Are you looking for a new furry friend? Now is the perfect time to adopt. KPRC 2 is a proud partner of this year’s Clear the Shelters event.
If you can’t adopt, you can still give back. One Houston area businessman is teaming up with an organization to help kick off donations and adoptions in the Houston area.
Houston businessman Randy Hartley loves animals and he loves to help those in need. He’s hoping that, by making a $1,000 donation to the Best Friends Animal Society, it will help inspire others to give back too.
“I’m going to donate $1,000 and challenge the generous citizens of Houston that, if we can raise $1,000 or more through your story, then I’m going to match it with an additional $1,000, which I think we can,” Hartley said.
Best Friends Animal Society works to help thousands of animal shelters across the country. Here in Houston, they help municipal shelters like Harris County Pets, BARC and Fort Bend County Animal Services, just to name a few, along with rescue organizations like SPCA of Brazoria County. Ultimately, their goal is to help Houston shelters reach and sustain no-kill status. At the national level, Best Friends Animal Society has a goal to end the unnecessary killing of shelter pets by 2025.
During KPRC 2′s interview, Best Friends Animal Society’s Houston Lifesaving Programs Manager Carrie Lalonde was holding Craig, a lovable pup who’s currently available for adoption, and is the dog pictured in this article.
“Craig and his sister were the last two left over in an adoption event, and they needed a new foster home, so we pulled them into our program,” Lalonde said. “So by doing that, we help relieve some of that pressure on these other shelters and rescue groups.”
They also help to drive or fly animals to other parts of the country to get adopted. And most recently, they rescued more than 200 animals from Louisiana after Hurricane Ida.
“Some work that we did ahead of time was to help those shelters in the expected impact zone clear out their shelters and get those animals to safety,” Lalonde said.
Best Friends Animal Society is now looking for help, including donations to help cover the costs of transports, medical care and supplies. Animals in their care receive vetting including spay or neuter, vaccines and medical care. Lalonde emphasizes that fosters are desperately needed to help them save lives.
To donate or learn more about fostering, you can head to www.bestfriends.org/houston
Hartley is confident that KPRC 2 viewers will step up to donate to Best Friends Animal Society so that he can match their funds with another $1,000 donation.
“The viewers are going to watch this,” he said. “And they are going to donate because they love animals, too.”
