On March 27
th, Harris County’s Veterinary Public Health (VPH) Division transmitted an update to the Harris County Commissioners Court on their progress towards recommendations from an October
Research and Analysis Division (RAD) report assessing veterinary public health structures and possible program expansion. The update detailed VPH’s continued collaboration with nonprofits and City of Houston BARC and increased spay-and-neuter efforts in Harris County. Over the last six months, VPH has focused on fully adopting the
Socially Conscious Animal Sheltering philosophy by changing their euthanasia notification procedure, which has helped increase shelter space and better address community needs.
Assessment of Veterinary Public Health StructuresVeterinary public health is an important component of public health, focusing on addressing animal needs to protect and improve human well-being. In addition to preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases like rabies, veterinary public health includes caring for and controlling animal populations. In Harris County, the VPH Division is housed within Harris County Public Health (HCPH). Serving thousands of animals each year, VPH operates animal control and safety services, adoption services, foster programs, the Harris County Pets Clinic, and Harris County Pets, the county animal shelter, for unincorporated Harris County.
RAD sought to compare Harris County’s Veterinary Public Health to peer veterinary public health entities and animal control entities in other large jurisdictions by size, structure, and services. There is variation in how entities are defined, where they are housed (i.e., whether as a standalone department or within a department), and their range of services. Six of the eight entities assessed provide a full range of veterinary public health and/or animal control functions, including operating an animal shelter.
Table 2 summarizes metrics for Harris County VPH and the entities that operate animal shelters and includes the veterinary structure, population, estimated animal intake, budget, and live release rate (LRR).
Entities assessed all face the challenge of balancing taking animals and maintaining a high live release rate. LRR measures the percentage of live outcomes of animals (i.e., animals who are adopted or rescued). Of the entities compared, VPH has the second-lowest budget but the second-highest live release rate (95.7%).
Figure 1 displays the Harris County Veterinary Public Health’s LRR from 2013 to 2023. Overall, VPH’s LRR has increased from 18.7% in 2013 to 95.7% in 2023, while their intake has decreased from 25,941 animals to 7,791 animals.
While LRR is considered the standard performance indicator for shelters, various philosophies have emerged on assessing the management of stray animals.
Socially Conscious Animal Sheltering has emerged as an alternative approach emphasizing respectful and humane animal treatment of animals beyond the narrative of live release rates and the “no-kill” standard. Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control follows this philosophy, and while they have the lowest LRR out of all the entities assessed, at 80%, they take in an estimated 35,000 animals annually, the highest number of any jurisdiction and three times more than Harris County’s 10,000 animals.
This approach may be beneficial to highlight other metrics to compare animal outcomes, like average length of stay of animals, as opposed to live release rate.
Challenges FacedTo evaluate veterinary service structures, RAD consulted staff from VPH, other jurisdictions around the US, and Harris County nonprofits serving animal welfare needs. All entities and nonprofits identified challenges dealing with stray and shelter populations, including an increased number of animals in need of care, budgetary strains, and staffing shortages, highlighting that no one organization, structure, or program can fully address these overarching issues.
A national shortage of veterinarians has exacerbated the difficulties these public sector animal shelters have in recruiting and retaining veterinary staff, especially due to the high demands of the profession and inability to provide competitive compensation. Though veterinary departments have programs focused on spaying and neutering, fostering, and resource provision, the population of stray or owner-surrendered animals continues to grow. Nonprofit organizations also face the same challenges, illuminating that no one program or organization is fully able to overcome these difficulties.
Policy ConsiderationsRegardless of whether Harris County Veterinary Public Health (VPH) stays housed within Harris County Public Health or becomes a standalone department, the Harris County Commissioners Court may encourage Harris County VPH to consider increased collaboration and coordination efforts. By prioritizing increased collaboration with the City of Houston BARC and local nonprofits, VPH could help increase efforts to address the stray animal population, including with larger spay and neuter events or mobile services.
Beyond collaboration, other general policy considerations include increasing shelter staff and innovative programs and partnerships, which can be modeled off those from other jurisdictions. For example, VPH could continue adopting the Social Conscious Animal Sheltering philosophy, which emphasizes embracing metrics and practices that focus on the health and well-being of animals beyond maintaining a high Live Release Rate (LRR). VPH could also continue working with other Harris County Public Health divisions to embrace the One Health Framework, which highlights the interconnected nature of the health of animals, people, and the shared environment, to help address broader community health needs.
Read more about RAD’s assessment of VPH, including more policy considerations,
here!