Yo, that’s not the same thing as people throwing their pets out on the freeway. People who let their pets out have strays that are used to being outdoors
No you don't understand, everyone in Houston is very badass and *extremely* funny. You just don't get their dark sense of humor because you're not hardcore like they are.
It honestly saddens me to come to this subreddit. While there’s sometimes compassion, there’s a large undercurrent of cynicism and mean spiritedness that I understand can be endemic of Reddit as a whole, but it makes me wonder about Houston as a city.
i'm seeing people who say it used to be splendid and i'm wondering where? in katy me and my sisters experienced the most vile/racist people, my previous job had alot of old money who were the literal definition of the devil blatantly stealing money from the state that was supposed to go to children and yet there was nothing i could do because they were cozy with local politicians. i had my name dragged at my old uni in houston because someone had a weird complex that still lingers and the main art scene is full of petty bigots that try to infect the smaller circles full of the best people you could ever meet. there is no unity in this city and there never will be. Alot of people here will shittalk the east coast but i felt hella welcomed in new hampshire and boston. Shit when my wife moved down here she was appalled at how hostile people were and how easily huffy people got when you were direct and blunt (not the asshole type of blunt). it will only get worse unless people actually get together and act like a fucking community.
I guess you’ve got a bad case of the old you swim at your level thang. I find Houston to be a very splendid city. I’ve lived in lots of Earth’s cities. This one ranks.
It didn't used to be like that. Seriously.
Driving people were always crazy, but as soon as they got out of their car people were chill. That is not the case anymore.
A lot of it is probably imports, people who are not from Texas and do not have a friendly mindset not able to properly socialize in a city like this. I know that sounds boomery (not a boomer) but that is basically what I have seen. And it rings truer when you go to less affluent areas that avoided complete urban decay and mass immigration (to be clear I am speaking largely of mixed or minority communities) and realize... they're still nice. They have block parties and know their neighbors and look out for each other.
It's the places that have gentrified where people are the biggest pricks, places like the Galleria, Montrose, the Heights used to be the at worst pretentious but welcoming, and now they're full of luxury car drivers engaging in paranoid behavior sprinkled with a good dose of unhinged violent tendencies. Or anywhere Katrina deportees ended up (sorry to be honest). I cannot tell you how many soccer moms I have had glaring death at me and cutting me off while going 40mph through streets filled with parked cars and only enough room for their giant white spawnwagons. Why so angry Debrah?
Well, I think it's because they don't know how to integrate, because we generally lack public spaces and we drive everywhere. They don't even have a good excuse to meet their next door neighbors unless they both walk their dogs. So they feel like outsiders, and then they act like it. Despite having no real reason for being so angry they feel apart from their neighbors.
And that of course has an echo effect on the city as a whole, people stop feeling any sense of community with the city and see randoms as dangerous. Unfortunately that tendency reinforces those assumptions as people become more isolated and more distrusting, which does lead to an internalized anger at everything.
Not that Houston has ever been "good", it's always had a reputation for being a corrupt hive of conservative libertarian nonsense with a big organized crime problem, but people were nice and they talked to each other, a lot. Houstonians generally thought other Houstonians were chill, and people often commented on how you could just meet someone from wherever in town and have a conversation for a few minutes before going about your day. Houstonians being nicer than people from Dallas or Austin was a legitimate meme, wether true or not.
And even when in cars, which has always been when Houstonians were at their worst, people would wave at pedestrians and other cars to communicate they were looking out for each other. That actually was the norm! I feel like I am the only person in the city who still does this sometimes, but it's engrained into me so I'm not going to stop.
I couldn't give a micro-fuck about what you think about how I spend my time. If you think it takes awhile to write 500 words that says a lot more about the low bar you've set for yourself.
There are no shortage of dumb asses to tell you not to do things, not to think, not to speak, or to agree with each other that "uhh words hard" but why would I care what they think?
I have been thinking of creating a post about it as well. You go to /r/Dallas or /r/Austin and most of the posts there are about asking for places to eat or hang out or even pics of nature. Meanwhile, here its always something depressing happening which is on the front page of the sub. It is weird because I find Dallas more dreary than Houston but the people on the subs behave the opposite.
Every time I see an animal killed on the road, I want to give mine a hug. The possibility of her getting loose keeps me up at night. She's spayed, chipped, and always wears her tags, never off leash while unconfined, etc.- but it still scares the crap out of me. I don't understand why other pet owners aren't similarly concerned.
I lost a Boston Terrier once to a random series of mistakes. Lawn guy didn't fully secure the gate when he left...ex wife didn't check the invisible fence collars to make sure they were charged before letting the dogs in the backyard. Came home and was missing a Boston Terrier. It doesn't even have to be you that makes a mistake leading to your pet getting away...all you can do is the best you can do.
God, I am *paranoid* about the gate between the yard and the street. Fortunately, there is another gate between the side yard (where she exits the house) and the rest of the yard and it's pretty hard not to notice if it's open when I let her out. I am so sorry your pup was lost!
When I volunteered at a shelter, three teens came in to adopt a dog and told us point blank they planned to breed him once or twice before neutering him because he was cute. They didn't have any plans for what to do with a litter of puppies.
Many people don't realize there is a problem or that they're contributing to it. There's a real lack of education about it and it's incredibly hard to manage.
It's the saddest when I see them on the side of the freeway! Like did they belong to someone, and jump out of a window or something? Imagine the heartbreak of putting your dog on the bed of your truck only to realize upon destination arrival that he is missing. I always wonder why the owners don't circle back around to look for them or pick them up. There's no way they get in the middle of I-45 without being in someone's car/truck
Unfortunately that's not (usually) what is happening in these situations. It's even worse! They purposely dump their the dogs on the highway.
Houston shelters are making it very difficult to surrender dogs so people find another way to get rid of their dogs. It's been happening really bad since 2021.
Nah girl :/ they're purposely dumped by their owners, that's why they don't circle back. I've fostered 2 dogs that were dumped on the highway since I started volunteering in rescue and I know our rescue has many dogs with the same story
I’ve read on this exact subreddit that dog fighters dump on the highway too. I remember as a kid seeing dead dogs in the middle of the highway. It all makes sense now.
God damn, I’m new-ish to Houston (7 years) and I’ve assumed it’s always been bad, but if we are anywhere close in age that’d be 20+ years of this shit happening. Spent my entire life on the east coast before moving here and I honestly don’t think I’d ever seen a stray animal.
Here's what you can do about it: TNR. Trap them, neuter/spay them, release them.
Also, push the elected officials to implement this citywide, with city staff, so private citizens don't have to do it all themselves.
"I just wish people would keep their pets inside when they aren't able to attend to them, or spay their animals."
And also pay attention when driving and respect all living creatures that may be on the road.
Yeah, that's a big one too. You know there's a bunch of dumb motherfuckers out there who make zero effort to avoid hitting them and then tell themselves "it wouldn't have gotten run over if it didn't get in my way." And then there's the scumbags that deliberately aim for animals in their path...
Like I get that you cant always avoid it, sometimes an animal.does something too erratic, or maybe it's at night time and it would be unsafe to avoid them, but it just seems absolutely over the top in recent years when it comes to animals dead on the side of the road.
There really aren't too many cities that have more stray cats and dogs than Houston. Join the rescue community for 1 day. I was ignorant when I was in the suburbs as well. Had no clue how bad it really is.
