Timothy Chapman
05/01/2023
On April 17, The Palm Valley Animal Society (PVAS) announced that both Edinburg facilities are at max capacity and cannot turn away more incoming animals, causing them to considering euthanization in order to make space unless animals are adopted.
The PVAS has animals that have stayed in the shelters for over 400 days which they call their MVPS. Although the animals have been taken care of for all this time, they have been given a deadline by Monday May 1.
According to pvastx.org, Palm Valley Animal Society (PVAS) is a nonprofit animal welfare organization serving four municipalities in Hidalgo County, as well as the county at-large.
PVAS operates two facilities in Edinburg, TX, taking in more than 15,000 animals on behalf of 550,000 residents each year. PVAS is on a journey to save lives and create a safe, humane community for all of the Rio Grande Valley.
Director of Operations Faith Wright said part of the capacity issue is due to animal control picking up more animals than there are kennels available.
“We do a lot of rescue trips. We do flights, we do a lot of stuff, but if we send out 79 animals on Saturday at 2:30 in the morning, but already we’ve already taken in more than 79 since Saturday. So as you can see just a constant up and down and up and down,” Wright said.
Wright said another reason for the packed shelter is people taking animals back to the Palm Valley Animal Society after just adopting them a few days earlier which is something that does not happen often but is an unfortunate occurrence.
“Just today we adopted out a puppy on Saturday with no charge and she brought it back today [Tuesday] because it cries at night, so that puppy went out Saturday and counted as an open kennel, but now it’s taking up another kennel again today,” Wright said.
Public Affairs and Donor Relations Coordinator Adriana Gonzales said something a lot of pet owners aren’t educated about is spaying and neutering, which prevents unwanted pregnancies of their cats and dogs.
“We really want to stress that spaying and neutering is really important when you do adopt. We do give you a voucher for that and we do encourage that you get it done please because as much as we care about our fur babies in shelter, I know our community does too and that is one way you can really be a life saver,” Gonzales said.
Development Coordinator Donovun Hinojosa said the final resort to managing the max capacity issue is euthanizing animals, but there are methods that are put in place before that happens such as pushing adoptions, rescues, and fostering.
“The first thing that we do when we start running out of space is we start pairing animals. Ideally we should have one animal per kennel that would be the goal,” Hinojosa said,”.
Hinojosa said not enough people are aware of how much responsibility is needed to take care of a pet.
“They’re not aware of the commitment that it is, it’s life long, it’s not just a couple days, it’s not just a buddy, it’s part of the family essentially. And I think a lot of people adopt, they come into it thinking ‘this is a cute puppy for my children’ and they don’t acknowledge the responsibility that they are bringing,” Hinojosa said.
To learn more about how to adopt, donate, and what other services are available visit the palm valley animal societies website at pvastx.org.
