March 16, 2024 • 30 mins
Lisa Tynan is the marketing and special events specialist for Houston PetSet. We celebrate their 20 years of service to Texans by discussing the great success they have had lobbying our city and state government to enact more humane laws. They also offer free chip and vaccine services and we explain how important it is to do this with our pets. And we always talk about their pet transports. They have sent opver 10,000 cats and dogs to states up north so they could be adopted. Their websites have great videos you should check out. They’ll fill your heart with hope and joy! Go to www.houstonpetset.org and also consider donating a few bucks. They’re doing great work.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
Welcome to Houston PA, Houston's publicaffairs show and iHeartMedia Broadcast. Our disclaimer
says that the opinions expressed on thisshow do not necessarily reflect those hell by
this radio station, its management staff, or any of its advertisers. My
name is Laurent I am the Texanfrom France and a proud Houstonian and I'm
(00:29):
happy to be here today because we'regoing to talk about animals and animal husbandry.
How we human beings, adopt animals, take care of them, profit
from them in many ways. Andthat's because my guest is Lisa Tynan.
She is the marketing and special eventsspecialist for Houston pet Set. Houston Petset
is online at houstonpetset dot org.They're an advocacy organization. Actually, instead
(00:55):
of describing it myself, Lisa,would you please tell us what pet set
is. That would be happy tothank you so much for having me.
It's always a pleasure. Yeah.So, Houston Pets That we often start
our introduction with a disclaimer because weare not a rescue and we like to
start with that right up front becausegenerally speaking, people here animal welfare and
they think, oh, you pickanimals up off the street and find them
(01:17):
homes. We are one of thevery few groups in the animal welfare world
that doesn't focus on that. Likeyou said, we are an advocacy group.
We were originally founded twenty years agoas a granting organization, so really
all we did for the first tenor so years of our existence was raise
money and granted out to other animalwelfare organizations, so the rescues and the
(01:41):
shelters and the people who were bootson the ground, working in the trenches,
so to speak, to take careof animals. As time went by
and we saw needs, you know, open up and gaps that needed to
be filled, we adjusted. Weare a very small organization, we just
have six full time employees, sowe are adaptable result and we've been able
to start free spay and neuter program, a transport program, we have an
(02:05):
emergency fund program where we can assistpet owners who have suddenly that bills that
they have to face that they mightnot be able to afford. And then,
of course, as an advocacy group, we do work as closely as
we can with legislators and decision makerswho are in the rooms where things are
being decided about the fates of animalsand the people who love them. Yeah,
you're actually helping to change our laws. And you passed a very successful
(02:30):
law just recently which limits the amountof suffering evil humans can inflict on animals.
We have a couple of those actually, Okay, yeah, let's go
over the important so we have,you know, at the state level,
we are fortunate to have a partner, Texas Humane Legislation Network, where all
(02:51):
they do and they are a fiveoh one C four organization which means they
can lobby, So they are basicallythe lobbying arm of Texas Animal Welfare and
we work really closely with them tomake sure that bills that are being passed
in the Texas state legislature are actuallygood for animals. So recently, with
the last couple of years, we'vehad some really really key winds. One
(03:15):
of them is the Safe Outdoor DogsAct, and that one we're so so
proud of because we've already seen theresults of Oh yes, we have.
We're fortunate to have really great relationshipswith our city and our county animal control
agencies, and we work closely additionallywith law enforcement on animal cruelty, and
(03:37):
so we've seen that they have.They have a law at their side now
when when they see an animal that'sbeen tied out in severe weather, in
extreme cold or extreme heat, insnow, which you know, we don't
deal with a lot here, butit happens with heavy chains, heavy chains,
and that's that's one part of thatlaw. So they can no longer
(03:58):
be left out in this extreme weatherand they cannot be tied using a chain.
So they can still be tethered.That's something to address at a later
date, but it has to bean appropriate tether for their size. They
have sort of access to shade fromthe sun, shelter from the rain,
and clean water, clean fresh water, and it cannot be a chain that
(04:19):
is tying them to where they stay. You know, it is Texas.
A lot of people have animals thatthey keep outside. We're just saying,
if you're going to do that,do it safely. And so now law
enforcement and animal enforcement have been tellingus they are able to go in and
they can either educate owners and tellthem that it's now against the law and
(04:39):
in some cases provide them with resourcesto correct the mistake, or if the
owner does not wish to comply,they have Now this really good authority that
they can seize those animals, takethem out of those situations and put them
someplace there. Isn't it true thata police officer and can now show up
on a property and from the frontlawn see evidence of of neglect and actually
(05:01):
enter the property to investigate. Ibelieve. I I don't want to speak
out of time, I will tellyou they do have to be whether it's
a police officer, officer or aninvestigator. Most of the cruelty investigators are
not law enforcement. So in orderto enter property without permission, they do
have to have an enforcement with them, but they do have to visualize whatever
(05:24):
the complaint is in order to gainaccess. Well, yeah, but that's
that has to protect Yeah, wehave to protect the absolutely. But what
this Safe Outdoor Dogs Act did dowas it got rid of the twenty four
hour race period. So so let'sexplain that. Yes, that's awful.
It is once upon it was.It was exactly once upon a time.
If you know your you looked outyour window and your neighbor had their dog
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tied out in the middle of youknow, one hundred degree rather with no
shade and no water, you couldcall either the police or animal cruelty investigators
or whoever. They would show upand they would have to leave notice before
they could see unless that animal wasin the process of dying, which would
be called an exigent circumstance. Unlessthat was the case, if the dog
(06:10):
was okay, not in good condition, but not dying, they had to
place notice or give the owner twentyfour hours to comply, and often what
would happen is in those twenty fourhours the owner would not comply and the
animal would pass away. Now thattwenty four hour waiting period is waived,
so it doesn't matter if you showup whether the circumstances are exigent or not.
(06:30):
If that owner is in violation ofthe Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, the
animal can be seized right away andtaken to safety. That we've seen has
been really beneficial in the last coupleof years when we've had these unexpected or
really brutal freezes. Yeah, whichjust as Southerners were not always used to
that. Once the temperature gets belowyou know, thirty two degrees, the
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Safe Outdoor Dogs Act kicks in andsays you can't leave your dog out.
It doesn't matter what act access to, you know, if he can get
up close to the house. Unlesshe can get into a protected doghouse sealed
on three sides, with the roofelevated off the ground, with something warm
inside, you're in violation of theSafe Out or Dogs Act. And so
we can now take those animals intosomeplace warm and safe and hopefully find them
(07:18):
a home where they'll be taken bettercare of in the future. We have
a new person at BARK, whichis what does BARK stand for? The
Bureau of Animal Regulation and Control.Yeah, and uh, I didn't realize
that I remember that until you justasked me. BARK. Yes, one
of the funny acts. One ofthe better acronyms I've come across. Yes,
(07:38):
it is one of the more appropriate. But you mentioned before we started
recording that this is a person,this man is very involved. There's a
whole lot, and it's not justit's not just a political ploy. This
is someone who loves animals. Soyou're hopeful I'm this and not just me.
