We are committed to keeping pets safe, happy, and healthy while they wait to be placed in a forever home. The issues that maxed-out local shelters are facing trickle down to rescues, which heavily rely on volunteers who foster animals waiting for adoption. Cypress Lucky Mutt Rescue Houston, TX Shop Our Wish List About Us Our organization is a foster based rescue that takes in owner surrenders, strays, and shelter dogs.

“We all feel a little bit discouraged kind of, because we have all been working very hard in this industry to elevate things and this feels like a big hit to the animal welfare community as a whole,” Johnson said. The crisis - which is unfolding in the midst of a booming kitten and puppy season - has Aaron Johnson of the Montgomery County shelter and Rene Vasquez of the Fort Bend shelter feeling like all the progress they’ve made in recent years is lost. The uptick in evictions after COVID relief programs ended has added to the numbers.

Houston-area shelters have seen a significant drop in adoptions and fosters that is pushing facilities beyond critical capacity levels.Īs the pandemic waned and employees returned to the office, animals started showing back up at shelters in droves. “It’s just nonstop, there is no break,” Anna Barbosa of Houston K-911 said. Houston is in the midst of a stray animal crisis - part of a nationwide drop in adoptions coupled with an uptick in pandemic pet surrenders and abandoned animals - that is leaving volunteer-run rescues, fosters and shelter staff burned out. Story in the Houston Chronicle today on the city's rampant stray animal crisis that has local rescues burned out:

Cypress lucky mutt rescue