do it anymore because she already had a full plate of responsibilities.  I searched and searched for a solution but to no avail. 

I saved My Valentino from The Pasadena Animal Control & Adoption (where I was an A.C.O. ) .   I returned there hoping that they may be able to find him a happy home or perhaps a foster parent for a short period.  They couldn’t accept him because they were at capacity.  I had two days to find a solution. 

I reluctantly chose HSPCA as a solution.

I will never regret another decision more in my life!  I cried the whole way there dreading the separation, i promised Valentino that this was the best thing and that they will find him a home ( i wholeheartedly believed this ).  

Upon my arrival ( i had an appointment ) the staff (Jasmine) was insensitively joking with other staff (while i was bawling my eyes out) making me wait 20 mins.  She finally called me up to the counter and began taking my information.  I told her everything i could think of about Valentino, how he’s really a cat dog, he loves to play fetch and get his belly scratched, showed her pictures of his funny sleeping poses. 

She was putting me at ease by telling me that she could see that he was highly adoptable.  I filled out the paper work, she even told me that i can send the pics i had so they could put them on his profile for the adoption site.

I said my goodbyes, tears streaming down my face i turned and walked out wondering what wonderful family or person would choose Valentino.  I left the next day to return to my job, and checked the website hourly.  I checked into Monday still no Valentino.  I began to worry that he wasn’t up on the site, so i asked a friend to call and see if they could find out what was going on. 

While waiting for them to get back to me, i received a TXT message from an unfamiliar number that read ” HSPCA just called, your cat was PTSed ( Put To Sleep ) for being aggressive”.

My heart sank my world turned upside down. The thought of that happening (even as a former Animal Control Officer who knows thoroughly how shelters work ) never crossed my mind.  I know my cat, he has never been aggressive, even under duress he was never aggressive, never during baths did he scratch or bite.  He was the most patient cat I ever saw.  He acted more like a dog than a feline, perhaps because the first year he was with me, he was constantly pal-ing around with my female Boxer Lucy. 

I can’t even describe how stupid and guilty I feel for entrusting an organization such as HSPCA (who claims to love and care for animals) with someone that meant so much and was so dear to me.  I feel like I let him down completely and must live with this for the rest of my life.  While he was just another number to the HSPCA.

Please, if you have an animal that you truly care about and can’t care for or keep anymore, please exhaust all other options before turning them into some shelter, and especially HSPCA.  They will lie to you and kill your animal with some bogus reason.”

Valentino, a beloved pet, before he was killed by the Houston SPCA

So, the Houston SPCA killed yet another adoptable pet.   They took Valentino on Saturday and he was dead by Monday.  How long did they wait before killing Valentino?   A day?  An hour?  Was Anne even out of the parking lot before the Houston SPCA killed Valentino?

Valentino was, by his owner’s account, a calm, laid back cat that even got along with dogs.   If he was “aggressive” as the HSPCA claims (which I highly doubt), did no one at the Houston SPCA think that maybe Valentino was stressed because he was in an unfamiliar place away from everything and everyone that he had ever known?   I’m sure he could smell death permeating from every corner.  That is enough to stress any animal.

The Houston SPCA is a 30+ MILLION dollar organization, yet we know that they couldn’t be bothered to spend a little extra time and a little extra money on what was probably a terrified and confused cat.   The Houston SPCA could not wait even 48 hours to see if this so-called “aggressive” cat would calm down with time.   They did not place him in a foster home or with a rescue group, where he could have gotten more one on one attention in a calmer environment.

And the Houston SPCA did not bother to call Anne to tell her that Valentino was at risk of being killed.  They did not even give her the chance to retrieve Valentino before killing him.   Anne and Valentino deserved a phone call, at the very least.

No, instead the Houston SPCA charged Anne a fee to rehome Valentino and lied to her face.   The Houston SPCA told Anne that Valentino was highly adoptable and even told her to send more pictures to them for their website, perpetuating the farce that they would use the pictures to help find Valentino a new home.

Instead Valentino was dead within 48 hours, killed by the Houston SPCA.

Anne’s story is just one of thousands (more stories like this are posted here)

**If you donate to the Houston SPCA, THIS is what your donations support.**

Do not let Valentino’s death be in vain.   Please stand up for the animals who will enter the Houston SPCA. 

Tell the Houston SPCA that you will no longer support them as long as they continue killing adoptable pets.  Tell all of your animal loving friends and family to do the same. 

It is up to US to demand more than just mass slaughter in our so-called “shelters”.

Click here for the Houston SPCA’scontact information.

Speak out for the thousands of loved, adoptable pets, like Valentino, that  have entered the Houston SPCA only to be killed.

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