This is what's so great, youknow. I I am fortunate to
have been able to work pretty closelywith Jared. Jared Mirrors is the new
(08:00):
director of BARK. He was thedirector of field services for I think fifteen
years, there was an animal controlfor fifteen years at bark And in Montgomery
County. So he is a localguy. He knows the situation, he
knows what we are up against,how things have been evolving over the last
you know, ten or so years. And he wouldn't be doing this for
(08:20):
this long if he didn't care aboutanimals, right he. I have had
the good fortune to work with him, and he is so committed and so
dedicated. And we are seeing ourpartners, our colleagues, are compatriots in
animal welfare see the same thing,which is giving everybody a little bit of
(08:41):
hope, which I think maybe thefirst time we've all been hopeful in a
really long time. So that's reallyreally inspiring. I think silver lining in
today's awful political climate. Yeah,you have thought to look for those civil
linings truly, or else what arewe all doing? Yeah, And that's
it's particularly hopeful because as as Gondhisaid, and I don't think it was
(09:01):
attributed to him directly, but youcan tell a lot about a society by
the way it treats its most vulnerablemembers. And I don't I think he
was talking about people, really,he probably was applies. I think somebody
else said it, and then herepeated Anyway, it's a great adage to
live by. It's very true.You if you if you meet somebody you're
(09:22):
on a date and they tell youthat they don't have any interests in animals.
Move That's how I know I'm inthe right place. I just keep
acquiring more pets, and my partneris right there with me. I'm just
saying, you mean you've never hada pet. No, I'm not really.
Okay, nice to meet you.Check please, that's weird. Yeah,
(09:45):
I don't like it. It's weird. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
On the other hand, it makessense strategically because I'm gonna have a pet,
so she's gonna have to want apet, and so it's it's it's
more it's more convenient if you bringa pet to the relationship and she does
too, and then you're on thesame level, and then it just multiplies
from there. Something you have thesame species, they will multiply. No,
(10:09):
that's why we s paying news.You are listening to Houston, PA
Houston's Public Affairs show. My nameis Laurent I am the Texan from France
and my guest is here from Houstonpet Set. Lisa Tynan is their marketing
and special event specialist there online atHouston petset dot org Houston petset dot org.
(10:31):
So if you donate to this organization, you're actually helping to change the
laws for the better. And Ihaven't mentioned this, but I like to
say this even when pet Set isn'ton the show. The number one reason
people call the Houston Police Department isto report problems with stray dogs. There's
a stray dog, I can't getto my bus stop, I can't get
(10:52):
to work, and they have tosend out some police officers to take care
of the dogs. Often these guys, these people get bitten by the way
because these are dangerous dogs. Andespecially those of us who have a pooch
at home and they're so they're practicallypeople. Those of us who also have
cats understand animal instincts and savage instinctsbecause cats remain wild on some level.
(11:16):
They're so smart that they know howto get in for the food. And
but you know, I'm still acat. And you know, if you
have a cat, you know thatthey're also like puppies. They follow you
around it they're they're a ton offun and spay and neither of them.
We'll get to that. The importanceof keeping your animals from reproducing, Willy
Neely, especially if you have youknow, if you've adopted a cat that
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still goes outdoors, maybe you startfeeding the cat and you know you're not
going to keep him in all thetime. Well, if you can spay
him, Oh that's great for thecommunity, Yes, very much. Neuter,
Sorry I should say neuter, becauseneuter is to males, what's spaying
is to females. Things we don'twant humans to go through. So go
to Houston petset dot org. Youcan donate, but you can also fill
(12:01):
your heart with joy and hope.Uh. They do pet transports to the
Midwest because in the Midwest, unlikeour shelters here, their shelters are empty.
Is that is that literally true?Because it used to be it used
to be true. Yeah, Sotransport has been kind of the lifeline for
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shelters in the South for quite along time. It started I think primarily
with groups going up to Colorado,uh huh, and then it kind of
expanded out. You know, wetransport to Minnesota. We have partners who
transport to Wisconsin, Oregon, WashingtonState, I think, and then we
have a couple who go up tothe East coast, and you know,
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for for the uninitiated, all thatmeans is that we're taking animals who haven't
been able to find homes here.We're transporting them, usually in a van,
up to another animal shelter or sometimesto waiting adopters who have pre adopted
them from somewhere else. Cool.The good news is it has been really
successful for a really long time.The less good news is that, unfortunately,
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adoptions across the country have stagnated justa little bit, and just enough
that the shelters we say up northbecause really everyone is up north to us,
the shelters up north are starting tofill up a little bit more than
they used to. Now it's notuniversal, and it's not everything. It's
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primarily large breed dogs that they're havinga hard time with, which is what
we face down here as well.We've been transporting cats uninterrupted for the last
three years, over ten thousand animals. Oh yeah, and for the last
year or so it's been almost exclusivelycats, and our partners have been having
very little difficulty placing them. Catsare easy. They're easy, they're cheaper,
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they're smaller, So I think peopleare finally starting to catch on about
how easy they fill up the sameamount of space in your heart. Is
the thing that dog people don't understand. Pet sized doesn't matter what animal you
shove it, that's or how manyor how right. Well, yes,
thankfully there is no limit at thispoint, just financially imposed, that's right.
But yeah, we we love transportand we love the joy of seeing.
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Well, it's a mixed bag.The fosters, they're nervous to the
pets are nervous, the fosters arenervous. Everybody's a little bit nervous.