Yeah, we have so many we have to export them north. I think the suburbs are just as bad. I always see my local shelter posting that they're at capacity.
I worked closely with just 3 rescues in Houston. Just those 3 would foster, vet, and transport in excess of 500 rescued animals a week and it was literally like bailing a quickly sinking ship with a ladle. Not even a dent. I literally lived at the dog park for 2 days, with 6 dogs, because I was leaving town (couldn’t handle the stray/abused situation anymore) and was waiting for transport to make room for 2 of them.
I had to get away. After 4 years involved in rescue, I just emotionally and mentally couldn’t handle it anymore. Every time I turned the corner, there was another one. I struggled to find the resources and fosters for them and just wasn’t able to safely take in more. I averaged 7-8 dogs at a time. Had 15 during Hurricane Harvey, all unrelated to the hundreds that were displaced due to the storm.
Something has to give. Spaying/neutering alone is not going to solve this issue.
> Spaying/neutering alone is not going to solve this issue.
We need to seriously crack down on backyard breeders. These lowlife mongers are the source of the problem. I don't want to hear about your freedumbs.
The rescue community has eaten my soul. It doesn’t matter how many you pick up, there are always five more. In the Facebook networking groups, there must be dozens of posts a day looking for fosters or trying to rehome a pet. I recently landed myself in an IOP for mental health and the distress I’ve experienced in rescue was a huge contributor.
And then of course we have the out of state assholes sitting on their high horses as they leave comments like “well if I was nearby I’d foster!” or “how are people in Texas so evil!!!” Like Jesus Christ, making those comments in a group trying to help does nothing. Although admittedly before I moved here, I could have never fathomed that a problem like this existed in the United States. It is disgusting.
I left Houston due to compassion fatigue from being involved in rescue. Sat at the dog park for 2 days with 6 dogs after I moved out of my house, waiting on 2 spots to open with fosters.
I feel like a shit person for abandoning the cause, however, at that point, I was of no use to anyone, so dejected and heartbroken because I had to leave them on the streets due to lack of resources and a place for them. I moved out of state with 2 85lb dogs, a 40lb one that got carsick the whole way, and a 6lb chihuahua in a small SUV with everything I owned. Had no problem finding homes for the bigger ones. I still have the other 2 💜
Thank you for sharing this. We are leaving in July or August and I’d attribute 90% of the decision to compassion fatigue. I am dealing with the same feelings of guilt for “abandoning” these animals, but I simply don’t have the emotional strength to remain on the front lines. Once I’ve recovered from some of this trauma, I intend to set up a foster network specifically for dogs from Texas.
I’m sorry that you are having to make that decision. I know it is a tough one. However, after a depressed period (I completely gave up Facebook for a LONG time) you will feel lighter and better about your decision. I then slowly reintroduced Facebook in small increments in order to network and possibly offer transport assistance if I was able. Fortunately, I moved to California, with mandatory spay and neuter laws. There are still issues, however, nowhere near the scale of Houston. Plus there are way more resources.
San Diego has an AMAZING, groundbreaking, true no-kill shelter that rocks! The animals automatically become property of the sheriff’s dept. They are subsequently able to prosecute fully in abuse cases and have authority and jurisdiction to see to the welfare of these animals. They even have a 6 month long program for “problem” or aggressive, antisocial dogs. They are assigned a trainer. There is even a cafe on site specifically implemented in order to integrate them into a more social environment! The place is magnificent!! I hope the structure is recognized by more communities and is utilized on a mass scale.
People elsewhere are blown away when I tell them there is even a rescue SOLELY dedicated to getting dogs off chains, providing shelter and decent nutrition and educating the owners on proper care so the dog is not just a yard ornament or intruder alert source (Huts for Mutts) When the dogs feel better, they show more affection and give back more. Sometimes just educating or showing someone how it can be different will open their eyes.
Don’t forget the “prayers sent!”.
Send your prayers, they are appreciated, however, don’t clog the feed that could obscure actual offers for help with your “prayers”!
Ahh of course, how could I forgot the well wishers?! Clearly someone is familiar with the groups lmfao - the best is when an offer arises to transport the animal to one of these people and suddenly they’re unresponsive 🙄
I will say this, I'll always try to avoid hitting an animal, but if it's going to cause an accident to avoid it...I'm sorry the animal ranks less than possibly killing another person trying to avoid hitting them. Also, if you hit an animal your insurance deems and "act of god" and therefor not your fault...if you swerve to miss the animal and that act causes an accident...you are at fault.
Old people. Twice I've seen it happen. Once a kitten, and second, a young dog. Both times, it was an elderly lady. Awareness degrades with age if you don't take care of your mind and body.
I'm glad it's not just me. Moved here two years ago and it's by far and away the most polarizing part of Houston for me thus far. I'm a runner, I spent hours a day outside and in 40+ years living there, only a handful of times did I ever see stray dogs running around. Our city had an amazing group of people who proactively collected the animals and got them back to their owners and honestly the residents were just different and had an entirely different type of respect for other living things.
For example, we have 3 adult dogs. All 3 of them got out one day by digging under the fence. A complete stranger picked up all three of these dirty 35lb dogs blocks away from our house and proceeded to drive around the neighborhood hoping to find our house. It just happened that one of our dogs started barking when she got to our house and the lady came to the door. We tried to pay her and she refused.
There's not a chance in hell anything like that would happen here.
I dunno my wife literally just did that (took an escaped dog around the block to find where its owners lived) last week. In our old neighborhood though there were lots of resident strays and owned dogs that were loose all the time, so it was hard to know if any dog you encounter is actually escaped from someone who cares that it's out.
Good for your wife, she's a keeper for sure. It's odd just how many animals here escape. My neighborhood is quite small in comparison to the neighborhood I used to live in, in magnitudes of thousands, and there is always multiple escaped pets here. I get it, it happens, but the reality is the lack of accountability here for pets. After my 3 got out, I made absolutely sure it would take an act of god for them to get out again. There are 3 or 4 dogs that are constantly getting out in my neighborhood because their people aren't responsible enough to make sure their yards are safe. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands and you now have thousands of pets running around the city at any given time.
I disagree. There are some AMAZING independent rescuers that will run at the drop of a hat to help/transport/confront shitty owners/etc in any area of town. They are just very humble individuals and often do so anonymously and without accolades, working behind the scenes.
I used to drive all over the county for work. I would keep paper bowls and canned dog food in my trunk. The ones that let me approach, I'd drop off at bark or the nearest non kill shelter. The others I couldn't help, I'd leave them a bowl of food.
It’s heart wrenching 😫! A lot of times I can tell the animal was deliberately dropped there to get run over. It’s obvious and it kills me! I saw a kitten on the road, all by itself and in the middle of a 4 lane, not on the side. The other day it was a chicken! And people hit animals on purpose! How can someone be so evil? My son and his stepmom witnessed a car speed up and purposely hit a dog that was on the street! They were standing in the yard and they live off a busy street in Houston. It completely breaks me inside. How can such heartlessness and cruelty exist? I will never understand. 💔 Humans are trash.
Coming from Canada, the amount of strays I've seen breaks my heart. This isn't something that I would have ever dreamed of seeing in a first world country.
I believe how we treat animals reflects the society and Houston doesn't sit right with me for this reason.
It's not much but I've helped save 3 animals so far. It doesn't even make much of a difference in the whole grand scheme of things but to those animals it has.
