LIBERTY COUNTY, Texas – The nonprofit, This Is Houston, is making plans to build their own clinic to help increase veterinary access for pet owners and ease the burden of a booming stray pet population in the Cleveland area of Liberty County.
As we’ve reported over the past two months, there’s been an increase in dog bites and abandoned animals.
Vaccines and microchipping will be free and spay neuter surgeries will require a small deposit that will only be forfeited if an appointment is missed.
“There are dogs everywhere. Injured dogs, dogs on their last breath,” says This Is Houston co-founder Laura Forma. “And you don’t have animal control, so dogs are just running around and nobody’s picking them up.”
The group first started outreach in Cleveland back in 2021. Inspired by a stray dog they named Rose who died from parvo days after being rescued, This Is Houston set up its first free pop-up vaccine clinic. They didn’t realize how big of a response they’d get.
“When we showed up, there was a line half a mile down the street of cars just waiting for us,” says Tom Heller, This Is Houston co-founder.
That led to even bigger events, including spay neuter clinics. Access to low-cost spay neuter is a game changer in Liberty County, which has no animal shelter and no animal control to help residents. Laura and Tom hope that Liberty County will step up and take action to address the situation.
“I know they have the money, they just don’t want to allocate it to the stray situation for whatever reason.”
We have asked Liberty County commissioners about any plans to build a shelter or add animal control, but so far we’ve heard nothing back. If you’d like to learn more about This Is Houston and their mission, visit this-is-houston.org.
