Using data to measure intake per capita in terms of population and the incessant economic development in our country has helped the Fort Bend Pets Alive! team to properly identify missing pieces in making Fort Bend County a No-Kill community.

 

Fort Bend County, being the fastest-growing county in the U.S. from 2013-2015 is home to almost 750,000 people (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017), and includes multiple Master Planned Communities. We know there are plenty of loving homes in our county to increase positive outcomes of homeless pets in local shelters by raising awareness of shelter adoptions and off-site adoptions.

 

In line with the need to convince less than 1.5% of the population to adopt and to stop the unnecessary killing of homeless pets in shelters, we set out to create high profile adoption events in areas where prospective adopters shop. We choose venues that have high traffic and high visibility. Through these efforts, we have also successfully created partnerships with multiple local business owners, all of whom have donated space and marketing platforms to help us market shelter pets that are in need of loving homes. These businesses include:

 

• Car Dealerships
• Dentist Practices
• Banks
• Residential Development Companies
• Book Stores
• Groomers
• Car Owners’ Clubs
• Martial Arts Schools

 

Check out our long list of Community Partners

 

The requirements for attending shelters are same day release of adopted animals to families, and pre-adoption sterilization surgery. As planned, ensuring adopted animals leave with new families on the same day eliminates the wait line for sterilization surgery. Thus, barriers are removed and more emphasis is put on having dogs and cats in shelters sterilized prior to adoptions. Such desired improvements are reflected on budget proposals of several local shelters in the last two years. Adopting monetary increases with a higher projection of adoptions have become more common in our county. One local shelter has noticeably proposed an increase of 33% in medical supplies that was later approved by the city government unanimously. In 2017, we have also extended our adoption program to sponsor shelter adoptions to help bring foot traffic to the facilities.

 

In addition to our adoption program, we also reach out to schools and daycares, civic groups, group homes, and religious groups to tell the compelling story of the killing of dogs and cats in local shelters despite the continuous human population growth our county has enjoyed.

 

Another topic of discussion with the public is the importance of transparency in the process of saving lives. We help educate and inform those who care for our animals but do not know how to help. Once people have been informed of successful solutions, they are more willing to dedicate their time to volunteering.

 

Fort Bend Pets Alive! supports the Shelter Animals Count and their efforts to create a national database of animals in shelters all over the country. As an advocacy group, Fort Bend Pets Alive! does not match the Basic Matrix used by the Shelter Animals Count, since much of our work is providing venues for adoption events and marketing in order to raise awareness. Nevertheless, the board of directors of Fort Bend Pets Alive! has decided to support the national effort as much as possible by trying to make our information available and accessible. Thus, we present the number of dogs and cats adopted through our efforts to provide a venue and a marketing plan.