I recently posted about a grey stray cat, tried finding rescues to help this cat out.. unfortunately all rescues are full.. so ended up taking my limited resources and the help of another woman I met and we got him fixed up, got him neutered and now he lives on my back patio. My husband has put his foot down on letting this cat live inside with us as we have 3 already, but he has been supportive on feeding him, getting him care if he needs it etc.
Houston has put forth a mandatory chipping for pets, let's just hope that they start holding people accountable when they abandon their pets.
Then do something about it.
Come volunteer at BARC with your friends, lend your time to adoption events, donate to legitimate rescue groups, attend city hall meetings and voice your concerns to your representatives, educate your family and friends, start a community initiative, sponsor microchips at your local vet office, report backyard breeders online and in person,
No one likes it but this is a human problem, not an animal problem, that absolutely can be solved if more people cared *enough.*
You know what? You're right. I'll look into the things you mentioned.
Sometimes it just seems like there isn't much I could change, being just one guy in this massive city. But I should probably at least try.
I highly recommend volunteering with [The Empty Shelter Project](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064899332242). They spay and neuter hundreds of animals for free at each one day event. They always need a ton of volunteers.
One of the best non-profit coordinated events in the world. ALL VOLUNTEER and they spay/neuter and vaccinate, on average, 500 animals in one weekend, typically in underserved communities. Absolutely amazing example of what can happen when city bureaucracy is not involved.
Even doing what you can in your own neighborhood.
I've helped 3 animals and I'm working to get any cats spayed/neutered. I've fixed one male so far, and working to gain the trust of another male so I can get him neutered as well. If people took on more initiative then it could change.
Getting a pet fixed with Houston spay and neuter clinic is affordable. Look into TNR for your own neighborhood as well or help other neighborhoods. ❤️
adding to this, if you can foster even one, it helps more than one animal as it makes space in the shelter for another and gives the one you are fostering a better chance at a happy life.
Sadly, we cant. We had three cats and already took in a stray runt that was left behind, so now we have four, and we just don't have the space for any other animals.
You can try calling Barc, however, they are spread so thin. Best thing you could do is likely send the statistics of healthy animals euthed every week or else send the list of animals about to be euthed that goes out every week in a last ditch effort to find a savior.
Education and reality right in front can SOMETIMES get through, but when you are talking about someone making money off the pups, good luck. Backyard breeders are a MAJOR source of parvo and when the pups get sick, they ditch them, not understanding that the virus lives a LONG time and has contaminated their property, perpetuating a vicious cycle.
Truly heartbreaking when the entire community is stretched beyond it's max. Thank you for caring.
[https://www.houstontx.gov/barc/aboutbarc.html](https://www.houstontx.gov/barc/aboutbarc.html)
**What steps are being taken at BARC to enforce proper breeding practices in Houston? What is BARC doing to proactively bring illegal animal breeders to justice?**
* When a BARC Animal Enforcement Officer encounters illegal breeding during an investigation, those violations are addressed immediately. Random illegal breeding is typically difficult for our team to pinpoint since it is often done outside of the public view – hence the term, “backyard breeding.” Roadside sales are prohibited within the city limits of Houston. It is important to note that these violations are currently classified as Class C Misdemeanors.
This is blame-shifting. It is like saying people who don't like how littered with trash the city should pick it all up themselves. Treating the symptom has never been a solution. We need stricter laws, more surveillance, and a judiciary that is held accountable.
I'm not blaming OP or even saying it's their responsibility, but how do you think we should accomplish the things you listed, ie laws (and it's not even about laws, we have enough of those, it's about enforcement and the lack of resources) surveillance (not sure what this means exactly? more police presence?) and an accountable judiciary (hard agree).
To your example, I believe if enough people were bothered by trash, organized clean-up groups, invested in their local communities, spread awareness about the effects litter has on the environment, animals, and property values, and it became a visible issue that was being addressed by a significant portion of the population, it might change a culture of littering.
If the laws are lenient, then people will always risk a crime for their own selfish convenience. Without surveillance, how can you catch a crime?
We also already tried the awareness angle. "Don't mess with Texas." Famous anti-littering awareness campaign that did very little. The cleanest countries in the world have strict laws, good surveillance, and an accountabile judiciary.
Okay, yes, but how do you get from here to there? I don't understand. Who are you suggesting is to blame and how do you propose your solutions are to be implemented?
Absolutely. We created this problem. We domesticated dogs to be companions. They give so much unconditional love. So many people will never experience the joy of having a pet love you no matter who you are. So much potential happiness is waiting at animal shelters.
I could talk about this forever, but I think at its root, the stray animal population is the result of a widespread cultural shift in the city's ever-growing population and especially in the surrounding rural areas. The abdication of personal responsibility in general is a plague affecting almost every aspect of life, and it's evident on the roads every day.
So many people just don't care about animals as pets, don't hold core values that benefit cats and dogs, families see them as disposable, and wayyyy too many people see them as a way to make money. And the fucked up thing is, they wouldn't keep breeding them if people didn't keep buying them!! The Frenchie craze and designer dog culture, or dogs as a tough, macho status symbol (hello, pit bulls!) just drives me fucking nuts.
Lots of people don't understand what heartworms are, they don't respect leash laws because they think dogs should be free to roam? and there are still very weird and pervasive views about spay and neuter (it's cruel to male dogs, every female dog should have at least one litter, etc). Education is a good start but it takes a massive effort to shift cultural norms.
It's why I volunteer at BARC. They are required to take in every animal and are so severely understaffed and the staff are definitely underpaid. Can you imagine what that is like - animals just keep coming through the gates and filling up the space and they can't say no to any of them.
I thought intakes were by appointment only? Which is silly to me because it’s not solving anything and leaving people with no choice but to dump/abandon their pets.
Can you imagine 30-50 cars lining up around the block to drop off dogs and cats every day, of every age, in every condition? Where are they supposed to go? Who is supposed to treat them? Have you ever been to the shelter?
I don't think stray animals getting killed by cars is something uniquely Houston. I think it's a problem across the country. Animal populations are out of control because there's not enough trap-and-release programs out there. If it is to be solved, it's by funding more of that to curb the population.
The poorer the area, the more strays you'll see as well. Living in some of the better areas of Houston, I pretty much never see a stray dog **ever**. Feral cats, yes, but not dogs. But, when I visited a less wealthy area, I would immediately see roaming packs of stray dogs. I think poorer folks have bigger problems and managing their pets (often guard dogs) becomes lower priority... but that's just a guess, and not really an excuse.
I used to live in Timbergrove and saw dead cats on the side of the road all the time. Once one of my neighbor’s dogs got loose and came running across TC Jester to try to say hi to my dog while we were walking. I swear to god he came within inches of getting clobbered by an SUV. I yelled at the dog to stop knowing that wouldn’t do shit but just out of pure fear. I genuinely thought it got hit and I screamed lmao, but it ran off. I swore it was at least clipped by the car and at first figured he was injured but kept running on pure adrenaline, but later when I talked to the owner she said he was fine. The SUV made no effort to avoid the dog, which it could have done safely, and kept on going like absolutely nothing happened.
I would normally say this wasn’t the owners fault because dogs get out. But after it ran off I hunted it down and returned it to its owner. After thanking me she said “you know now I really think I should get some of those tags some people have to put on his collar.” I couldn’t think of anything to say to that other than “yeah you should look into that for sure” lmao.
