Mayor and City Council Candidate Survey
Houston, Texas Municipal Election 2015
Candidates’ views on the state of
Houston’s sheltering system
KARLA CISNEROS –HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT H
Houston Voters For Companion Animals
Introduction
Houston Voters For Companion Animals is an initiative to increase the Save Rate of companion animals at Houston’s taxpayer funded animal control facility/shelter i.e. BARC. The purpose of this survey is to understand the stances and intentions of the candidates running for mayoral and city council positions regarding animal welfare issuesgenerally and related to Houston becoming a No Kill community.
Definition of a No Kill community:
ANo Kill communityis a community in which all healthy and treatable shelter pets are saved, including at Open Admission facilities like BARC. The only animals euthanized are those who are irremediably sick or injured and suffering or who pose a genuine danger to the public. The benchmark to be recognized as a No Kill community is the ability to save all healthy and treatable pets (generally 90% to 100% of all animals) over a period of at least 1 year. There are currently hundreds of shelters/communities who are saving 90% or more of all shelter pets.
For instance:
- Roughly 1,000,000 people live in communities saving between 98% and 99% of dogs and cats in their shelters.
- About 9,000,000 people live in communities saving between 90% and 99% of dogs and cats in their shelters.
- Over 40,000,000 people live in communities saving at least 80% of dogs and cats in their shelters. (See Saving90.org)
Those No Kill communities have very little in common other than a commitment to save the lives of shelter pets, while saving money in the process. These communities have achieved their life saving successes by rigorously implementing the No Kill Equation, which is a suite of fiscally-responsible, humane, 21st century animal sheltering programs that have been proven to work. The programs of the No Kill Equation or No Kill model of sheltering are:
- Rescue Partnerships
- Volunteers
- Foster Care
- Trap, Neuter, Release
- Pet Retention
- Comprehensive Adoption Program
- Public Relations/Community Involvement
- Medical & Behavior Prevention & Rehabilitation
- High-Volume, Low-Cost Spay & Neuter
- Proactive Redemption
- Hard-working, Compassionate Shelter Director
Every candidate is being asked to complete this survey. Candidates’ responses will be compiled as part of a voting guide that will be distributed to Houston voters in preparation for the November 2015 election.
As part of an awareness campaign by Houston Voters For Companion Animals, candidates’ responses will also be rated, and then released to the media and posted on some or all of our websites and social media sites. Responses, as well as non-responses, will be reported.
Thank you for your participation in this opportunity for the voters to get to know you better.
The survey is composed of 12 questions. Candidates are encouraged to respond in writing with enough detail to adequately represent the candidates’ view of the current state of BARC, and his or her views on how BARC should operate in coming years.
Survey Questions
1.Since 2009, BARC leadership has known about the life-saving programs of the No Kill Equation which is being used,across the country, to save all healthy and treatable shelter pets. Despite this knowledge, BARC killed more than 10,000 pets in 2014 alone.
Are you satisfied with the amount of progress that has been made to date?
If elected or re-elected to Houston city council,are you committed to supporting/enforcing the recommendations in international No Kill expert, Nathan Winograd’s, 2009 assessment of BARC? (Winograd’s assessment can be found here:
Response:
As the owner of an SPCA rescue dog, I am interested in life-saving programs for shelter pets. I will work with community members to seek fiscally responsible solutions to save lives and control the animal population.
2.The Houstonarea is home to five shelters/pounds that together, kill approximately 80,000 pets every year. According to the most currently available statistics, these shelters/pounds have the following Save Rates:
1) Houston’s animal control (BARC) - 61%;
2) Citizens for Animal Protection - 48%
3) The Houston SPCA - 35%;
4) Harris County animal control - 15%; and
5) Houston Humane Society - 11%;
If the issue were to come before you, will you commit to making “No Kill” the official policy of Houston and support any laws or policy changes necessary to achieve this goal?
Response:
Yes, budget permitting
3.BARC is currently open to the public for adoptions on weekdays during hours when most adults are working (Open: Tues, Wed and Fri 12:00 to 5:30). And BARC is open to the public only 5 ½ hours each Saturday and Sunday. BARC fails to run a comprehensive adoption program, including frequent and ongoing off-site adoptions in highly visible, high traffic locations, extensive marketing of at-risk animals, public-friendly adoption hours and mobile adoptions.
If elected or re-elected to Houston city council, would you support a review and restructuring of the BARC’s adoption program to include the elements mentioned above? (This would mean different, family friendly hours of operation as opposed to more hours of operation).
