HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Humane Society of Harlingen (HSH) said on their “No-Kill-Shelter” title is met with some new popularity and a lot of new animals during what is usually a slower season.
“[There are] more people wanting to surrender animals to us because they know we are the only no-kill shelter in the Valley, so we literally get phone calls everywhere from Raymondville to the Rio Grande City every single day,” said Luis Quintanilla, Executive Director, Humane Society of Harlingen.
Every kennel and cage on Thursday at the HSH had at least one pair of eyes staring back, hoping for a foster or adoption.
Quintanilla said more people have been abandoning or forfeiting their pets because they believe the HSH is a safer option.
“But, if we open the doors to intake 24-7 the shelter would get so crowded that we would actually have to euthanize animals that arrived that same day in the morning to make space for the arrivals in the afternoon,” said Quintanilla.
Being a no-kill-shelter means at least 90% of the shelter’s animals are saved, according to Quintanilla, but that does not mean that animals are not euthanized.
“It’s not ending euthanasia; it’s ending unnecessary euthanasia,” said Quintanilla. “Yesterday we put out a post with four dogs that were going to be on our euthanasia list for behavioral reasons.”
Four dogs were scheduled to be euthanized, but one named Tiffany was saved last minute because of a Facebook post, according to Quintanilla.
Quintanilla explained that the amount of low-cost pet care and veterinarians as a whole in the Rio Grande Valley are outnumbered by the number of pets that exist.
“Throughout the four counties in the Valley to service those 2 million people and the hundreds of thousands of animals in the area there are only about 20-25 veterinarian clinics in the Valley,” said Quintanilla.
The HSH has asked the community to help by agreeing to foster or adopt.
You can learn more by visiting their website here.