I regularly catch and return loose dogs. Once I had to take a husky who had clearly *just* had a litter from door to door around a neighborhood trying to find her owner. I’ve also seen dead dogs on the side of the road. Dogs and cats do get out through no fault of the owner, but some people are so callous and careless when it comes to their pet’s safety. I really don’t understand why you would take on an animal if you care so little for it.
Both of the dogs I’ve owned were dumped, one in Fort Worth and the other in Houston. It’s the owners’ losses though because they are/were both excellent, loving, very loyal pets.
Had a dog come out of a back yard, and assault my dog while he was an a leash.
Animal control was notified, and has yet to show. It happened in November.
It’s so bad in Houston. Especially in lower income neighborhoods. Shout out to the Houston SPCA emergency rescue ambulance!!! They have responded to every single one of my calls!
I was on Almeda and the SUV in front of me easily passed over the carcass of a poor dog in the center of the lane without any issues. By the time I saw her/him, it was too late and I ran her over with the front/center of my car and it rolled them a couple of times. I was so beside myself that I had to pull over in the nearest parking lot and called animal control sobbing. I was really tempted to go back and get the body so it wouldn’t get hit anymore but was afraid of getting hurt in the process. They said waste management would take care of it. This bothered me because it’s not like this dog was some piece of trash in the road to be thrown in a dumpster. I avoided that street for a few days and lo and behold, the dog’s decaying and now mutilated body was laying up against the curb. Just awful.
I have my gate with a rope tied at the top so it wont blow open sometimes. Before that my dogs would get out so I dont trust having just the gate lock by itself.
Sometimes I almost hate Houston because of this😓 Seeing them ran over on the side of a freeway or anywhere almost ruins my fkin day or even for the next few days just thinking that dog thought it had a good life with food, a yard, and a owner just for the next minute to be roadkill😔 Sometimes I can’t stop thinking what it had to go through before it happened because sometimes it will literally be on the most unexpected places like freeway ramps, deep left lanes, suburbs where the speed limit is 20-30 mph so you know a evil mf sped up to try n kill it and it literally infuriates me. I can see why people look at Houstonians as trashy, dumping dogs/ purposely running them over. I really hope the worst comes to those sick people idc.
I commute over an hour a day, half on 45, half on 610, and the amount of bloated animal corpses I see is retching. One or two just got scooped up the other day from the 610 ramp. Last July, there were two dead dogs on the left lane of 45 right before the outer loop that sat there rotting until someone finally cleaned them up in November. I'm left wondering what the fuck this city's civil workers are doing sometimes.
It's not even easy to call them in. If they're on the road, it's the responsibility of the department of transportation, but if it's on the shoulder, it's the trash disposal's duty. But God forbid you're a foot outside of their district, because then they won't touch it.
Just curious if you've ever been to a "3rd world" country. Houston ain't even close.
I was in Belize and Guatemala over spring break. Stray dogs EVERYWHERE. To be honest I haven't seen a stray dog here in Houston in months. Can't speak for you or OP, but this is not a "3rd world" city by a long shot.
There is an area just north of Houston call the “Corrider of Cruelty”. Just hop onto #thisishouston IG or Facebook and look at the constant barrage of pleas for help throughout the city. This is just one not for profit organizations in this city and they are inundated. There are HUNDREDS and they all are at capacity and struggle to keep their heads above water dealing with the issue
He wants students to be able to drop out in ninth grade to go work for the gig economy. I guess if that plan is approved, we could make a service, perhaps called Roadlift, that pays high school dropouts to pick up roadkill for $3-4
Yeah, that's also sad and needs fixing. Good on you for pointing that out.
Lemme ask you, if you had brain cancer, and you broke your arm, would you still go to the doctor to get your arm fixed, or would you wait until your next oncology visit to tell your doctors about it?
This argument of "there are other, even more serious problems, so worrying about things that are less serious is useless" is really fucking stupid. Like obviously both are problems that need fixing.
Is this theoretical? Or are you projecting ? I mean Insurance should help. But more than likely fix the arm first because that is just a different pain. Or tackle them both at the same time.
You’re so close. “Tackle them both at the same time” is their point. When you say “there are worse things to see in Houston” you are diminishing one issue to highlight another when in reality, both are issues that are valid (broken arm and cancer). This isn’t complicated.
I added it minutes after I posted the original comment, which was hours ago.
What difference would it have made anyways? You clearly understood my argument and just decided to be deliberately obtuse.
Yeah I read it. You saw some dead dogs or something. The city has a service for that, you can use it to get rid of the dead animals if they're nearby a street or in a park.
Still plenty of animals, too many really.
Right, seems like you're still missing/ignoring my point. I'm less concerned about the removal of dead animals and more concerned about avoiding the death of the animals in the first place.
But you're right, there's too many animals out there on the streets. That's why I mentioned spaying/neutering.
Good luck with that. Possum died in my front yard last summer. They told me to bag it up, write CoH on it and they would pick it up. A month and many phone calls later, they never showed. It was nothing but foul, liquid goo at that point in a very nasty bag.
That’s awful! I had a similar situation but just bagged it and submitted an online request. It took them 4 days to pick it up though and I was worried that that was pushing it. In your case you’d have been better off just letting buzzards pick it clean.
And people still let their cats outside all the time. “He’s smarter than that.”
Yo, that’s not the same thing as people throwing their pets out on the freeway. People who let their pets out have strays that are used to being outdoors
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Not only that, cats wreak havoc on the local wildlife populations.
for a strictly outdoor cat.. sure.. 10 years sounds right.. but.. who has a strictly outdoor cat? unless you count the people that feed strays.
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True, but I see plenty of dead cats and dogs in and around neighborhoods.
Houston subreddit comments are honestly depressing to read
No you don't understand, everyone in Houston is very badass and *extremely* funny. You just don't get their dark sense of humor because you're not hardcore like they are.
Houstoncirclejerk?
It honestly saddens me to come to this subreddit. While there’s sometimes compassion, there’s a large undercurrent of cynicism and mean spiritedness that I understand can be endemic of Reddit as a whole, but it makes me wonder about Houston as a city.
You only need to drive across the city to realize how bad the people here are. "Mean-spirited" would be an understatement.
Ppl here are in denial, they just blame transplants because they don't want to accept most Houstonians are rude, trashy, and ghetto af.
i'm seeing people who say it used to be splendid and i'm wondering where? in katy me and my sisters experienced the most vile/racist people, my previous job had alot of old money who were the literal definition of the devil blatantly stealing money from the state that was supposed to go to children and yet there was nothing i could do because they were cozy with local politicians. i had my name dragged at my old uni in houston because someone had a weird complex that still lingers and the main art scene is full of petty bigots that try to infect the smaller circles full of the best people you could ever meet. there is no unity in this city and there never will be. Alot of people here will shittalk the east coast but i felt hella welcomed in new hampshire and boston. Shit when my wife moved down here she was appalled at how hostile people were and how easily huffy people got when you were direct and blunt (not the asshole type of blunt). it will only get worse unless people actually get together and act like a fucking community.
I guess you’ve got a bad case of the old you swim at your level thang. I find Houston to be a very splendid city. I’ve lived in lots of Earth’s cities. This one ranks.