But because we have such a wonderfulrelationship with our transport, are receiving partners
up north, and you know,people can follow the journey of their pets
on the websites once they arrive atthe new shelter, and it really is
very rewarding to see these animals whomaybe have been overlooked for days, weeks,
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even months, make their way upsomeplace where nobody's seen them before,
and they get adopted really quickly.So it's really wonderful. We just know,
at the end of the day it'snot the solution, it's just currently
it's a Bandit's nice, absolutely,yeah. Yeah, so you're over ten
thousand pets transported. These are animalswhich probably would have been you either euthanized
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or bounced around from foster home tofoster home or you know. Unfortunately,
there are a lot of groups thesedays who are kind of warehousing pets,
which Houston Pet Set does not agreewith. You know, we would we
would rather a pet be very humanelyeuthanized than suffer contained for the rest of
its life, but unfortunately there arethere are limited options for animals. Yeah,
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and so you know, sometimes we'retransporting up. I will tell you
this a little insider secret when wehave when we send animals up to our
receiving partners, we can't just sendthem the rejects, which just a terrible
thing to say. But the animalswho are getting passed over, we can't
just send them our unadoptable animals.So we also have to send a little
package. Deal. We'll give youa litter of puppies if you'll take this
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dog who nobody seems to want.And they're usually highly adoptable animals. They
just look like everybody else in theshelter. You know the black Pit Bowl
mixes or the Houston Street Special wherethey're kind of brown a shepherd. Yeah,
they all look the same. Yeah, weird. Yeah, they have
well because they've all been breeding witheach other. Yeah. But when they
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get completely inbred, yeah, ohyeah, when they get up someplace to
Minnesota, they haven't seen them beforeand they're new and they're shiny and they're
wonderful and they get adopted. Y'alloffer free chip and vaccine services, Yes,
we do. The chip is notedible. It's the kind it's also
not a gpsing you. No,it's just it's an it's a It actually
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works a little bit like how youriPhone works. When you want to or
you're Android, you want to payfor something, you have to put it
right on the thing because if you'reif you're ten centimeters away, it won't
click through. And the chip thatthey inject into the back of your pet's
neck, dog and cat, theydon't feel it. Let me tell you,
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I saw it happen. They're likewhat they just they we put it
deliberately, put it in a placethat's got a lot of loose skin.
I mean and the thing is isthat people who don't have pest don't realize
this, but cats and dogs,probably all of the predators, their necks
are so protected, they have somuch fur, and they're just conditioned to
be really strong. There. Theyhave very strong necks to begin with.
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That's how they kill or it's oneof their tools. They shake and so
you're not hurting them at all.But what's brilliant is that if you lose
your cat or your dog and itcomes into a shelter, they have a
magic wand they swipe it over theanimal's head and it just clicks in your
name, address, phone number.You get your dog back at your pet
back. And actually that was oneof our local ordinances that we got past.
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You have to do it that.It's now mandatory within the City of
Houston, and other municipalities are startingto adopt it. But instead of your
raby's tag being your form of resistration, now it's a microchip. Number one,
it keeps animals out of the system, and number two, it gets
them back to you so fast nobodyundergoes any trauma. And if you've got
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your pet microchips, you don't haveto be worried that they might just be
off and somebody may have adopted themand now they've moved to another state and
you've lost them forever. So microchipyour pets and we'll do it for free.
I want the record to show thatI would never ever name my dog
Fifi. Oh oh, excuse me? All right, fine, you can
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insert name here. But you know, the microchip statistically helps pets live longer
because they get found. It actuallyworks that way, so you could you
could make that argument if you want. But the vaccines are obviously important.
One of the things that people don'tunderstand about rabies is that if you get
bitten by a rabid animal and youdon't get vaccinated within a month, you're
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dead. I thought it was shorterthan a month. Well it was ten
days. Well they want you todo it right away. Yeah, but
I think you can have up toa month before the symptoms set. Don't
wait, no, no, becausethe thing is if you have a symptom,
if you're symptomatic of rabies, you'redead. There is no surviving the
disease. And I don't think peoplerealize that because I didn't realize it until
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about two years ago. Oh it'sso so dangerous. That's I read a
whole book just called Rabid If anyonewants to read about the history of it's
great. Yeah, and it wasa lot of stuff that I didn't know
about rabies. But it is.I don't I don't think anyone has ever
survived it. No, it's notpossible. I don't think you can survive.
And the silly thing is it's alsoone hundred preventable. Yeah, and
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vaccine works painful not I mean,you're going to suffer and die. That's
that's the fate if you get ifyou get your rabies vaccine. I have
not. I have not gotten itbecause I don't I'm not around stray animals
that much. But I have alot of friends who work in animal control
and all that, and they've hadto get their rabis. It's unpleasant.
But I'll tell you what's more unpleasantis the post exposure shots. You have
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to get multiple in the stomach andthey are horrified. So vaccinate your pets
is the plural of that story.Because don't pick up a fallen bat,
call the wildlife center. Don't messwith annim animals on the ground. You
don't know what they are, Youdon't especially if you don't know where they
are, but just don't miss Andif you're if you're at the Brazos State
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Park, don't poke the gators.Oh please, don't. That's just silly.
They don't need to have rabies tokill you. No, they don't
even need to have a reason.But an awesome experience the Brazos State Park
off of fifty nine. It's beautifulwest, it's beautiful, and you will
experience walking around with gators blocking thepath. And these are spectacular animals.
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Beautiful. I think all animals arebeautiful, even the ones that are scary
ugly, like the gators. They'reso ugly, they're beautiful. They come
on their dinosaurs. Yeah, ifyou're familiar with the Wall Bridge and you're
downtown, there's two hundred and fiftyto three hundred thousand bats hanging right under
that bridge. They are pretty incredible. And if you ride your bike under
that bridge at two pm, itstinks of hold your breath and there's fruit
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flies everywhere. It's not only holdyour breath, it's squint and close your
mouth because you just you ride througha sea of fruit fly ride your bike
on the same path just after sundownthere is nothing in the air. They've
eaten them. A bat eats severaltimes its weight in insects, including mosquitoes.
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Oh yeah, they're they're they're amazinganimals. And they don't they don't
have stereoscopic vision here. These areradar bats. Like in Australia, they
have bass to see, just likeweed for the fruit bats. They're beautiful,
they're huge. Their week span isa meter. It's huge. And
have you seen them land in atree? They don't land, They crash,
crash, they so they're they literallyjust kind of put their wings up
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and catch on them as many branchesas they can and then they flip upside
down. It's the most awkward,hilarious, nail elegant thing you've ever seen.
Amazing species. Yeah, when I'min northeast Queensland in Australia, they
decimated the bat population and after thathappened, they watched the rainforest which comes
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down the mountain and into the waterthere recede. It is because the fruit
bats were the main pollinator yep there, and so they forbade the hunting of
these bats. They came back.Life finds a way and the forest came
back into the river. That's howI saw it. Beautiful nature, incredible.
Don't mess with it, man,love it. Keep the balance.
You are listening to Houston PA,Houston's Public Affairs Show. My name is
(22:26):
Laurent and my guest is Lisa Tynan. She is the marketing and special event
specialist for Houston pet Set Houston petsetdot org. Houston petset dot Org.
