Sarah Muirhead has, for more than a decade, adopted pets to save them from being put to sleep, and she hopes her fellow Houstonians will do the same this weekend.
Best Friends Animal Society, where Muirhead works as a program manager, is hosting a World Cup-themed pet adoption event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at Garage HTX, 1201 Oliver, Suite 106, Houston. More than 100 cats and dogs will be available for adoption.
The pets come from SPCA of Brazoria County, La Porte Animal Shelter, Sugar Land Animal Services, City of Mont Belvieu Animal Shelter, Galena Park Humane Department, Pearland Animal Shelter and Adoption Center, Brazoria County Animal Control and Galveston Island Humane Society.
Publicity for the adoption event has a World Cup theme — “meet your match and find an MVP with four legs and fur” — but Best Friends Animal Society is really just doing what it does several times a year: making it easy and inexpensive for families to bring home a pet.
Adoption fees will be waived at Saturday’s event, and adopters will receive a special “match day” welcome pack. All the animals available for adoption have been spayed or neutered and are fully vaccinated, Muirhead said.
“We’re calling it the other big match in Houston and providing an opportunity for people to meet adoptable animals, ” Muirhead said, noting that international travelers in town for the World Cup are also welcome to attend. “How they get the pet back to their home is obviously going to be tricky but if that’s something they can work out, we don’t have any issues with it.”
Occasionally someone adopts a pet and later realizes that they’re not quite ready for the responsibility, in which case Best Friends will work with them to ensure they have the guidance they need. They can also return their cat or dog but the nonprofit hopes to find people who are willing to create a “forever home.”
“When we’re talking to potential adopters, we give them all the information we have about the pet: their medical history, any behavioral issues that we know about and their personalities,” Muirhead said. “We try to make good matches but we leave it up to adopters to tell us what they can and can’t handle. If it doesn’t work out, we will take the animals back. We know sometimes that happens.”
Best Friends Animal Society, a national nonprofit headquartered in Utah, aims to ensure that America’s shelters have a “save rate” of 90 percent or greater for pets entering a shelter.
“Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10 percent of all dogs and cats entering shelters,” according to the Best Friends website. “For any community to be no-kill, all stakeholders in that community must work together to achieve and sustain that common goal while prioritizing community safety and good quality of life for pets as guiding no-kill principles.”
According to Best Friends Animal Society data, the city of Houston-owned shelter BARC has a 74 percent save rate, meaning it doesn’t quite meet the 90 percent threshold to be classified “no-kill.”
According to the Best Friends website, if one in every 200 additional households chose adoption, Houston would become no-kill. More than half of shelters in the Houston area are already no-kill or nearly there and six of the remaining 19 shelters that have not yet achieved no-kill have fewer than 100 pets to save to reach the status.
“One thing to keep in mind is that any time someone adopts an animal, they’re making space for another animal to be saved,” Muirhead said. “Houston-area shelters and rescue groups are caring for thousands of homeless pets right now. Helping to save lives by choosing to adopt rather than purchasing a pet from a pet store or a breeder is always the preference.”
Residents planning to attend Saturday’s event can RSVP online at the Best Friends website..
