The Charlottesville-Albemarle Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is taking in a truckload of rescue animals from Houston as a result of Hurricane Harvey. The animals are coming from the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Control — the only municipal animal shelter in Texas.
According to an email from CASPCA Executive Director Angie Gunter, the CASPCA’s Compassionate Care-a-Van left Monday and will be transporting up to 30 animals back to Charlottesville. This action increases need for animal adoption and fostering to make room for the new animals at the CASPCA facility.
CASPCA first attempted to create space for this influx of animals in a national campaign led by SPCA branches across the country called Clear the Shelter.
“This past week, [CASPCA] had 118 animals adopted because they were waiving adoption fees and trying to make room for all the animals coming in,” said Bridget Rizzo, a second-year College student Bridget Rizzo and president of Human Animal Support Services.
HASS is a contracted independent organization that works closely with CASPCA.
According to Gunter, 20 University students have become foster parents in the past month.
“Anyone interested in fostering is encouraged to attend one of our Foster Orientation sessions, held on the second Saturday of each month,” Gunter said. “As long as the student has the time and space to care for a foster animal, we welcome all students to our foster program — the eligibility of student fosters is determined on a case by case basis.”
Third-year Commerce student Joana Morais is the former vice president of HASS and has been working with the CASPCA for the past year as a foster parent and adoption ambassador. She has fostered three animals — a kitten named Lucy, a black lab named Mugsie and a beagle named Sophie.
“Being around a pet is a huge stress reliever,” Morais said. “I absolutely adore animals, and if I had to pick my dream future, it would be me at home surrounded by dogs.”
She also mentioned the difficulties and responsibility that come with fostering.
“Dropping them off is a very sad moment,” Morais said.
She also mentioned the workload.
“It’s not like you’re getting a stuffed animal that just sits there and looks pretty,” Morais said. “A lot of them are sick and you need to take care of them. Definitely know that the workload isn’t easy, but it’s very, very rewarding.”
Houston does not have the resources to shelter all the animals newly lost or abandoned as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Animals rescued from Houston will be diffused to shelters across the country, Rizzo said. Organizations assisting with this effort include the SPCA, the Humane Society of the United States, Austin Pets Alive!, Rescued Pets Movement and Best Friends Animal Society.
“Texas has a ton of stray animals, and they always have,” Rizzo said. “You’ll hear a lot about rescue [organizations] that go down to Texas and take animals from high-kill shelters even when there’s not any sort of disaster happening.”
According to Rizzo, human hurricane shelters sometimes don’t allow pets. When people are evacuated from their homes, they sometimes leave their animals behind or bring them to a nearby animal rescue clinic.
Thus overcrowding in local animal shelters has been compounded by the disaster of Hurricane Harvey. A similar situation occurred with Hurricane Katrina, Rizzo said. When pets were lost or abandoned as a result of Katrina, the shelters filled up and many animals were outsourced to SPCA clinics around the country. Many rescued animals, adopted in other states, were never returned to their owners.
BARC is trying to prevent this from happening in Texas by outsourcing animals that were already in Houston shelters so as to keep the recent rescues local. After Hurricane Harvey, BARC hopes to help owners find their lost pets more easily at local shelters.
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