They're celebrating twenty years of service tothe Houston actor to Texas, let's face
it, and they're gonna be celebratingthis on September sixth. You have a
big star and I'm blanking there nowwe do Texas country superstar Pat Green is
(22:51):
performing at our suare this year.We are so excited. This is this
This is a big year for us. Twenty years is a big year in
general, but we've had a seriesof really exciting things happened in the past
couple of years, and we justwe just really feel like celebrating, and
we thought what better way with youknow, a couple hundred of our closest
friends and legendary Pat Green. Sowe're really really excited about that. If
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you've ever been to one of thesespecial concerts, that's also an event,
you know, a fundraiser. Theseare often the best concert you'll ever go
for that artist, because you're howoften would you get the opportunity to get
that close and see someone like PatGreen in a small you know, in
a small room with a group oflike minded people. So well worth checking
out. It'll be on September sixth. You can go to Houston petset dot
(23:34):
org to get tickets. Lisa,you mentioned the Outdoor Pet Safety Act,
which you helped to pass. PetSet was instrumental in lobbying and helping the
law get through the legislature because itran into some problems. The farmers and
ranchers were worried that bad law writtenby bad politician a common occurrence would be
(23:56):
detrimental to the way they live.It's like, listen, I don't need
your city law here because my animalsare just fine out here, and you
guys did a lot of work tomake sure that they wouldn't be trampled.
Yeah, it's very narrow, it'sso it's just wonderful. But you mentioned
that there was another legislative success hadanother they did, and now that you've
oh yeah, no, I remember, I remember. I do it.
(24:18):
I remember it because it's what youmentioned before, which is bad people can't
continue to do bad things. Inthis past legislative session, they actually just
passed a new law that says anyoneconvicted of animal cruelty cannot own a pet
companion animal for five years. AndI don't be for life. It should
be, but again, we takewhat we can get. People who are
crue to animals are messed up inthe head head. We agree on that,
(24:45):
and I think, like you justmentioned with the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act,
a lot of this legislation has tobe written very very carefully because animals,
you know, at large, areused for a lot of different things,
and so you know, just evenbefore these laws, there are different
cruelty laws for what we consider companionanimals which are dogs and cats, and
(25:07):
what are considered livestock, which arehorses, cattle, sheep, pigs,
and goats and the like. Sothey have very different sets of laws for
each. We with uston Pets atprimarily focus on the companion animal side.
We're not trying to take on theagricultural industry. That's not our purpose.
There are national organizations that do that, and we'll leave that to them,
(25:32):
but it is it is important thatpeople do have to face some kind of
consequence. And most animal cruelty ismisdemeanor, classy misdemeanor. There are a
few felony animal cruelty, and certaincruelty can rise to the level of felony
if it is egregious, intentionally injuriousand things like that. But at least
(25:57):
in this way, if they're conveyedof an animal cruelty felony, they cannot
own a companion animal for five years, and that wasn't the case before.
So we're taking the progress we canget. In some ways, the progress
you're making is establishing common sense lawsthat should already be the law of the
land. It feels like we're tellingpeople that they should have good morals,
(26:18):
which is really hard to legislate.But you know, if you can't,
if you can't just trust that peoplewill do the right thing, then you
have to put laws in place.Yeah, and you need you need to
trust the police officers to do agood job. And that might be one
reason why you don't want to belittle or vilify an entire police department because
of a few bad apples. Soshout out to all those police officers who
(26:41):
care and who will actually investigate animalcruelty. They are dealing with dangerous people
who are not just cruel to animals. We know about the link between violence
towards humans and violence towards animals,and we are grateful that if we have
people reaching out to us, whichwe do quite frequently, telling us about
(27:03):
some horrible situation, we can pickup our phone and we can reach out
to these wonderful people, men andwomen who will that's their job to go
out and take care of these animalsof people who are suffering along with them.
Cruelty to animals is predictive of crueltyto humans and vice versa, absolutely,
and we should not tolerate announce ofit. Absolutely not. So shout
(27:23):
out to all those good police thatare out there protecting us. I hope
y'all remember we don't all hate you. Some of us are just sitting here
going, what the hell are theseidiots talking about? I happen to have
gone with several I've been on severalride alongs with the Houston Police Department.
And believe me, when you sitin a sergeant's side seat, you know
(27:44):
when you write shotgun and you wishyou actually had a shotgun, is what
it's like. Once you've had Iencourage people, you know it's something that
that could possibly be done. Youcan go to on ride alongs. It's
an eye opening experience believing when Isay you have no clue these men and
women are actually dealing with you haveto live it to even glimpse it.
(28:04):
And I'm not arguing that one ridealong is a full education either. Anyway,
we're out of time, but asyou can see, if you care
about animals, Houston Pet Set ison that fighting front to pass laws and
encourage our society to be more civil, and they've been extremely successful. We've
already mentioned that they've transported over tenthousand cats and dogs to kneading cities up
(28:29):
north where their shelters are empty,maybe less so these days. That's one
of the things they do. Theyalso spay and neuter animals. I forgot
you're spaying and neuterans over six thousandanimals per years, which just last year.
That's crazy. We've done more andmore, but last year was our
first year. We broke six thousandanimals and those surgeries were all done at
(28:49):
no cost to the owner, especiallya great idea to neuter a feral cat,
please trap him humanely. They haveawesome traps. You can go to
shells. They will help you baitand trap this wild animal. You do.
This is not a pet, Nope, they're feral. That means they're
wild. They're not gonna they're notthey're not gonna live in your house.
Which what you do is you neuterthem and then you reintroduce them right back
(29:11):
into their neighborhoods because they're gonna keepon fighting all intruders, but they're not
gonna be reproducing. And it's areally clever way of animal husband during SO
and R. Yeah, it's reallytaken off over the last couple of years,
and we've fund we've we've spent tensand tens of thousands of dollars funding
our partners who do those big Tand R days, a couple hundred cats
in a day. Yeah, andthey really feel that they're making an impact,
(29:34):
and I think that's wonderful. Also, statistically, medically, the animals
live longer that those that have beenspade and neutered will live longer. They're
less susceptible to have any of thecancers related to uterus, for instance,
for the females. And uh,I can tell you from experience that the
kittens that I've had, I hadone spade and one neutered, and they
told me he's gonna be he's gonnabe kind of down and fatigued for a
(29:56):
couple of days. Nope, nope. The boys back, what's back?
Oh my gosh, bo bo bo. You have to try and keep them
contained. But also my female soobviously it's a much more invasive procedure for
the females. You have to opentheir bellies. But man, she was
just bouncing around. They're so strong. There is yeah, so don't worry
about that. It really is.You're doing it a favor to society.
(30:18):
And I hope that you're consider goingto Houston petset dot org And if you
have any questions related to Houston,PA, you can send me an email.
Texan from France at gmail dot com. I want to thank you for
listening and caring about the issues thatput on this show, ladies and gentlemen.
