Humane Society of Harris County raising funds to save pets through relocation
The Humane Society of Harris County is running a campaign to raise money for transporting adoptable animals to other states, reducing the risk of euthanasia.
There are about 15 shelters and rescues across the state that make up the Georgia Transport Allies, said founder Gail Connor, and around 200 agencies in the North that take in animals from the alliance.
The Humane Society of Harris County joined the alliance in April 2022, said Kathryn Genova, executive director of the Humane Society of Harris County. In 2022, the agency was able to find placement for 774 animals, she said, and 24% of those outcomes were due to the transport program.
The agency is now about 35% away from reaching its goal of raising $55,000 to purchase and renovate a former school bus to use for the transport program, Genova said.
“We would not have been able to keep pace with the animals that were coming into the areas that we served,” she said.
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine and Virginia are among the most common states that dogs and cats are sent to through the transport program, said Melissa Lacey, animal care manager for the Humane Society.
Southern states typically have more animals needing homes than the North, said Karen Walsh, senior director of the Animal Relocation Program at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). This is because northern states had more resources directed towards spaying and neutering before the southern states did, she said.
Whenever animals that are having a hard time finding a home in Harris County, or the agency has too many animals to take care of, they are able to add dogs and cats to a list that receiving agencies can look at to choose which animals they would like to bring north.
“The reality is that we are faced with being 110% to 120% capacity at all times,” Genova said.
While Genova understands that residents may be disappointed that small dogs or puppies are typically chosen for transport, the agency’s primary focus is finding someone to adopt the animals as quickly as possible.
The transport program requires that the animals be vaccinated and test negative for heartworms, feline leukemia and other infectious diseases, Lacey said. In addition to having a variety of animals that are easy to adopt out, the program is also key in helping with litters of puppies and kittens.
“There are times where we can get five litters of puppies in at one time,” Lacey said. “And we can’t possibly find fosters for them all at the same time.”
The transport program helps lighten the load and not burn out the Humane Society’s fosters, she said.
How animals are transported
The first challenge for agencies trying to transport animals is ensuring they can move them in a safe way, said Karen Walsh, senior director of the Animal Relocation Program at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
Vehicles must be purposely built for that use, she said. They need to be climate controlled for the animals and disinfectable. The walls and floor of the vehicle should be able to be washed down, Walsh said, and the surface should not have a lot of holes or crevices where waste can fall into and cross-contaminate animals.
Consideration also needs to be given to ensure that there is a barrier between the crates and the drivers, she said, so if there is an accident loose crates will not hurt or fatally injure the driver.
The Humane Society of Harris County has targeted a four-window, 19-foot school bus, Genova said, that is very dependable. Their plan is to have a company who does renovations on family vacation vehicles to renovate the bus to make it compatible with transporting animals.
“(Another vehicle) is the answer,” said Connor. “Our biggest weak link is not enough transport vehicles.”
Many of the rescues and shelters that Connor works with through the Georgia Transport Allies are poor, rural shelters who don’t have a van big enough to make the long trip worthwhile, she said. The alliance sends an average of 56.5 animals per transport trip, Connor said, with each trip costing anywhere between $1,100 and $1,300.
The alliance does send funds to whichever shelter originates the transport, she said, but being in charge of the trip is not easy because they have to consider all the needs of each animal.
“We have not been able to physically do a transport ourselves because we didn’t have a vehicle,” Genova said. “Our only van, which has been a miracle for us, has 250,000 miles on it and keeps on ticking.”
Although the van has done well for what they’ve been using it for, the Humane Society would not want to travel across the country with animals in it, she said. Purchasing this bus will help their agency contribute more to the Georgia Transport Allies.
“I ask that (shelters) help to the best of their ability,” Connor said. “If they have a van, I require that they use the van. If they don’t have a van, but they can contribute animals, it doesn’t cost them anything to transport.”
Impact of relocation programs
Hurricane Katrina was the catalyst that started animal relocation, Walsh said. A New Orleans shelter was overwhelmed and needed help with the number of animals that were displaced by the storm, she said.
“People didn’t know what to do because New Orleans was in disarray,” Walsh said.
Organizations from other parts of the country said they could help, she said, and so animals began being moved out of New Orleans. Afterwards, animal welfare organizations started working together after seeing how successful they could be when they worked together.
The ASPCA began its relocation program in 2014, Walsh said. It began small with two vehicles, but has grown to operating 19 ground transport vehicles across the country. The ASPCA has moved over 230,000 animals since 2014, of those 170,000 are dogs and 58,000 are cats.
Connor has been in Georgia for over 30 years, she said, and got involved with transporting by helping to move cats. Around five years ago, she began calling rescues in Georgia and source shelters in northern states to build the alliance.
She considers herself to be a volunteer, and helps run the alliance by putting together Google Sheets where shelters can add photos and vital information about the animals available for transport. The Georgia Transport Allies has moved 10,048 cats and 4,158 dogs, Connor said.
The Humane Society coordinates with Harris County Animal Control to help find animals homes and help them be transported.
“They are a huge impact for us,” said Theresa Haralson, administrative assistant for animal control. “We pretty much almost solely depend on them.”
While animal control does do adoptions, Haralson said, they don’t have the resources to set up a booth at a PetSmart or set up transports. Oftentimes the humane society will add dogs or cats at animal control to the transport list even before they come to the agency, Lacey said.
Animal control is at a no-kill status because it rarely has to euthanize animals, Haralson said, and credits the Humane Society and transporting for this status.
“Without them we would be in trouble,” she said.
Those interested in helping Harris County animal control can donate toys, puppy or kitten food, treats, kiddie pools or beds, Haralson said. Individuals should also consider adopting, she said.
Anyone interested in helping the Humane Society purchase this vehicle can go to the agency’s website and indicate what they want their donation to go towards, Genova said.
“I think the transport is absolutely critical,” she said. “We knew for many years that it was a significant piece of the puzzle that we were missing along with offering low cost, affordable spay/neuter.”
