Christ Yoder
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There have always been a few pets at Lesly Castillo, but Pulguita the cat had a special meaning for her.
Pulguita was a rescue from Harvey, the 20-year-old Houston Community College student said. When the hurricane hit Houston in 2017, Castillo’s mother found an abandoned litter box at an apartment complex where she worked. “They had no fur and were very, super tiny.”
The kittens were bottle-fed and groomed before being given away to friends – all but Pulguita, or “Little Flea”, an endearing name in Spanish for little creatures. The black-and-white kitten “held around my neck the whole time and we got really attached to each other,” she said. He grew up to be a big shabby cat who got along well with their other pets, a cat named Bella and a Chihuahua named Goxi.
Castillo said she and her family members got all their pets from the streets or gifts from friends – which is common in many countries, including Latin America. Her parents are from Guatemala, where there is no structured shelter and adoption system like in the United States.
Now, animal rescue organizations are reaching out to this latent immigrant market and their first-generation American children to get them involved and hopefully reduce clutter at local animal shelters.
To request information about:
BFAS Facilitated Pet Placement: [email protected]
Volunteer: [email protected]
Adoptions: Explore a list of shelters that are members of the “Coalition to Save Houston’s Pets” at bestfriends.org/locations/best-friends-houston
“A lot of people know about pet adoptions, foster homes, spaying and neutering, but we researched and found information gaps in immigrant communities,” said Mia Navedo-Williams, multicultural marketing manager at the Best Friends Animal Society, a leader. animal welfare nonprofit that works with hundreds of pet shelters and organizations nationwide.
She said the organization is increasing its educational efforts with immigrants who speak Spanish.
“We believe we can save many thousands of pets each year if we can engage these communities, change cultural habits, let them know that there are pets in shelters in their communities who need them. “said Navedo-Williams. She added that the need for foster and adoptive parents is increasing nationwide, with shelters reaching or exceeding capacity.
While popular accounts suggest pet ownership has skyrocketed during the pandemic, recent data indicates otherwise. A study by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and Animal Behavior, Ecology and Conservation (ABEC) at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, published in November, found that pet ownership of company had actually decreased. Dog ownership rose from 47% before March 2020 – when the pandemic hit the United States – to 45% in May 2021, while the rate of cat ownership remained stable.
While shelters have seen far fewer adoptions after the pandemic began, acquisitions of dogs from breeders have increased, the figures show.
Pet adoptions from shelters were down about 20% in the first year of the pandemic. Experts say COVID restrictions have forced shelters to reduce animal intake as they battle the effects of labor shortages. Many owners who couldn’t keep their pets instead found them new homes with relatives and friends.
“This could be the perfect storm for a shelter crisis,” Navedo-Williams said.
A recent survey of 150 shelters and rescue organizations by the Best Friends Animal Society found that 88% of them were understaffed.
“We have felt the effect of the pandemic; we have staffing shortages now,” said Viridiana Sánchez, an executive at BARC, the city of Houston’s shelter. “The workload is higher for each person… so it was quite difficult; there are more animals and fewer people.
Sánchez worked a recent Saturday at the organization’s Kittypalooza event, where adoptive parents brought their cats to the shelter to promote adoptions.
BARC said it needs 80 to 150 pets per day, with a capacity of around 600.
Lesly Castillo, the HCC student, was one of Kittypalooza’s adoptive parents. She said she was “heartbroken after Pulguita’s accidental death” last year, but a tweet from a friend sparked her curiosity. This led her to BARC’s Instagram account, and she wanted to know more.
“I saw a photo of a litter of three kittens who were in desperate need of a home,” she said, and a flashback of Pulguita’s litter came to mind. “They were also very small.”
Castillo went to BARC and, as she said, “I was OMG! You know, fostering allows you to have pets without having to make a lifetime commitment, and I wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment.
BARC takes care of vaccinations and neutering and neutering pets, and she received a welcome package with food and supplies when she brought the kittens home.
Sylan Chang, a volunteer with the Best Friends Animal Society, said she conducts outreach at shelters, educates people and offers to pay for costs associated with pet care.
Chang said the organization needs Latinos not only as adoptive and foster parents, but also as volunteers. They often need bilingual people to help with services and outreach programs targeting Hispanic communities to encourage readership.
Castillo is an example of the Latinos that BFAS tries to hire.
Navedo-Williams said educational programs targeting Latinos and other communities can help BFAS reach a goal of 90% no killing by 2025 nationwide. No-kill means animals will not be euthanized for convenience or lack of space, according to the organization.
Texas ranked No. 1 in the nation for pet deaths and euthanasia in 2020, up from second place the previous year.
Castillo said fostering BARC’s kittens was “very fulfilling.”
Two of them were adopted before she went to Kittypalooza with Pinky, a small black creature with light green eyes.
“He’s so cute and sweet!” said Gwendolyn Salas, cuddling the kitten in her arms at the event until she announced her decision: “I’m bringing Pinky home.”
Unlike Castillo, Salas and his family, who are of Mexican descent, have always acquired pets from rescue organizations.
“I love getting my pets from these organizations, which basically saves an animal from being culled,” she said. She said she also likes that pets put up for adoption in shelters are neutered and neutered, which is rare in Latin America and other regions to control overpopulation.
Castillo was a little nervous to let Pinky go. “You know, we got really attached to the cat.”
“I think the great thing about fostering pets is that you give them a home… you show them what love looks like, you prepare them for their forever home when they will eventually be adopted,” Castillo said.
She reflected on her journey adopting pets.
“It all started with my sadness about Pulguita,” she said. “Now that Pinky has been adopted, I’m going to adopt a dog,” she added, carrying a flyer with a printed black and white photo of a puppy.