Response:
Yes, budget permitting.
4.People frequently surrender animals to shelters when they perceive they cannot feed, train or medically care for them.
If elected or re-elected to Houston city council, would you support programs which have been proven to keep pets in their homes and out of shelters, such as surrender counseling, a pet food bank, pet behavior assistance, and distribution of heartworm preventative?
Response:
Yes, budget permitting.
5.For years, BARC has consistently returnedonly 7% of animals to their rightful owners. Conversely, someNo Kill communities are able to return upwards of 60% of animals to their owners who want them back. If BARC implemented the same Return to Owner program as other successful communities, it could free up 8,100 kennels per year and save the city $972,000 per year.
If elected or re-elected to Houston city council, would you support an internal review, and if necessary, a restructuring of the City’s Return to Owner program?
Response:
Yes
6.Many dog breeds are being banned in many of the rental housing markets in Houston. This makes finding appropriate housing very difficult for owners of these dogs, despite high levels of owner responsibility and great dog temperaments and training. This slows adoptions of these breeds and forces many owners to surrender their pets to shelters or abandon them.
If elected or re-elected to Houston city council, what steps would you take to find solutions to this problem, in working with the apartment associations and property managers in Houston?
Response:
My goal would be to work with all stakeholders to come to a satisfactory resolution.
7.If elected or re-elected to Houston city council, would you support the implementation of performance standards that tie BARC leadership’sperformance, particularly with regard to the number of live releases, to salary increments or continued employment at BARC? If not, please explain why not.
Response:
It’s my understanding that city policy already requires annual evaluations based on performance.
8.Considering that BARC killed over 10,000 pets in 2014,how would you rate the performance of BARC leadership?
Do you believe that it is time for different leadership at BARC? If not, what do you see as the most powerful opportunity for improvement open to BARC?
Response:
I would need more information on BARC leadership before passing judgment.I will advocate for education about spaying and neutering and for providing low-cost spay and neuter services.
9.If elected, or re-elected, what do you envision as the role of the Houston Animal Shelter Advisory Committee in providing oversight for BARC?
What kind of person will you appoint to the Committee as the terms of current members expire?
Would you consider appointing No Kill advocates as members to provide an alternative viewpoint to others already on the committee?
Response:
Committee members need to qualified and need to reflect the diversity of our city. I would consider No Kill advocates for appointment.
10.BARC is required to release itsSave Rate information (i.e. intake and outcome records) to the public as required under the Public Information Act (PIA). However, 3 kill shelters in Houston are not required, under the PIA, to release this information to the public [i.e. Houston SPCA, Houston Humane Society and Citizens for Animal Protection (CAP)]. These shelters have refused to be open with the donating public by releasing their intake and outcome records. Houstonians donate many millions of dollars to these facilities, under the assumption that they are No Kill shelters. Yet, these facilities are killing tens of thousands of shelter pets every year and are able to hide this information from the donating public.
If elected or re-elected to Houston city council, would you support a city mandate that all animal shelters in Houston publish statistics, on their websites, regarding the numbers and types of animals that each shelter takes in and euthanizes? (Note: some states, such as Colorado, already mandate that all shelters and rescue groups must provide their statistics to the state so that it is available to the public).
If so, why do you feel this important? If not, why not?
Response:
Transparency for governmental agencies like BARC is absolutely requisite. That private organizations have more leeway regarding their operations is reasonable.
11.In 2010, Austin’s city council created ordinances based the Companion Animal Protection Act (CAPA) which, among other things, mandated that Austin’s animal control facility save at least90% of all animals; a Save Rate that Austin has met or exceeded every year since the ordinances were passed. Rockwall, Texas passed a version of CAPA in 2011 and subsequently saved 97%. The states of California and Delaware have passed similar versions of CAPA and saw an increase in Save Rates.
Considering the lifesaving successes after passing CAPA, if elected or re-elected to Houston city council, would you support the implementation of CAPA, or some parts thereof, in Houston? (Amodel version of CAPA can be found at
Response:
I would support save rate goals to the extent that they are workable for Houston.
12.Would you be willing to meet with representatives of Houston Voters For Companion Animals and/or No Kill Houston to discuss your views of the improvements that must be made at BARC in order for Houston to make substantive increases in the number of animals that are saved from death at BARC?
Response:
Yes
Thank you for responding to this survey. If you have any questions regarding this survey, please contact .
You may be email your completed survey form to:
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