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2021 Highlights

  • 93% placement rate for all pets surrendered
  • Provided care for 10,260 pets
  • 4,140 clients helped at The Cornelius Clinic
  • 379 volunteers gave 8,980 volunteer hours
  • 137 foster parents care for 723 medically needy animals
  • Over 12,000 people reached through humane education programs
  • FCAP provided and/or sponsored 1,385 spay/neuter surgeries

 

Citizens for Animal Protection (CAP) is proud to announce that through life-saving adoption and transfer programs and a lot of hard work, we have maintained a placement rate of over 93% for all homeless pets surrendered to our shelter in 2021; this is a wonderful follow-up to our 2019 placement rate of 91%, and 92% in 2020.

 

In 2021, CAP provided care for 10,260 animals; this includes 4,538 animals surrendered by the public and transferred in from animal control agencies and rescue groups, animals already in the shelter and foster care program, feral cats trapped/neutered/returned and animals receiving vaccinations and other treatments in our low-cost vaccination clinic, The Cornelius Clinic. Of those surrendered to the shelter, 3,691 were adopted; 114 were reunited with their family, 413 were transferred/transported to rescue groups and partners. and many of the remaining 300+ pets were receiving treatment in foster care and continued their adoption journey the following year.

 

The Cornelius Clinic, originally opened in 2018, provides affordable vaccinations and wellness care to the community and is the site of all spay/neuter procedures for shelter animals and feral cats. When COVID-19 appeared, one of our primary goals was to provide a safe environment for our employees while continuing wellness services to the public. In order to meet this goal, we implemented curbside service by appointment only and cared for 4,140 pets in 2021. 

 

CAP volunteers are our inspiration and our partners in delivering love and a high standard of care to the thousands of animals that come to us. Each one of the dear four-legged creatures who come through our doors receives loving care and undivided attention thanks to an army of volunteers who worked closely with our dedicated staff in the shelter and clinic. In 2021, 379 volunteers donated in excess of 8,980 combined hours.

 

Many of the animals who come through our shelter are in great need of medical care beyond basic wellness. With the medical support of the shelter veterinary and medical teams, the CAP Foster Program places needy pets with loving and trained foster parents. Foster parents provided TLC through heartworm treatments, previous injuries, respiratory infections, skin/eye/teeth issues, and raised unweaned kittens and puppies. Over 723 animals were saved by 137 CAP foster parents in 2021, totaling 40,181 hours of care. 

 

Additional efforts to prevent the abandonment of animals include humane education and public outreach to the public, which allowed us to reach more than 12,000 people in 2021. We had the opportunity to engage 587 children in reading to the animals during Storytime; gave in-person and zoom tours to over 900 students; held 4 CAP Kid’s Club meetings with 68 participants and much more. A great cause for celebration was the success of our annual KIND News Adopt-a-Classroom campaign which provided animal welfare education to 233 classrooms in 114 schools across 8 school districts.

 

A vital program dedicated to reducing the feral cat overpopulation in the Greater Houston area is the CAP Feral Cat Assistance Program (FCAP) which provides and sponsors spay and neuter surgeries and vaccines for feral cats, and rents out traps to facilitate Trap-Neuter-Return services. CAP was one of the first feral cat assistance programs in the state of Texas and continues to lead the charge. In 2021, FCAP provided and/or sponsored 1,385 spay/neuter surgeries.

 

Shelter Director of Finance & HR Erica Pothier shares what inspires her at CAP:

One of my favorite things at CAP is when there is a "loose dog" call over our PA.  Although it's an unfortunate call, most often from a dog that gets loose from a guest in our parking lot, the reaction at CAP is what impresses me. Employees immediately drop what they are doing, put down their brooms, mops, stethoscopes, paperwork and rush out of our doors to the area where the dog (or sometimes cat) is reported. I call it the "green shirt army", signifying our uniform color. The receptionist tosses leashes to employees, as they quickly leave the building. The employees work in unison, some blocking access to the street, some using their behavior training to coax the animal to capture, others stopping cars when needed. There are many heroic stories of staff going out of their way to make sure an animal is safe during these times. It's symbolic of CAP as a whole: the animals always come first. Also, when there is a need our employees step up in ways outside of their job descriptions: fostering the bottle-fed kittens, extra training during their lunch hour to make a dog more adoptable, enriching animals that have been with us a while, partnering with other organizations to save an animal, rescuing on their own time. The same can be said for our donors, volunteers, fosters, and Board - we all work together, in unison, to put the animals first....each and every time. In our 50th year, we can say without a doubt, that Houston is a much better place with CAP. I am so thankful for everyone involved with CAP and I am very proud of our staff, who work tirelessly to complete our mission...they are truly an impressive crew.

 

We invite you to visit the CAP adoption center and see for yourself how people like you have made a difference. There are so many ways for you to help, and we would love to work side by side with you to fulfill our mission of caring for pets in need through sheltering, adoption, humane education, spay/neuter services, low-cost wellness and community outreach.