I'll be here next week at thesame time. My name is Laurent
I am the Texan from France andthis has been Houston PA Houston's public affairs
(30:44):
show Houston Strong,
Welcome to Houston PA, Houston's publicaffairs show and iHeartMedia Broadcast. Our disclaimer
says that the opinions expressed on thisshow do not necessarily reflect those hell by
this radio station, its management staff, or any of its advertisers. My
name is Laurent I am the Texanfrom France and a proud Houstonian and I'm
(00:29):
happy to be here today because we'regoing to talk about animals and animal husbandry.
How we human beings, adopt animals, take care of them, profit
from them in many ways. Andthat's because my guest is Lisa Tynan.
She is the marketing and special eventsspecialist for Houston pet Set. Houston Petset
is online at houstonpetset dot org.They're an advocacy organization. Actually, instead
(00:55):
of describing it myself, Lisa,would you please tell us what pet set
is. That would be happy tothank you so much for having me.
It's always a pleasure. Yeah.So, Houston Pets That we often start
our introduction with a disclaimer because weare not a rescue and we like to
start with that right up front becausegenerally speaking, people here animal welfare and
they think, oh, you pickanimals up off the street and find them
(01:17):
homes. We are one of thevery few groups in the animal welfare world
that doesn't focus on that. Likeyou said, we are an advocacy group.
We were originally founded twenty years agoas a granting organization, so really
all we did for the first tenor so years of our existence was raise
money and granted out to other animalwelfare organizations, so the rescues and the
(01:41):
shelters and the people who were bootson the ground, working in the trenches,
so to speak, to take careof animals. As time went by
and we saw needs, you know, open up and gaps that needed to
be filled, we adjusted. Weare a very small organization, we just
have six full time employees, sowe are adaptable result and we've been able
to start free spay and neuter program, a transport program, we have an
(02:05):
emergency fund program where we can assistpet owners who have suddenly that bills that
they have to face that they mightnot be able to afford. And then,
of course, as an advocacy group, we do work as closely as
we can with legislators and decision makerswho are in the rooms where things are
being decided about the fates of animalsand the people who love them. Yeah,
you're actually helping to change our laws. And you passed a very successful
(02:30):
law just recently which limits the amountof suffering evil humans can inflict on animals.
We have a couple of those actually, Okay, yeah, let's go
over the important so we have,you know, at the state level,
we are fortunate to have a partner, Texas Humane Legislation Network, where all
(02:51):
they do and they are a fiveoh one C four organization which means they
can lobby, So they are basicallythe lobbying arm of Texas Animal Welfare and
we work really closely with them tomake sure that bills that are being passed
in the Texas state legislature are actuallygood for animals. So recently, with
the last couple of years, we'vehad some really really key winds. One
(03:15):
of them is the Safe Outdoor DogsAct, and that one we're so so
proud of because we've already seen theresults of Oh yes, we have.
We're fortunate to have really great relationshipswith our city and our county animal control
agencies, and we work closely additionallywith law enforcement on animal cruelty, and
(03:37):
so we've seen that they have.They have a law at their side now
when when they see an animal that'sbeen tied out in severe weather, in
extreme cold or extreme heat, insnow, which you know, we don't
deal with a lot here, butit happens with heavy chains, heavy chains,
and that's that's one part of thatlaw. So they can no longer
(03:58):
be left out in this extreme weatherand they cannot be tied using a chain.
So they can still be tethered.That's something to address at a later
date, but it has to bean appropriate tether for their size. They
have sort of access to shade fromthe sun, shelter from the rain,
and clean water, clean fresh water, and it cannot be a chain that
(04:19):
is tying them to where they stay. You know, it is Texas.
A lot of people have animals thatthey keep outside. We're just saying,
if you're going to do that,do it safely. And so now law
enforcement and animal enforcement have been tellingus they are able to go in and
they can either educate owners and tellthem that it's now against the law and
(04:39):
in some cases provide them with resourcesto correct the mistake, or if the
owner does not wish to comply,they have Now this really good authority that
they can seize those animals, takethem out of those situations and put them
someplace there. Isn't it true thata police officer and can now show up
on a property and from the frontlawn see evidence of of neglect and actually
(05:01):
enter the property to investigate. Ibelieve. I I don't want to speak
out of time, I will tellyou they do have to be whether it's
a police officer, officer or aninvestigator. Most of the cruelty investigators are
not law enforcement. So in orderto enter property without permission, they do
have to have an enforcement with them, but they do have to visualize whatever
(05:24):
the complaint is in order to gainaccess. Well, yeah, but that's
that has to protect Yeah, wehave to protect the absolutely. But what
this Safe Outdoor Dogs Act did dowas it got rid of the twenty four
hour race period. So so let'sexplain that. Yes, that's awful.
It is once upon it was.It was exactly once upon a time.
If you know your you looked outyour window and your neighbor had their dog
(05:46):
tied out in the middle of youknow, one hundred degree rather with no
shade and no water, you couldcall either the police or animal cruelty investigators
or whoever. They would show upand they would have to leave notice before
they could see unless that animal wasin the process of dying, which would
be called an exigent circumstance. Unlessthat was the case, if the dog
(06:10):
was okay, not in good condition, but not dying, they had to
place notice or give the owner twentyfour hours to comply, and often what
would happen is in those twenty fourhours the owner would not comply and the
animal would pass away. Now thattwenty four hour waiting period is waived,
so it doesn't matter if you showup whether the circumstances are exigent or not.
(06:30):
If that owner is in violation ofthe Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, the
animal can be seized right away andtaken to safety. That we've seen has
been really beneficial in the last coupleof years when we've had these unexpected or
really brutal freezes. Yeah, whichjust as Southerners were not always used to
that. Once the temperature gets belowyou know, thirty two degrees, the
(06:54):
Safe Outdoor Dogs Act kicks in andsays you can't leave your dog out.
It doesn't matter what act access to, you know, if he can get
up close to the house. Unlesshe can get into a protected doghouse sealed
on three sides, with the roofelevated off the ground, with something warm
inside, you're in violation of theSafe Out or Dogs Act. And so
we can now take those animals intosomeplace warm and safe and hopefully find them
(07:18):
a home where they'll be taken bettercare of in the future. We have
a new person at BARK, whichis what does BARK stand for? The
Bureau of Animal Regulation and Control.Yeah, and uh, I didn't realize
that I remember that until you justasked me. BARK. Yes, one
of the funny acts. One ofthe better acronyms I've come across. Yes,
(07:38):
it is one of the more appropriate. But you mentioned before we started
recording that this is a person,this man is very involved. There's a
whole lot, and it's not justit's not just a political ploy. This
is someone who loves animals. Soyou're hopeful I'm this and not just me.