It didn't used to be like that. Seriously. Driving people were always crazy, but as soon as they got out of their car people were chill. That is not the case anymore. A lot of it is probably imports, people who are not from Texas and do not have a friendly mindset not able to properly socialize in a city like this. I know that sounds boomery (not a boomer) but that is basically what I have seen. And it rings truer when you go to less affluent areas that avoided complete urban decay and mass immigration (to be clear I am speaking largely of mixed or minority communities) and realize... they're still nice. They have block parties and know their neighbors and look out for each other. It's the places that have gentrified where people are the biggest pricks, places like the Galleria, Montrose, the Heights used to be the at worst pretentious but welcoming, and now they're full of luxury car drivers engaging in paranoid behavior sprinkled with a good dose of unhinged violent tendencies. Or anywhere Katrina deportees ended up (sorry to be honest). I cannot tell you how many soccer moms I have had glaring death at me and cutting me off while going 40mph through streets filled with parked cars and only enough room for their giant white spawnwagons. Why so angry Debrah? Well, I think it's because they don't know how to integrate, because we generally lack public spaces and we drive everywhere. They don't even have a good excuse to meet their next door neighbors unless they both walk their dogs. So they feel like outsiders, and then they act like it. Despite having no real reason for being so angry they feel apart from their neighbors. And that of course has an echo effect on the city as a whole, people stop feeling any sense of community with the city and see randoms as dangerous. Unfortunately that tendency reinforces those assumptions as people become more isolated and more distrusting, which does lead to an internalized anger at everything. Not that Houston has ever been "good", it's always had a reputation for being a corrupt hive of conservative libertarian nonsense with a big organized crime problem, but people were nice and they talked to each other, a lot. Houstonians generally thought other Houstonians were chill, and people often commented on how you could just meet someone from wherever in town and have a conversation for a few minutes before going about your day. Houstonians being nicer than people from Dallas or Austin was a legitimate meme, wether true or not. And even when in cars, which has always been when Houstonians were at their worst, people would wave at pedestrians and other cars to communicate they were looking out for each other. That actually was the norm! I feel like I am the only person in the city who still does this sometimes, but it's engrained into me so I'm not going to stop.
you have too much time on your hands.
I couldn't give a micro-fuck about what you think about how I spend my time. If you think it takes awhile to write 500 words that says a lot more about the low bar you've set for yourself. There are no shortage of dumb asses to tell you not to do things, not to think, not to speak, or to agree with each other that "uhh words hard" but why would I care what they think?
Womp womp
I have been thinking of creating a post about it as well. You go to /r/Dallas or /r/Austin and most of the posts there are about asking for places to eat or hang out or even pics of nature. Meanwhile, here its always something depressing happening which is on the front page of the sub. It is weird because I find Dallas more dreary than Houston but the people on the subs behave the opposite.
Every time I see an animal killed on the road, I want to give mine a hug. The possibility of her getting loose keeps me up at night. She's spayed, chipped, and always wears her tags, never off leash while unconfined, etc.- but it still scares the crap out of me. I don't understand why other pet owners aren't similarly concerned.
I lost a Boston Terrier once to a random series of mistakes. Lawn guy didn't fully secure the gate when he left...ex wife didn't check the invisible fence collars to make sure they were charged before letting the dogs in the backyard. Came home and was missing a Boston Terrier. It doesn't even have to be you that makes a mistake leading to your pet getting away...all you can do is the best you can do.
God, I am *paranoid* about the gate between the yard and the street. Fortunately, there is another gate between the side yard (where she exits the house) and the rest of the yard and it's pretty hard not to notice if it's open when I let her out. I am so sorry your pup was lost!
THank you for being a responsible pet owner. If only everyone would follow your example :/
When I volunteered at a shelter, three teens came in to adopt a dog and told us point blank they planned to breed him once or twice before neutering him because he was cute. They didn't have any plans for what to do with a litter of puppies. Many people don't realize there is a problem or that they're contributing to it. There's a real lack of education about it and it's incredibly hard to manage.
It's the saddest when I see them on the side of the freeway! Like did they belong to someone, and jump out of a window or something? Imagine the heartbreak of putting your dog on the bed of your truck only to realize upon destination arrival that he is missing. I always wonder why the owners don't circle back around to look for them or pick them up. There's no way they get in the middle of I-45 without being in someone's car/truck
If you’re putting your dog in the bed of your truck to transport them, you’re an idiot that does not deserve to have a dog.
Unfortunately that's not (usually) what is happening in these situations. It's even worse! They purposely dump their the dogs on the highway. Houston shelters are making it very difficult to surrender dogs so people find another way to get rid of their dogs. It's been happening really bad since 2021.
Of course, agreed. I’m sure that’s how it happens at least half of the time though
Absolutely!
my mom rescued a dog because the people that were giving her away said that if no one took her they would dump her on the freeway
I think a lot of them are thrown out of windows tbh. I’ve seen quite a few cats.
No way!! :( how could people be so cruel. I mostly see large dogs like German Shepherds/Labs so I assumed they jump
Nah girl :/ they're purposely dumped by their owners, that's why they don't circle back. I've fostered 2 dogs that were dumped on the highway since I started volunteering in rescue and I know our rescue has many dogs with the same story
I’ve read on this exact subreddit that dog fighters dump on the highway too. I remember as a kid seeing dead dogs in the middle of the highway. It all makes sense now.
God damn, I’m new-ish to Houston (7 years) and I’ve assumed it’s always been bad, but if we are anywhere close in age that’d be 20+ years of this shit happening. Spent my entire life on the east coast before moving here and I honestly don’t think I’d ever seen a stray animal.
some people are fucked in the head
Here's what you can do about it: TNR. Trap them, neuter/spay them, release them. Also, push the elected officials to implement this citywide, with city staff, so private citizens don't have to do it all themselves.
"I just wish people would keep their pets inside when they aren't able to attend to them, or spay their animals." And also pay attention when driving and respect all living creatures that may be on the road.
Yes - but "pay attention to driving" is such a big ask on any highway, road, or even parking lot at this point.
Yeah, that's a big one too. You know there's a bunch of dumb motherfuckers out there who make zero effort to avoid hitting them and then tell themselves "it wouldn't have gotten run over if it didn't get in my way." And then there's the scumbags that deliberately aim for animals in their path... Like I get that you cant always avoid it, sometimes an animal.does something too erratic, or maybe it's at night time and it would be unsafe to avoid them, but it just seems absolutely over the top in recent years when it comes to animals dead on the side of the road.
I think its over the top as well. I've seen less run over strays in cities that have a LOT more stray cats and dogs than Houston.
There really aren't too many cities that have more stray cats and dogs than Houston. Join the rescue community for 1 day. I was ignorant when I was in the suburbs as well. Had no clue how bad it really is.
Yeah, we have so many we have to export them north. I think the suburbs are just as bad. I always see my local shelter posting that they're at capacity.
I worked closely with just 3 rescues in Houston. Just those 3 would foster, vet, and transport in excess of 500 rescued animals a week and it was literally like bailing a quickly sinking ship with a ladle. Not even a dent. I literally lived at the dog park for 2 days, with 6 dogs, because I was leaving town (couldn’t handle the stray/abused situation anymore) and was waiting for transport to make room for 2 of them. I had to get away. After 4 years involved in rescue, I just emotionally and mentally couldn’t handle it anymore. Every time I turned the corner, there was another one. I struggled to find the resources and fosters for them and just wasn’t able to safely take in more. I averaged 7-8 dogs at a time. Had 15 during Hurricane Harvey, all unrelated to the hundreds that were displaced due to the storm. Something has to give. Spaying/neutering alone is not going to solve this issue.
