SPCA of Brazoria County

Whether you have stumbled across this blog accidentally, or you landed here by design, I’m so glad to make your acquaintance! My name is Laura, and as the SPCA of Brazoria County blogger, it’s my goal to introduce you to the purpose and mission of our local shelter. 

To kick things off, let’s explore what the SPCA-BC is. SPCA stands for the “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.” Did you know the first SPCA organization was founded exactly 200 years ago in England in 1824 and that SPCA non-profit organizations can be found worldwide? Here in the United States, each SPCA works independently of each other with a common goal of improving animal welfare. The SPCA of Brazoria County (“SPCA-BC”) was founded 50 years ago in 1974 and we are a committed “no-kill shelter.” The ONLY time the SPCA-BC will euthanize an animal is if it has health issues that cannot be resolved, or it is a true threat to others in spite of all efforts to address behavioral issues.

While the name specifically says “the prevention of cruelty,” the staff and volunteers of the SPCA-BC  strive to do so much more for animals and the people who love them through a variety of events and educational programs that will be covered here in future posts.

How do animals end up at the SPCA-BC shelter? There are three ways animals come into the shelter:

1. Animal Control — We have partner cities that have contracted us to take in whatever animals their animal control officers pick up. Because we are under contract, we are required to accept these animals, no matter how full our kennels may be.

2. Transfer In — Sadly, when other shelters become overcrowded with lost and stray animals, they will often be forced to euthanize animals that seem less desirable to people wanting to adopt a shelter animal. Many times these animals will make perfectly fine pets, but for whatever reason the “right” person hasn’t seen them yet to give them a loving home. Since the SPCA-BC is a no-kill shelter, when we have space we will pull animals from other county shelters that are close to or at max capacity so they don’t have to make the heartbreaking decision to euthanize these animals. Then we work extra hard to find them loving homes!

3. Owner Surrender — Sometimes pet owners think they have to give up their furry friends because they may not be able to afford pet food, or there are behavioral issues they don’t know how to handle. It is a proven fact that pets are beneficial to the mental, emotional, and even physical health of people. The SPCA-BC wants to help pet owners keep their furry friends if at all possible. We do this through our POSH Program. POSH stands for Pet and Owner Support Hub, which offers a variety of resources that can make all the difference!

Unfortunately, there are times that even POSH can’t solve the problem. Because we need to keep as many kennels available as possible for the animals brought in through our Animal Control contracts, and to save as many we can from being euthanized in other overcrowded shelters, we are currently not accepting owner surrendered pets. What we’ve come up with is an “owner to foster” system. We ask people who absolutely must re-home their pets to list them on a specific website called “Home to Home” for four weeks. We offer guidance on writing pet bios and taking photos of their pets that present them in the best light. During the four weeks, the pet owner “fosters” their own pet until a new home is found. If after four weeks a new home has not been found, we schedule an owner surrender appointment two weeks out (six weeks from initial contact with the shelter). We know it can be challenging to keep the pet once the decision has been made to let it go. By utilizing the guidance provided for the Home to Home listing, the odds of finding a loving home in relatively short order are greatly increased, and by “fostering” the pet until it goes to its new home, pet owners are saving other kennel spots for animals that don’t have anyone to advocate for them until they can also find new homes.

There is so much more to share about the SPCA-BC and the role the staff and volunteers play in animal welfare in our community, so be sure to subscribe for future updates here on the blog! I hope you’ll find the SPCA-BC Blog to be a rich resource full of information, and if you have a question, concern, or suggestion that hasn’t been answered or met here yet, you can always send an email to info@spcabc.org.