This is what's so great, youknow. I I am fortunate to
have been able to work pretty closelywith Jared. Jared Mirrors is the new
(08:00):
director of BARK. He was thedirector of field services for I think fifteen
years, there was an animal controlfor fifteen years at bark And in Montgomery
County. So he is a localguy. He knows the situation, he
knows what we are up against,how things have been evolving over the last
you know, ten or so years. And he wouldn't be doing this for
(08:20):
this long if he didn't care aboutanimals, right he. I have had
the good fortune to work with him, and he is so committed and so
dedicated. And we are seeing ourpartners, our colleagues, are compatriots in
animal welfare see the same thing,which is giving everybody a little bit of
(08:41):
hope, which I think maybe thefirst time we've all been hopeful in a
really long time. So that's reallyreally inspiring. I think silver lining in
today's awful political climate. Yeah,you have thought to look for those civil
linings truly, or else what arewe all doing? Yeah, And that's
it's particularly hopeful because as as Gondhisaid, and I don't think it was
(09:01):
attributed to him directly, but youcan tell a lot about a society by
the way it treats its most vulnerablemembers. And I don't I think he
was talking about people, really,he probably was applies. I think somebody
else said it, and then herepeated Anyway, it's a great adage to
live by. It's very true.You if you if you meet somebody you're
(09:22):
on a date and they tell youthat they don't have any interests in animals.
Move That's how I know I'm inthe right place. I just keep
acquiring more pets, and my partneris right there with me. I'm just
saying, you mean you've never hada pet. No, I'm not really.
Okay, nice to meet you.Check please, that's weird. Yeah,
(09:45):
I don't like it. It's weird. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
On the other hand, it makessense strategically because I'm gonna have a pet,
so she's gonna have to want apet, and so it's it's it's
more it's more convenient if you bringa pet to the relationship and she does
too, and then you're on thesame level, and then it just multiplies
from there. Something you have thesame species, they will multiply. No,
(10:09):
that's why we s paying news.You are listening to Houston, PA
Houston's Public Affairs show. My nameis Laurent I am the Texan from France
and my guest is here from Houstonpet Set. Lisa Tynan is their marketing
and special event specialist there online atHouston petset dot org Houston petset dot org.
(10:31):
So if you donate to this organization, you're actually helping to change the
laws for the better. And Ihaven't mentioned this, but I like to
say this even when pet Set isn'ton the show. The number one reason
people call the Houston Police Department isto report problems with stray dogs. There's
a stray dog, I can't getto my bus stop, I can't get
(10:52):
to work, and they have tosend out some police officers to take care
of the dogs. Often these guys, these people get bitten by the way
because these are dangerous dogs. Andespecially those of us who have a pooch
at home and they're so they're practicallypeople. Those of us who also have
cats understand animal instincts and savage instinctsbecause cats remain wild on some level.
(11:16):
They're so smart that they know howto get in for the food. And
but you know, I'm still acat. And you know, if you
have a cat, you know thatthey're also like puppies. They follow you
around it they're they're a ton offun and spay and neither of them.
We'll get to that. The importanceof keeping your animals from reproducing, Willy
Neely, especially if you have youknow, if you've adopted a cat that
(11:39):
still goes outdoors, maybe you startfeeding the cat and you know you're not
going to keep him in all thetime. Well, if you can spay
him, Oh that's great for thecommunity, Yes, very much. Neuter,
Sorry I should say neuter, becauseneuter is to males, what's spaying
is to females. Things we don'twant humans to go through. So go
to Houston petset dot org. Youcan donate, but you can also fill
(12:01):
your heart with joy and hope.Uh. They do pet transports to the
Midwest because in the Midwest, unlikeour shelters here, their shelters are empty.
Is that is that literally true?Because it used to be it used
to be true. Yeah, Sotransport has been kind of the lifeline for
(12:22):
shelters in the South for quite along time. It started I think primarily
with groups going up to Colorado,uh huh, and then it kind of
expanded out. You know, wetransport to Minnesota. We have partners who
transport to Wisconsin, Oregon, WashingtonState, I think, and then we
have a couple who go up tothe East coast, and you know,
(12:43):
for for the uninitiated, all thatmeans is that we're taking animals who haven't
been able to find homes here.We're transporting them, usually in a van,
up to another animal shelter or sometimesto waiting adopters who have pre adopted
them from somewhere else. Cool.The good news is it has been really
successful for a really long time.The less good news is that, unfortunately,
(13:05):
adoptions across the country have stagnated justa little bit, and just enough
that the shelters we say up northbecause really everyone is up north to us,
the shelters up north are starting tofill up a little bit more than
they used to. Now it's notuniversal, and it's not everything. It's
(13:26):
primarily large breed dogs that they're havinga hard time with, which is what
we face down here as well.We've been transporting cats uninterrupted for the last
three years, over ten thousand animals. Oh yeah, and for the last
year or so it's been almost exclusivelycats, and our partners have been having
very little difficulty placing them. Catsare easy. They're easy, they're cheaper,
(13:50):
they're smaller, So I think peopleare finally starting to catch on about
how easy they fill up the sameamount of space in your heart. Is
the thing that dog people don't understand. Pet sized doesn't matter what animal you
shove it, that's or how manyor how right. Well, yes,
thankfully there is no limit at thispoint, just financially imposed, that's right.
But yeah, we we love transportand we love the joy of seeing.
(14:16):
Well, it's a mixed bag.The fosters, they're nervous to the
pets are nervous, the fosters arenervous. Everybody's a little bit nervous.
But because we have such a wonderfulrelationship with our transport, are receiving partners
up north, and you know,people can follow the journey of their pets
on the websites once they arrive atthe new shelter, and it really is
very rewarding to see these animals whomaybe have been overlooked for days, weeks,
(14:39):
even months, make their way upsomeplace where nobody's seen them before,
and they get adopted really quickly.So it's really wonderful. We just know,
at the end of the day it'snot the solution, it's just currently
it's a Bandit's nice, absolutely,yeah. Yeah, so you're over ten
thousand pets transported. These are animalswhich probably would have been you either euthanized
(15:01):
or bounced around from foster home tofoster home or you know. Unfortunately,
there are a lot of groups thesedays who are kind of warehousing pets,
which Houston Pet Set does not agreewith. You know, we would we
would rather a pet be very humanelyeuthanized than suffer contained for the rest of
its life, but unfortunately there arethere are limited options for animals. Yeah,
(15:24):
and so you know, sometimes we'retransporting up. I will tell you
this a little insider secret when wehave when we send animals up to our
receiving partners, we can't just sendthem the rejects, which just a terrible
thing to say. But the animalswho are getting passed over, we can't
just send them our unadoptable animals.So we also have to send a little
package. Deal. We'll give youa litter of puppies if you'll take this
(15:46):
dog who nobody seems to want.And they're usually highly adoptable animals. They
just look like everybody else in theshelter. You know the black Pit Bowl
mixes or the Houston Street Special wherethey're kind of brown a shepherd. Yeah,
they all look the same. Yeah, weird. Yeah, they have
well because they've all been breeding witheach other. Yeah. But when they
(16:06):
get completely inbred, yeah, ohyeah, when they get up someplace to
Minnesota, they haven't seen them beforeand they're new and they're shiny and they're
wonderful and they get adopted. Y'alloffer free chip and vaccine services, Yes,
we do. The chip is notedible. It's the kind it's also
not a gpsing you. No,it's just it's an it's a It actually
(16:27):
works a little bit like how youriPhone works. When you want to or
you're Android, you want to payfor something, you have to put it
right on the thing because if you'reif you're ten centimeters away, it won't
click through. And the chip thatthey inject into the back of your pet's
neck, dog and cat, theydon't feel it. Let me tell you,
(16:48):
I saw it happen. They're likewhat they just they we put it
deliberately, put it in a placethat's got a lot of loose skin.
