Best Friends Animal Society & Saving Lives in Houston

A row of kennels at the Best Friends
Rescue Reunion Pavilion in Houston, TX.

After Hurricane Harvey, a handful of rescue organizations committed to No Kill programs; Austin Pets Alive, Houston Pets Alive, Best Friends Animal Society and Houston Pet Set formed a partnership.

As they made a plan to save as many lives as possible, Austin Pets Alive paired up with their small grassroots partner Houston Pets Alive to pull animals at risk of euthanasia directly from the local shelters to create more space for stray animals while Best Friends Animal Society & Houston Pet Set began operating the Rescue Reunion Pavilion, which is currently housing animals that were brought in and could potentially have a family looking for them. These animals are currently being offered Veterinary care, food, water, comfortable safe housing and TLC as they wait for their families to find them.

Yesterday, after a short trip to Houston to visit my family, I decided to take a few minutes to visit the Rescue Reunion Pavilion to see the operation and give a personal Thank You to the team running this operation. I was welcomed with open arms, invited to volunteer for a couple of hours and see how things are going for myself. While I was volunteering, I was even able to witness a sweet reunion for one of the 100+ cats in their care. 

One of the sweet faces waiting to be reunited at the
Best Friends Rescue Reunion Pavilion. 

After visiting with the volunteers, I loved on a few dogs, spent time with the marketing team to discuss what they are doing to spread the word about the Pavilion and even had a few moments to help film a promotional video featuring a few of the kitties in their care. The operation is under amazing management. They have a wall dedicated to flyers that individuals have brought in as they search for their beloved pets. They have a team of volunteers dedicated to enrichment, building dog toys to offer some comfort to the animals that may be scared as they wait. They have fencing set up to keep animals enclosed and safe should one escape a kennel. They have laundry buzzing, an area for volunteers and staff to have down time, cozy blankets for the animals and a leadership team ensuring that things run smoothly. They have hours dedicated to down time for the dogs, so that no matter how crazy the day starts out, from 12 - 2, the kennel area is shut down for a bit to allow the dogs quiet time to decompress from the stress. 

Dogs receive down time to
decompress each afternoon.

This is an organization that is 100% there for the animals, they are kind, welcoming and extremely passionate. If these animals are able to be reunited with their families, Best Friends is working to ensure that they exhaust every option that they can to get them home. If not, they will be given the opportunity to find loving homes. No matter what their situation was before, they are now safe. 

Houston has a chance to learn from this tragedy. They can embrace life saving programs, open their minds to organizations like Best Friends and Austin Pets Alive and allow a conversation on how to save lives. They have the opportunity to keep the momentum going. Thousands of stray animals were transferred to No Kill rescue organizations. Thousands of animals that may have continued to live on the streets or worse are now safe. 

Thank you Best Friends Animal Society. Thank you Austin Pets Alive, Houston Pets Alive and Houston Pet Set. Thank you to every amazing life-saving rescue organization for the work you do. Thank you. Thank you! 

Stephanie Conrad

Pet Studio Art | Owner | Artist 

www.petstudioart.com 

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Best Friends Animal Society is a 501(c)3 non profit organization located in Kenab, Utah. Currently, they are deployed to Houston through mid-October and setup at the NRG Arena (1 NRG Parkway, Houston, TX 77054). They are in need of experienced dog walking volunteers. If you are in the Houston area and would like to volunteer, fill out their quick and easy volunteer application and sign up for a shift!!

Below are just a handful of animals I was able to meet that are currently waiting to be reunited with their families. To see a full list of animals in Best Friend's care, click here. 

Strutting to Save Them All!

The event was full of amazing Pugs
supporting their favorite charity,
Pug Rescue of Austin. 

Strut Your Mutt is an annual event hosted by Best Friends Animal Society to help raise funds and awareness for various rescues throughout the country. Happily, Austin is one of the many stops for this fantastic event!

True to the Austin motto of 'Keeping it Weird", the 2016 highest fundraising organization is Shadow Cats who, you guessed it, rescue CATS! The cats don't necessarily come out to strut their stuff, but a huge group of kitty lovers, along with hundreds of dogs and the people who love them show up to support local rescues, shop fun local vendors and enjoy a day by the lake!

This year was the first in several years that Pet Studio Art did not attend as a vendor, but I decided to stop by for an hour or so to show my support and meet as many sweet pups as I possibly could. The event was in a new location in East Austin, at the beautiful Walter E Long Park, which sit on a cute little lake and hosts a large grassy field with trails for hiking. When I arrived, the park was already full of dog lovers and their adorable pups prancing about, enjoying the slightly cooler (90ish degree) Central Texas weather.  

Annabelle Lee (right) is currently available for adoption
through Helping Hands Basset Rescue! 

I had the pleasure of meeting Helping Hands Basset Rescue, an organization that I have known for many years, as in my early 20s, I worked for one of the Veterinary Clinics where their rescue dogs were treated when they came down with an illness or injury. This wonderful rescue focuses on Hound dogs and offers up foster homes to those that end up in their care. When I asked what their immediate needs are within the rescue, they said they are always looking for more foster families and of course donations to help fund their rescue program. I instantly fell in love with a beautiful tri-colored Basset Hound named Annabelle Lee. This gorgeous girl (the darker of the two pictured here) was pulled from a rural Texas shelter just before her time was up. HHBR stepped in and with some love and medical care to remove a non-cancerous mass, she is now ready to find her forever family. Annabelle would love a home with another dog and preferably someone who is home more often than not as she tends to feel a little lonely without company. To donate to Annabelle's care, click here. 

Noah, available for adoption at
the Williamson County
Regional Animal Shelter. 

Of course, my personal favorite shelter, the Williamson County Regional Shelter, where I spent the majority of my volunteer hours was right up front and center, proudly showing off our shelter dogs and sharing our mission to save the homeless pets of Williamson County. Noah, featured here, came to the shelter after having a rough start to life. It was obvious that this boy needed more than we could offer him in a kennel, so the shelter reached out to our wonderful foster families.  Happily, one stepped right in for Noah and he is now receiving all the TLC he can handle! This sweet boy is thriving in his foster home and we cannot wait to see him adopted into his forever family soon! 

Events like Strut Your Mutt are always a great reminder to me that Austin is home to so many amazing pet parents, rescue supporters and animal welfare advocates. It is beautiful to see this community come together for the greater good and as always, I had so much fun meeting new pet parents and getting to know so many fabulous Austin dogs!

Stephanie Conrad
Pet Studio Art | Owner | Artist
www.petstudioart.com

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