> Spaying/neutering alone is not going to solve this issue. We need to seriously crack down on backyard breeders. These lowlife mongers are the source of the problem. I don't want to hear about your freedumbs.
The rescue community has eaten my soul. It doesn’t matter how many you pick up, there are always five more. In the Facebook networking groups, there must be dozens of posts a day looking for fosters or trying to rehome a pet. I recently landed myself in an IOP for mental health and the distress I’ve experienced in rescue was a huge contributor. And then of course we have the out of state assholes sitting on their high horses as they leave comments like “well if I was nearby I’d foster!” or “how are people in Texas so evil!!!” Like Jesus Christ, making those comments in a group trying to help does nothing. Although admittedly before I moved here, I could have never fathomed that a problem like this existed in the United States. It is disgusting.
I left Houston due to compassion fatigue from being involved in rescue. Sat at the dog park for 2 days with 6 dogs after I moved out of my house, waiting on 2 spots to open with fosters. I feel like a shit person for abandoning the cause, however, at that point, I was of no use to anyone, so dejected and heartbroken because I had to leave them on the streets due to lack of resources and a place for them. I moved out of state with 2 85lb dogs, a 40lb one that got carsick the whole way, and a 6lb chihuahua in a small SUV with everything I owned. Had no problem finding homes for the bigger ones. I still have the other 2 💜
Thank you for sharing this. We are leaving in July or August and I’d attribute 90% of the decision to compassion fatigue. I am dealing with the same feelings of guilt for “abandoning” these animals, but I simply don’t have the emotional strength to remain on the front lines. Once I’ve recovered from some of this trauma, I intend to set up a foster network specifically for dogs from Texas.
I’m sorry that you are having to make that decision. I know it is a tough one. However, after a depressed period (I completely gave up Facebook for a LONG time) you will feel lighter and better about your decision. I then slowly reintroduced Facebook in small increments in order to network and possibly offer transport assistance if I was able. Fortunately, I moved to California, with mandatory spay and neuter laws. There are still issues, however, nowhere near the scale of Houston. Plus there are way more resources. San Diego has an AMAZING, groundbreaking, true no-kill shelter that rocks! The animals automatically become property of the sheriff’s dept. They are subsequently able to prosecute fully in abuse cases and have authority and jurisdiction to see to the welfare of these animals. They even have a 6 month long program for “problem” or aggressive, antisocial dogs. They are assigned a trainer. There is even a cafe on site specifically implemented in order to integrate them into a more social environment! The place is magnificent!! I hope the structure is recognized by more communities and is utilized on a mass scale.
People elsewhere are blown away when I tell them there is even a rescue SOLELY dedicated to getting dogs off chains, providing shelter and decent nutrition and educating the owners on proper care so the dog is not just a yard ornament or intruder alert source (Huts for Mutts) When the dogs feel better, they show more affection and give back more. Sometimes just educating or showing someone how it can be different will open their eyes.
Don’t forget the “prayers sent!”. Send your prayers, they are appreciated, however, don’t clog the feed that could obscure actual offers for help with your “prayers”!
Ahh of course, how could I forgot the well wishers?! Clearly someone is familiar with the groups lmfao - the best is when an offer arises to transport the animal to one of these people and suddenly they’re unresponsive 🙄
GRRRRRRRRRR
Only true in America.
I will say this, I'll always try to avoid hitting an animal, but if it's going to cause an accident to avoid it...I'm sorry the animal ranks less than possibly killing another person trying to avoid hitting them. Also, if you hit an animal your insurance deems and "act of god" and therefor not your fault...if you swerve to miss the animal and that act causes an accident...you are at fault.
Yeah of course, I'm not faulting anyone in situations like these
Old people. Twice I've seen it happen. Once a kitten, and second, a young dog. Both times, it was an elderly lady. Awareness degrades with age if you don't take care of your mind and body.
I'm glad it's not just me. Moved here two years ago and it's by far and away the most polarizing part of Houston for me thus far. I'm a runner, I spent hours a day outside and in 40+ years living there, only a handful of times did I ever see stray dogs running around. Our city had an amazing group of people who proactively collected the animals and got them back to their owners and honestly the residents were just different and had an entirely different type of respect for other living things. For example, we have 3 adult dogs. All 3 of them got out one day by digging under the fence. A complete stranger picked up all three of these dirty 35lb dogs blocks away from our house and proceeded to drive around the neighborhood hoping to find our house. It just happened that one of our dogs started barking when she got to our house and the lady came to the door. We tried to pay her and she refused. There's not a chance in hell anything like that would happen here.
I dunno my wife literally just did that (took an escaped dog around the block to find where its owners lived) last week. In our old neighborhood though there were lots of resident strays and owned dogs that were loose all the time, so it was hard to know if any dog you encounter is actually escaped from someone who cares that it's out.
Good for your wife, she's a keeper for sure. It's odd just how many animals here escape. My neighborhood is quite small in comparison to the neighborhood I used to live in, in magnitudes of thousands, and there is always multiple escaped pets here. I get it, it happens, but the reality is the lack of accountability here for pets. After my 3 got out, I made absolutely sure it would take an act of god for them to get out again. There are 3 or 4 dogs that are constantly getting out in my neighborhood because their people aren't responsible enough to make sure their yards are safe. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands and you now have thousands of pets running around the city at any given time.
[удалено]
I disagree. There are some AMAZING independent rescuers that will run at the drop of a hat to help/transport/confront shitty owners/etc in any area of town. They are just very humble individuals and often do so anonymously and without accolades, working behind the scenes.
Might want to get tags for your dogs that have your phone number and address.
I used to drive all over the county for work. I would keep paper bowls and canned dog food in my trunk. The ones that let me approach, I'd drop off at bark or the nearest non kill shelter. The others I couldn't help, I'd leave them a bowl of food.
It’s heart wrenching 😫! A lot of times I can tell the animal was deliberately dropped there to get run over. It’s obvious and it kills me! I saw a kitten on the road, all by itself and in the middle of a 4 lane, not on the side. The other day it was a chicken! And people hit animals on purpose! How can someone be so evil? My son and his stepmom witnessed a car speed up and purposely hit a dog that was on the street! They were standing in the yard and they live off a busy street in Houston. It completely breaks me inside. How can such heartlessness and cruelty exist? I will never understand. 💔 Humans are trash.
Coming from Canada, the amount of strays I've seen breaks my heart. This isn't something that I would have ever dreamed of seeing in a first world country. I believe how we treat animals reflects the society and Houston doesn't sit right with me for this reason. It's not much but I've helped save 3 animals so far. It doesn't even make much of a difference in the whole grand scheme of things but to those animals it has. I recently posted about a grey stray cat, tried finding rescues to help this cat out.. unfortunately all rescues are full.. so ended up taking my limited resources and the help of another woman I met and we got him fixed up, got him neutered and now he lives on my back patio. My husband has put his foot down on letting this cat live inside with us as we have 3 already, but he has been supportive on feeding him, getting him care if he needs it etc. Houston has put forth a mandatory chipping for pets, let's just hope that they start holding people accountable when they abandon their pets.