I mean and the thing is isthat people who don't have pest don't realize
this, but cats and dogs,probably all of the predators, their necks
are so protected, they have somuch fur, and they're just conditioned to
be really strong. There. Theyhave very strong necks to begin with.
(17:10):
That's how they kill or it's oneof their tools. They shake and so
you're not hurting them at all.But what's brilliant is that if you lose
your cat or your dog and itcomes into a shelter, they have a
magic wand they swipe it over theanimal's head and it just clicks in your
name, address, phone number.You get your dog back at your pet
back. And actually that was oneof our local ordinances that we got past.
(17:32):
You have to do it that.It's now mandatory within the City of
Houston, and other municipalities are startingto adopt it. But instead of your
raby's tag being your form of resistration, now it's a microchip. Number one,
it keeps animals out of the system, and number two, it gets
them back to you so fast nobodyundergoes any trauma. And if you've got
(17:55):
your pet microchips, you don't haveto be worried that they might just be
off and somebody may have adopted themand now they've moved to another state and
you've lost them forever. So microchipyour pets and we'll do it for free.
I want the record to show thatI would never ever name my dog
Fifi. Oh oh, excuse me? All right, fine, you can
(18:15):
insert name here. But you know, the microchip statistically helps pets live longer
because they get found. It actuallyworks that way, so you could you
could make that argument if you want. But the vaccines are obviously important.
One of the things that people don'tunderstand about rabies is that if you get
bitten by a rabid animal and youdon't get vaccinated within a month, you're
(18:38):
dead. I thought it was shorterthan a month. Well it was ten
days. Well they want you todo it right away. Yeah, but
I think you can have up toa month before the symptoms set. Don't
wait, no, no, becausethe thing is if you have a symptom,
if you're symptomatic of rabies, you'redead. There is no surviving the
disease. And I don't think peoplerealize that because I didn't realize it until
(18:59):
about two years ago. Oh it'sso so dangerous. That's I read a
whole book just called Rabid If anyonewants to read about the history of it's
great. Yeah, and it wasa lot of stuff that I didn't know
about rabies. But it is.I don't I don't think anyone has ever
survived it. No, it's notpossible. I don't think you can survive.
And the silly thing is it's alsoone hundred preventable. Yeah, and
(19:22):
vaccine works painful not I mean,you're going to suffer and die. That's
that's the fate if you get ifyou get your rabies vaccine. I have
not. I have not gotten itbecause I don't I'm not around stray animals
that much. But I have alot of friends who work in animal control
and all that, and they've hadto get their rabis. It's unpleasant.
But I'll tell you what's more unpleasantis the post exposure shots. You have
(19:45):
to get multiple in the stomach andthey are horrified. So vaccinate your pets
is the plural of that story.Because don't pick up a fallen bat,
call the wildlife center. Don't messwith annim animals on the ground. You
don't know what they are, Youdon't especially if you don't know where they
are, but just don't miss Andif you're if you're at the Brazos State
(20:06):
Park, don't poke the gators.Oh please, don't. That's just silly.
They don't need to have rabies tokill you. No, they don't
even need to have a reason.But an awesome experience the Brazos State Park
off of fifty nine. It's beautifulwest, it's beautiful, and you will
experience walking around with gators blocking thepath. And these are spectacular animals.
(20:30):
Beautiful. I think all animals arebeautiful, even the ones that are scary
ugly, like the gators. They'reso ugly, they're beautiful. They come
on their dinosaurs. Yeah, ifyou're familiar with the Wall Bridge and you're
downtown, there's two hundred and fiftyto three hundred thousand bats hanging right under
that bridge. They are pretty incredible. And if you ride your bike under
that bridge at two pm, itstinks of hold your breath and there's fruit
(20:52):
flies everywhere. It's not only holdyour breath, it's squint and close your
mouth because you just you ride througha sea of fruit fly ride your bike
on the same path just after sundownthere is nothing in the air. They've
eaten them. A bat eats severaltimes its weight in insects, including mosquitoes.
(21:18):
Oh yeah, they're they're they're amazinganimals. And they don't they don't
have stereoscopic vision here. These areradar bats. Like in Australia, they
have bass to see, just likeweed for the fruit bats. They're beautiful,
they're huge. Their week span isa meter. It's huge. And
have you seen them land in atree? They don't land, They crash,
crash, they so they're they literallyjust kind of put their wings up
(21:42):
and catch on them as many branchesas they can and then they flip upside
down. It's the most awkward,hilarious, nail elegant thing you've ever seen.
Amazing species. Yeah, when I'min northeast Queensland in Australia, they
decimated the bat population and after thathappened, they watched the rainforest which comes
(22:03):
down the mountain and into the waterthere recede. It is because the fruit
bats were the main pollinator yep there, and so they forbade the hunting of
these bats. They came back.Life finds a way and the forest came
back into the river. That's howI saw it. Beautiful nature, incredible.
Don't mess with it, man,love it. Keep the balance.
You are listening to Houston PA,Houston's Public Affairs Show. My name is
(22:26):
Laurent and my guest is Lisa Tynan. She is the marketing and special event
specialist for Houston pet Set Houston petsetdot org. Houston petset dot Org.
