Texas #1 in Kills
By Gregg Wendorf
Advance News Journal
As it’s vying for new business, always new business, or “bidness” as the rednecks like to say, this metric should sell well with the Ben and Jerry’s crowd from Vermont: Texas is number one with the most animal shelter deaths.
In the entire U.S. it makes you wonder how it got this bad: only 10 percent of all animals euthanized have been either spayed or neutered. (Source: NewEngland-HumaneSociety.com.
Can we get a clue? Closer to home, the animal shelter in Weslaco ranks as the highest kill shelter in the state. (Source: WeCanStopTheKilling. org.)
In fact, according to the same website, Weslaco Animal Care Services kills 58 percent more animals than the next killing site in Texas. The city needs a chance to respond to this, and it will be given the chance, but according to the “stop the killing” website, the Weslaco facility saves about 25 percent of the animals that enter its shelter while the average Texas shelter saves more than 80 percent.
Some cities like McAllen and Edinburg choose to pay more money, per animal, to the Palm Valley Animal Society (PVAS) because presumably they want to give the dog or cat found on the street a better chance than the 72-hour hold at Weslaco.
Other cities around the county send their homeless dogs and cats to Weslaco for about 40 percent of what PVAS charges.
The criticism to that has been — you talk all the time about “quality of life,” but when it comes to the care of animals, where is the quality?
I need to call the County and find out what’s going on with its partnership with Palm Valley Animal Society (PVAS), which runs this county’s largest and longest running nonprofit animal shelter. Based on what I’ve heard, PVAS is getting treated like the red-headed stepchild who sleeps in the barn.
Here’s the back story:
Spend or Save $$$
Hidalgo County hired Mission-based B2Z Engineering this past spring to do a feasibility study. See if there wasn’t a more cost-effective way of taking care of lost domesticated animals. The feral cats, aggressive and/or sick dogs don’t get put up for adoption. So really, these are domesticated animals, cats and dogs, that have either been left behind when a family moves (don’t ask), or they’ve gotten loose and their families are looking for them (most of the time).
The current contract the County has with PVAS expires at the end of this year.
What did the County get for its money when it hired B2Z? A PowerPoint demonstration named “The Hidalgo County Animal Control Center Needs and Assessment & Feasibility Study.”
It was labeled the first step in the planning process for a Future Animal Control Facility in Hidalgo County: “The purpose of this Feasibility Study is for B2Z Engineering, LLC. (B2Z) to provide Hidalgo County with sufficient valuable data that will assist and guide the County in making a uniform decision on the need for an Animal Control Center in Hidalgo County.”
Which potential stakeholder was being kept out of the loop? Why, our good friends at PVAS who have been caring for this county’s homeless animals for decades. It currently employs approximately 100 people, making it one of the larger employers in Edinburg.
“No need to call them.” As laid out by B2Z, the options it drew up for the Commissioners Court meant cutting its ties with PVAS, and instead, spend between a million and two million to build its own shelter. Meaning, the contract it had with PVAS would become a thing of the past.
In fact, in its presentation to the County, without PVAS standing in the way, the engineering firm, B2Z, mentions what Hidalgo County should do after choosing which of the three options it likes: The work handed to B2Z would include helping with preliminary mapping and exhibit creation with updated aerials of chosen site location, providing the County with an engineers estimate for off-site utilities, drainage and other needed infrastructure.
PVAS already has a 10-acre site on Trenton, with room to expand. Why not pump in the money there instead? Economy of scale, that sort of thing, as opposed to starting a new one from scratch?
The oddest thing I’ve seen go by so far is the way that B2Z misrepresented PVAS in its feasibility study, or at least that’s the way it looks. As part of the feasibility study, the shelter told B2Z that it couldn’t hand over its 2022 financials, because they wouldn’t be ready until the fall. It did, however, hand over the financials for 2018 through 2021. Yet in its report to the County, B2Z wrote that “PAWS would not release their operating costs.”
Behind the scenes, the directors at Palm Valley had no clue as to what was going on. The County had voted to hand it $250,000 to help get over its shortfall but has yet to see the money.
PVAS directors had a meeting with a County rep June 5, but nothing was said to suggest that there was any problem afoot. Kept in the dark, PVAS directors thought things were going great, some said this week.
Yet, behind closed doors, there was indeed a problem. PVAS’ neck was on the line, but no one called the nonprofit’s board to let them know of the possible train wreck headed their way, according to PVAS board members The Advance reached out to this week and last.
In fact, for five weeks PVAS called back the same County office where their meeting had just taken place June 5, but no one from the County ever called back. Why was the $250,000 being held up?
“Can we take a message?” Sure, but after five weeks, what’s going to change now?
That’s why I need to call Hidalgo County officials and ask what’s the deal?
Letter to the Editor
On page 15A of this week’s Advance, PVAS Board President Keely Lewis has written an op/ed piece about the work of the nonprofit, including adoptions, foster care. In one form or another (name wise) this nonprofit has been taking care of animals in need for decades. Fifteen years ago, the shelter was taking in approximately 40,000 homeless animals a year. Approximately 90 percent of those were ultimately euthanized, which is always preferable to getting run over on some roadway.
Currently, PVAS is taking in approximately 13,000 animals a year, which equates to a “save” rate of approximately 90 percent. Where did the balance go? The difference between 40,000 and 13,000? Mainly to the Weslaco shelter.
Why did some cities decide to send animals to the Weslaco shelter, which is one of the top three kill shelters in the U/S., Cameron County is right up there, too, The cheapest way to “fix” the homeless animal problem in Hidalgo County is to keep them for the required 72 hours (state law) and then euthanize them. Question is, how humane is this option? If a little five-year-old boy or girl loses their beloved pet, who’s going to tell them that some shelter just gave him or her the shot of death after only 72 hours on the waiting list?
PVAS’ shelter on Trenton employs approximately 100 people and is one of Edinburg’s largest employers. The people who work there are angels, in my opinion. The dealings I’ve had with the people who work and volunteer at PVAS have always left me with a feeling of respect and admiration for the work they do.
The way PVAS is being kept out of this “Feasibility Study” group makes you wonder what’s going on? Does the County actually think they can run a shelter better than people who have been doing it for years, on a property that’s already up and running, albeit in need of repairs? The current property won’t require as much engineering work, but it sure sounds like the better option.
In fact, I’m sure PVAS would have no problem putting someone from the County Commissioners Court on the board, whether active or advisory, if it either kept current funding in place or added to it. Just don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.