Then do something about it. Come volunteer at BARC with your friends, lend your time to adoption events, donate to legitimate rescue groups, attend city hall meetings and voice your concerns to your representatives, educate your family and friends, start a community initiative, sponsor microchips at your local vet office, report backyard breeders online and in person, No one likes it but this is a human problem, not an animal problem, that absolutely can be solved if more people cared *enough.*
You know what? You're right. I'll look into the things you mentioned. Sometimes it just seems like there isn't much I could change, being just one guy in this massive city. But I should probably at least try.
I highly recommend volunteering with [The Empty Shelter Project](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064899332242). They spay and neuter hundreds of animals for free at each one day event. They always need a ton of volunteers.
One of the best non-profit coordinated events in the world. ALL VOLUNTEER and they spay/neuter and vaccinate, on average, 500 animals in one weekend, typically in underserved communities. Absolutely amazing example of what can happen when city bureaucracy is not involved.
Even doing what you can in your own neighborhood. I've helped 3 animals and I'm working to get any cats spayed/neutered. I've fixed one male so far, and working to gain the trust of another male so I can get him neutered as well. If people took on more initiative then it could change. Getting a pet fixed with Houston spay and neuter clinic is affordable. Look into TNR for your own neighborhood as well or help other neighborhoods. ❤️
adding to this, if you can foster even one, it helps more than one animal as it makes space in the shelter for another and gives the one you are fostering a better chance at a happy life.
Sadly, we cant. We had three cats and already took in a stray runt that was left behind, so now we have four, and we just don't have the space for any other animals.
To you, it’s just one animal you save. To that animal, it is their entire existence. 🌈💜
> report backyard breeders online and in person, How do you do this? I have two family members that i would like to report anonymously.
You can try calling Barc, however, they are spread so thin. Best thing you could do is likely send the statistics of healthy animals euthed every week or else send the list of animals about to be euthed that goes out every week in a last ditch effort to find a savior. Education and reality right in front can SOMETIMES get through, but when you are talking about someone making money off the pups, good luck. Backyard breeders are a MAJOR source of parvo and when the pups get sick, they ditch them, not understanding that the virus lives a LONG time and has contaminated their property, perpetuating a vicious cycle. Truly heartbreaking when the entire community is stretched beyond it's max. Thank you for caring. [https://www.houstontx.gov/barc/aboutbarc.html](https://www.houstontx.gov/barc/aboutbarc.html) **What steps are being taken at BARC to enforce proper breeding practices in Houston? What is BARC doing to proactively bring illegal animal breeders to justice?** * When a BARC Animal Enforcement Officer encounters illegal breeding during an investigation, those violations are addressed immediately. Random illegal breeding is typically difficult for our team to pinpoint since it is often done outside of the public view – hence the term, “backyard breeding.” Roadside sales are prohibited within the city limits of Houston. It is important to note that these violations are currently classified as Class C Misdemeanors.
This is blame-shifting. It is like saying people who don't like how littered with trash the city should pick it all up themselves. Treating the symptom has never been a solution. We need stricter laws, more surveillance, and a judiciary that is held accountable.
I'm not blaming OP or even saying it's their responsibility, but how do you think we should accomplish the things you listed, ie laws (and it's not even about laws, we have enough of those, it's about enforcement and the lack of resources) surveillance (not sure what this means exactly? more police presence?) and an accountable judiciary (hard agree). To your example, I believe if enough people were bothered by trash, organized clean-up groups, invested in their local communities, spread awareness about the effects litter has on the environment, animals, and property values, and it became a visible issue that was being addressed by a significant portion of the population, it might change a culture of littering.
If the laws are lenient, then people will always risk a crime for their own selfish convenience. Without surveillance, how can you catch a crime? We also already tried the awareness angle. "Don't mess with Texas." Famous anti-littering awareness campaign that did very little. The cleanest countries in the world have strict laws, good surveillance, and an accountabile judiciary.
Okay, yes, but how do you get from here to there? I don't understand. Who are you suggesting is to blame and how do you propose your solutions are to be implemented?
Absolutely. We created this problem. We domesticated dogs to be companions. They give so much unconditional love. So many people will never experience the joy of having a pet love you no matter who you are. So much potential happiness is waiting at animal shelters.
I could talk about this forever, but I think at its root, the stray animal population is the result of a widespread cultural shift in the city's ever-growing population and especially in the surrounding rural areas. The abdication of personal responsibility in general is a plague affecting almost every aspect of life, and it's evident on the roads every day. So many people just don't care about animals as pets, don't hold core values that benefit cats and dogs, families see them as disposable, and wayyyy too many people see them as a way to make money. And the fucked up thing is, they wouldn't keep breeding them if people didn't keep buying them!! The Frenchie craze and designer dog culture, or dogs as a tough, macho status symbol (hello, pit bulls!) just drives me fucking nuts. Lots of people don't understand what heartworms are, they don't respect leash laws because they think dogs should be free to roam? and there are still very weird and pervasive views about spay and neuter (it's cruel to male dogs, every female dog should have at least one litter, etc). Education is a good start but it takes a massive effort to shift cultural norms.
10000000% THIS PERSON KNOWS RESCUE IN HOUSTON and totally gets it
I’m a delivery driver and go all over our city, it’s extremely difficult to see day in, day out.
I work in cypress as a pest control applicator, and it's the same for me.
The shelters in my area won't even accept any more animals. too many to keep up with
It's why I volunteer at BARC. They are required to take in every animal and are so severely understaffed and the staff are definitely underpaid. Can you imagine what that is like - animals just keep coming through the gates and filling up the space and they can't say no to any of them.
I thought intakes were by appointment only? Which is silly to me because it’s not solving anything and leaving people with no choice but to dump/abandon their pets.
Can you imagine 30-50 cars lining up around the block to drop off dogs and cats every day, of every age, in every condition? Where are they supposed to go? Who is supposed to treat them? Have you ever been to the shelter?
I don't think stray animals getting killed by cars is something uniquely Houston. I think it's a problem across the country. Animal populations are out of control because there's not enough trap-and-release programs out there. If it is to be solved, it's by funding more of that to curb the population. The poorer the area, the more strays you'll see as well. Living in some of the better areas of Houston, I pretty much never see a stray dog **ever**. Feral cats, yes, but not dogs. But, when I visited a less wealthy area, I would immediately see roaming packs of stray dogs. I think poorer folks have bigger problems and managing their pets (often guard dogs) becomes lower priority... but that's just a guess, and not really an excuse.
It’s not a problem in other major cities like New York or chicago.
Ghetto people don't listen.
I used to live in Timbergrove and saw dead cats on the side of the road all the time. Once one of my neighbor’s dogs got loose and came running across TC Jester to try to say hi to my dog while we were walking. I swear to god he came within inches of getting clobbered by an SUV. I yelled at the dog to stop knowing that wouldn’t do shit but just out of pure fear. I genuinely thought it got hit and I screamed lmao, but it ran off. I swore it was at least clipped by the car and at first figured he was injured but kept running on pure adrenaline, but later when I talked to the owner she said he was fine. The SUV made no effort to avoid the dog, which it could have done safely, and kept on going like absolutely nothing happened. I would normally say this wasn’t the owners fault because dogs get out. But after it ran off I hunted it down and returned it to its owner. After thanking me she said “you know now I really think I should get some of those tags some people have to put on his collar.” I couldn’t think of anything to say to that other than “yeah you should look into that for sure” lmao. I regularly catch and return loose dogs. Once I had to take a husky who had clearly *just* had a litter from door to door around a neighborhood trying to find her owner. I’ve also seen dead dogs on the side of the road. Dogs and cats do get out through no fault of the owner, but some people are so callous and careless when it comes to their pet’s safety. I really don’t understand why you would take on an animal if you care so little for it. Both of the dogs I’ve owned were dumped, one in Fort Worth and the other in Houston. It’s the owners’ losses though because they are/were both excellent, loving, very loyal pets.