They're celebrating twenty years of service tothe Houston actor to Texas, let's face
it, and they're gonna be celebratingthis on September sixth. You have a
big star and I'm blanking there nowwe do Texas country superstar Pat Green is
(22:51):
performing at our suare this year.We are so excited. This is this
This is a big year for us. Twenty years is a big year in
general, but we've had a seriesof really exciting things happened in the past
couple of years, and we justwe just really feel like celebrating, and
we thought what better way with youknow, a couple hundred of our closest
friends and legendary Pat Green. Sowe're really really excited about that. If
(23:12):
you've ever been to one of thesespecial concerts, that's also an event,
you know, a fundraiser. Theseare often the best concert you'll ever go
for that artist, because you're howoften would you get the opportunity to get
that close and see someone like PatGreen in a small you know, in
a small room with a group oflike minded people. So well worth checking
out. It'll be on September sixth. You can go to Houston petset dot
(23:34):
org to get tickets. Lisa,you mentioned the Outdoor Pet Safety Act,
which you helped to pass. PetSet was instrumental in lobbying and helping the
law get through the legislature because itran into some problems. The farmers and
ranchers were worried that bad law writtenby bad politician a common occurrence would be
(23:56):
detrimental to the way they live.It's like, listen, I don't need
your city law here because my animalsare just fine out here, and you
guys did a lot of work tomake sure that they wouldn't be trampled.
Yeah, it's very narrow, it'sso it's just wonderful. But you mentioned
that there was another legislative success hadanother they did, and now that you've
oh yeah, no, I remember, I remember. I do it.
(24:18):
I remember it because it's what youmentioned before, which is bad people can't
continue to do bad things. Inthis past legislative session, they actually just
passed a new law that says anyoneconvicted of animal cruelty cannot own a pet
companion animal for five years. AndI don't be for life. It should
be, but again, we takewhat we can get. People who are
crue to animals are messed up inthe head head. We agree on that,
(24:45):
and I think, like you justmentioned with the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act,
a lot of this legislation has tobe written very very carefully because animals,
you know, at large, areused for a lot of different things,
and so you know, just evenbefore these laws, there are different
cruelty laws for what we consider companionanimals which are dogs and cats, and
(25:07):
what are considered livestock, which arehorses, cattle, sheep, pigs,
and goats and the like. Sothey have very different sets of laws for
each. We with uston Pets atprimarily focus on the companion animal side.
We're not trying to take on theagricultural industry. That's not our purpose.
There are national organizations that do that, and we'll leave that to them,
(25:32):
but it is it is important thatpeople do have to face some kind of
consequence. And most animal cruelty ismisdemeanor, classy misdemeanor. There are a
few felony animal cruelty, and certaincruelty can rise to the level of felony
if it is egregious, intentionally injuriousand things like that. But at least
(25:57):
in this way, if they're conveyedof an animal cruelty felony, they cannot
own a companion animal for five years, and that wasn't the case before.
So we're taking the progress we canget. In some ways, the progress
you're making is establishing common sense lawsthat should already be the law of the
land. It feels like we're tellingpeople that they should have good morals,
(26:18):
which is really hard to legislate.But you know, if you can't,
if you can't just trust that peoplewill do the right thing, then you
have to put laws in place.Yeah, and you need you need to
trust the police officers to do agood job. And that might be one
reason why you don't want to belittle or vilify an entire police department because
of a few bad apples. Soshout out to all those police officers who
(26:41):
care and who will actually investigate animalcruelty. They are dealing with dangerous people
who are not just cruel to animals. We know about the link between violence
towards humans and violence towards animals,and we are grateful that if we have
people reaching out to us, whichwe do quite frequently, telling us about
(27:03):
some horrible situation, we can pickup our phone and we can reach out
to these wonderful people, men andwomen who will that's their job to go
out and take care of these animalsof people who are suffering along with them.
Cruelty to animals is predictive of crueltyto humans and vice versa, absolutely,
and we should not tolerate announce ofit. Absolutely not. So shout
(27:23):
out to all those good police thatare out there protecting us. I hope
y'all remember we don't all hate you. Some of us are just sitting here
going, what the hell are theseidiots talking about? I happen to have
gone with several I've been on severalride alongs with the Houston Police Department.
And believe me, when you sitin a sergeant's side seat, you know
(27:44):
when you write shotgun and you wishyou actually had a shotgun, is what
it's like. Once you've had Iencourage people, you know it's something that
that could possibly be done. Youcan go to on ride alongs. It's
an eye opening experience believing when Isay you have no clue these men and
women are actually dealing with you haveto live it to even glimpse it.
(28:04):
And I'm not arguing that one ridealong is a full education either. Anyway,
we're out of time, but asyou can see, if you care
about animals, Houston Pet Set ison that fighting front to pass laws and
encourage our society to be more civil, and they've been extremely successful. We've
already mentioned that they've transported over tenthousand cats and dogs to kneading cities up
(28:29):
north where their shelters are empty,maybe less so these days. That's one
of the things they do. Theyalso spay and neuter animals. I forgot
you're spaying and neuterans over six thousandanimals per years, which just last year.
That's crazy. We've done more andmore, but last year was our
first year. We broke six thousandanimals and those surgeries were all done at
(28:49):
no cost to the owner, especiallya great idea to neuter a feral cat,
please trap him humanely. They haveawesome traps. You can go to
shells. They will help you baitand trap this wild animal. You do.
This is not a pet, Nope, they're feral. That means they're
wild. They're not gonna they're notthey're not gonna live in your house.
Which what you do is you neuterthem and then you reintroduce them right back
(29:11):
into their neighborhoods because they're gonna keepon fighting all intruders, but they're not
gonna be reproducing. And it's areally clever way of animal husband during SO
and R. Yeah, it's reallytaken off over the last couple of years,
and we've fund we've we've spent tensand tens of thousands of dollars funding
our partners who do those big Tand R days, a couple hundred cats
in a day. Yeah, andthey really feel that they're making an impact,
(29:34):
and I think that's wonderful. Also, statistically, medically, the animals
live longer that those that have beenspade and neutered will live longer. They're
less susceptible to have any of thecancers related to uterus, for instance,
for the females. And uh,I can tell you from experience that the
kittens that I've had, I hadone spade and one neutered, and they
told me he's gonna be he's gonnabe kind of down and fatigued for a
(29:56):
couple of days. Nope, nope. The boys back, what's back?
Oh my gosh, bo bo bo. You have to try and keep them
contained. But also my female soobviously it's a much more invasive procedure for
the females. You have to opentheir bellies. But man, she was
just bouncing around. They're so strong. There is yeah, so don't worry
about that. It really is.You're doing it a favor to society.
(30:18):
And I hope that you're consider goingto Houston petset dot org And if you
have any questions related to Houston,PA, you can send me an email.
Texan from France at gmail dot com. I want to thank you for
listening and caring about the issues thatput on this show, ladies and gentlemen.
I'll be here next week at thesame time. My name is Laurent
I am the Texan from France andthis has been Houston PA Houston's public affairs
(30:44):
show Houston Strong,
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