Texas Animal Welfare Is in Freefall. Where Is the Accountability?

• Houston’s shelters are dangerously overcrowded. Animals are housed in temporary crates, staff are overwhelmed, and resources are stretched to the limit. In 2023, more than 2,600 animals were euthanized at BARC—an alarming increase from the year before.
• Despite receiving thousands of calls for help, only about 60% of animal control service calls are answered, leaving countless strays, cruelty cases, and emergencies unresolved. Meanwhile, hold times for at-risk animals have been cut to just 24 hours, drastically reducing chances for adoption or rescue.
• This isn’t just mismanagement. It’s a system that sets animals up to die—and calls it policy.

The people of Houston are speaking—loudly and urgently.
Residents have submitted complaints, flooded public meetings, and raised alarms across news outlets and social media. Volunteers have walked away in protest. Rescues have begged for change. Still, the city’s response has been silence, deflection, and budget cuts.

There’s been no meaningful reform. No transparency. No long-term plan to fix what’s broken.
As the euthanasia count climbs and public trust collapses, leadership continues to look the other way—and animals continue to pay the price.

• Underfunded Animal Control Relative to Peers
  Houston allocates just $15.6 million to BARC, the lowest among major Texas cities. Dallas budgets $18.3 million. San Antonio invests $28.5 million.

• Reactive Enforcement with Limited Staffing
  Only 35 animal control officers are available to cover a city of over 2 million people. The department is unable to respond to 42% of the calls it receives.

• Infrastructure Crumbling, No Resources to Replace It
  Adoption trailers require constant repair, and enforcement vehicles are outdated. Requested replacements for just one trailer and three trucks would cost over $500,000—yet no capital funding has been secured.

• Capacity Overwhelmed and Space Constrained
  In 2024, BARC took in nearly 2,000 more animals than the previous year. The shelter’s limited space has led to increased euthanasia and overcrowding, with animals held in temporary crates or confined in hallways.

• Spay/Neuter Spending Insufficient for Need
  BARC spends roughly $520,000 a year on free spay and neuter programs, treating about 3,500 animals. But overpopulation continues to spiral out of control, with no scalable prevention strategy in place.