State of the Shelter Address CAP Houston Animal Adoptions
State of the Shelter Address – January 2011
(Summary of Accomplishments)
Citizens for Animal Protection (CAP), founded in 1972, has truly grown into one of the leading humane organizations in the country. Throughout the years, other Houston area shelters have adopted policies, procedures and programs initiated by CAP. We are proud of our leadership role in the community and the benchmark of our success. CAP is unique in the fact that our focus is on the individual animal … not the numbers. While our adoption numbers outrank many, we are committed to saving the lives of homeless animals one pet at a time. From a grassroots all-volunteer organization, holding mobile adoptions in parking lots and malls to a rented building in a strip center, CAP has become a dynamic, respected group with a loyal, competent and caring staff of 59 employees, a supportive multi-faceted board of directors and over 400 volunteers who contributed 6,362 hours of service last year. In addition, community service volunteers contributed 8,428 hours at the shelter.
In 2010, CAP sheltered 12,138 animals. Our yearly average adoption rate of 52% is more than 3 times the national average. Although this is exemplary, we maintain our never-ending goal to continue to increase adoptions. CAP’s partnership with a PetsMart Luv-A-Pet Adoption Center in Sugar Land plays a major role in our plan and will continue to do so in the future.
CAP teamed up with the North Shore Animal League of Port Washington, New York in April, 2010 for the world’s largest cooperative mobile pet adoption event called Tour for Life. The goals of Tour for Life are to promote adoptions for orphaned dogs and cats and to raise public awareness concerning the plight of all shelter pets.
In 2010, our Foster Care Program, consisting of 125 “foster homes”, facilitated the adoption of 1,862 pets with special needs that might otherwise have had to be euthanized. Also, our Community Outreach Program reached tens of thousands of people through our educational efforts by speaking to the public, particularly children, regarding the care and treatment of companion pets. Our “Adopt-A-Classroom” program reached 5,012 children in 179 classrooms (2nd-5th grade). Teaching the importance of spaying and neutering, proper pet care and a lifetime commitment of pet guardianship are the cornerstones of our objective to substantially reduce euthanasia in this new millennium.
Last year, CAP initiated a popular new program for seniors 65 and over –free adoptions of pets over 5 years of age! Also, CAP’s Pets for Seniors Program offers a reduced adoption fee for senior citizens over 60, which gives many seniors the incentive needed to acquire a pet and enjoy the many benefits a companion animal offers.
CAP’s programs, services and activities continue to expand and grow each year. These include one of the first pioneer programs in the state, our Feral Cat Assistance Program (in 2010, Trap-Neuter-Return of 2,152 adult feral cats back to their familiar habitats where they remain with their caretakers); animal rescue; lost and found; Pet Match; pet behavior counseling; adoption transfers (from 4 animal control agencies), Weekend Sponsor Adoption Program; annual fund-raising events; Website (cap4pets.org); Happy Tails Pet Supply Shop and our Thrift Store, which is the only resale shop in the Houston area benefitting animals.
In conclusion, these highlights and many more have encouraged us to set even higher goals. CAP’s board, staff and volunteers remain dedicated to aggressively pursuing adoptive homes for our orphaned pets. We will always emphasize sterilization, adoption and education.
In January of this year, we fulfilled our dream of having a new and larger shelter to care for more animals until they can get the second chance they so deserve. To this effect, CAP opened its 21,000 sq. ft. State-of-the-Art Shelter and Pet Adoption Center situated on three and one-half acres of park-like land located at I-10 and Barker Clodine.