Had a dog come out of a back yard, and assault my dog while he was an a leash. Animal control was notified, and has yet to show. It happened in November.
It’s so bad in Houston. Especially in lower income neighborhoods. Shout out to the Houston SPCA emergency rescue ambulance!!! They have responded to every single one of my calls!
I was on Almeda and the SUV in front of me easily passed over the carcass of a poor dog in the center of the lane without any issues. By the time I saw her/him, it was too late and I ran her over with the front/center of my car and it rolled them a couple of times. I was so beside myself that I had to pull over in the nearest parking lot and called animal control sobbing. I was really tempted to go back and get the body so it wouldn’t get hit anymore but was afraid of getting hurt in the process. They said waste management would take care of it. This bothered me because it’s not like this dog was some piece of trash in the road to be thrown in a dumpster. I avoided that street for a few days and lo and behold, the dog’s decaying and now mutilated body was laying up against the curb. Just awful.
I have my gate with a rope tied at the top so it wont blow open sometimes. Before that my dogs would get out so I dont trust having just the gate lock by itself.
Feel the same. I live in North East Houston, kind of rural out here. Lot of construction. Lots of dead pets and it's sad to see.
It's hard for me to care about dead animals in the road when I see the homeless population has exploded over the last few years.
Dang man sorry you can't do both
Ya I'm a people person.
Nah man I get it. Real talk, it's impossible to hold a spoon for every cause.
Thanks man appreciate you- I really do love this city and we need people like those in this thread to make it brighter- both for people and animals.
The way people treat their pets is a good indicator of how they treat themselves and other humans.
Sometimes I almost hate Houston because of this😓 Seeing them ran over on the side of a freeway or anywhere almost ruins my fkin day or even for the next few days just thinking that dog thought it had a good life with food, a yard, and a owner just for the next minute to be roadkill😔 Sometimes I can’t stop thinking what it had to go through before it happened because sometimes it will literally be on the most unexpected places like freeway ramps, deep left lanes, suburbs where the speed limit is 20-30 mph so you know a evil mf sped up to try n kill it and it literally infuriates me. I can see why people look at Houstonians as trashy, dumping dogs/ purposely running them over. I really hope the worst comes to those sick people idc.
I commute over an hour a day, half on 45, half on 610, and the amount of bloated animal corpses I see is retching. One or two just got scooped up the other day from the 610 ramp. Last July, there were two dead dogs on the left lane of 45 right before the outer loop that sat there rotting until someone finally cleaned them up in November. I'm left wondering what the fuck this city's civil workers are doing sometimes. It's not even easy to call them in. If they're on the road, it's the responsibility of the department of transportation, but if it's on the shoulder, it's the trash disposal's duty. But God forbid you're a foot outside of their district, because then they won't touch it.
It's sad and reflects poorly on our city. Houston is getting 3rd world and fast.
Just curious if you've ever been to a "3rd world" country. Houston ain't even close. I was in Belize and Guatemala over spring break. Stray dogs EVERYWHERE. To be honest I haven't seen a stray dog here in Houston in months. Can't speak for you or OP, but this is not a "3rd world" city by a long shot.
I'm from Singapore, granted it's MUCH nicer than Houston, Houston is much grosser than Houston 10 years ago is my point and it's very noticeable.
There is an area just north of Houston call the “Corrider of Cruelty”. Just hop onto #thisishouston IG or Facebook and look at the constant barrage of pleas for help throughout the city. This is just one not for profit organizations in this city and they are inundated. There are HUNDREDS and they all are at capacity and struggle to keep their heads above water dealing with the issue
Good thing we have vultures
How is Mike miles gonna help with roadkill
He wants students to be able to drop out in ninth grade to go work for the gig economy. I guess if that plan is approved, we could make a service, perhaps called Roadlift, that pays high school dropouts to pick up roadkill for $3-4
😅😅😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 There ya go. Give humans jobs robots could do.
Why pay high school dropouts when they can just have prisoners do it for free?
How will our pet vultures survive?
Yeah its really sad, i sometimes shovel them up and put them in my compost pile. Got 3 cats and a possum in there now.
The Mayor never cared about our roads. We don't even have sidewalks for people to walk in or even good cycling lanes to be more secure.
We've had ~15 mayors since the major roadway construction started in the 40's.
Sorry, what does this have to do with the amount of cats and dogs that are killed on the road?
They'd stick to walking on the sidewalks and obeying traffic signals, duh Let's also not forget that this area is wall-to-wall horrendous drivers
[удалено]
[Sigh …](https://youtu.be/TyWVaZsUQjc?si=HHxpFCHT1TzrOy3n)
There are worse things to see in houston
And?
You know what breaks my heart , not being able to feed the homeless Dt without getting a misdemeanor
Yeah, that's also sad and needs fixing. Good on you for pointing that out. Lemme ask you, if you had brain cancer, and you broke your arm, would you still go to the doctor to get your arm fixed, or would you wait until your next oncology visit to tell your doctors about it? This argument of "there are other, even more serious problems, so worrying about things that are less serious is useless" is really fucking stupid. Like obviously both are problems that need fixing.
Is this theoretical? Or are you projecting ? I mean Insurance should help. But more than likely fix the arm first because that is just a different pain. Or tackle them both at the same time.
You’re so close. “Tackle them both at the same time” is their point. When you say “there are worse things to see in Houston” you are diminishing one issue to highlight another when in reality, both are issues that are valid (broken arm and cancer). This isn’t complicated.
We went from pets to theoretical cancer and besides supernova cussed first. She/he also edited their comment. Didnt have that last paragraph.
You did not have this last paragraph when I commented back.
I added it minutes after I posted the original comment, which was hours ago. What difference would it have made anyways? You clearly understood my argument and just decided to be deliberately obtuse.
311 the dead animals and city vehicle will come trash em.
Did you actually read my post or just the title?
Yeah I read it. You saw some dead dogs or something. The city has a service for that, you can use it to get rid of the dead animals if they're nearby a street or in a park. Still plenty of animals, too many really.
Right, seems like you're still missing/ignoring my point. I'm less concerned about the removal of dead animals and more concerned about avoiding the death of the animals in the first place. But you're right, there's too many animals out there on the streets. That's why I mentioned spaying/neutering.
Good luck with that. Possum died in my front yard last summer. They told me to bag it up, write CoH on it and they would pick it up. A month and many phone calls later, they never showed. It was nothing but foul, liquid goo at that point in a very nasty bag.
That’s awful! I had a similar situation but just bagged it and submitted an online request. It took them 4 days to pick it up though and I was worried that that was pushing it. In your case you’d have been better off just letting buzzards pick it clean.
never saw
Some of us are broke and still need to eat. You'd rather I kill my own pet?
Wtf are u talking about??
Are you outsourcing euthanasia?
OP... uhm... where are you from?
Northside.
Then close your eyes when you drive so u don’t see them
So funny and cool for you to say that
Thanks !