Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, Council Member Karla Cisneros and Unity for a Solution representatives have announced “Big Fix Houston,” a first of its kind collaboration between public agencies, civic leaders and smaller nonprofit rescue and advocacy groups with the goal of tackling pet overpopulation in Houston.
The initiative, honoring National Spay/Neuter Awareness month, will kick off on February 11, 2017. The project focuses
on 11 targeted areas with the most complaints about stray and homeless animals and/or the fewest spay neuter options. The goal is to educate pet owners and spay and neuter, vaccinate and microchip as many animals as possible. Volunteers will educate pet owners and provide them with vouchers for free spay/neuter, vaccinations and microchip services with cooperating providers.
“The stray animal problem is bigger than BARC; it’s bigger than the County, and it requires a community-wide effort to find a community-wide solution,” said Mayor Turner. “That’s why the Big Fix this Saturday is such a historic day for our community because it marks the first time so many groups have come together, united, to raise awareness on importance of spaying and neutering our pets.”
“Pet overpopulation is a serious public health, public safety and quality of life concern for many Houstonians. We have too many stray dogs and cats on our streets, and shelters and rescue organizations are overburdened. We all need to come together—residents, animal welfare organizations, the City and the County—to address this problem by raising awareness of the importance of spaying and neutering our pets,” shared Council Member Karla Cisneros who organized spay/neuter awareness efforts and Big Fix Houston among the City Council.
Council Member Robert Gallegos concurs, saying, “Over the last couple of years, the City has focused on a multi-pronged approach to address the animal overpopulation issue; we have increased funding for BARC enforcement operations, launched more proactive educational campaigns on responsible pet ownership, and working with animal welfare partners, made affordable spay-neuter services more accessible to pet owners who needed them. The City’s partnership with these groups is vitally important to our long-term strategy to reduce the number of stray animals in our city.”
“We are so excited about what Big Fix Houston represents for this city and Harris county,” said Unity member and Barrio Dogs’ founder, Gloria Zenteno. “Many of us have worked for years helping the suffering animals we encounter on the streets. We know it will take a joint effort to make real progress.”
ABOUT BIG FIX HOUSTON
Almost twenty partner organizations, led by Unity for a Solution, have come together to support the “Big Fix Houston” initiative with the unified goal of offering free spay, neuter, vaccine and microchip services to the residents of the Houston neighborhoods with the most complaints about stray and homeless animals. To make a donation or find out more about Big Fix Houston go to www.bigfixhouston.org.