HARLINGEN — Greg Smith didn’t get his daughter’s dog Mona back from the Harlingen Humane Society yesterday.
Smith, a local resident, took the dog to the shelter to be sterilized.
“We brought her over there and they confiscated the dog,” Smith said over the phone yesterday. “They said, ‘you broke the contract,’ and they took the dog to the back.”
Smith was forced to surrender the animal for violating the adoption contract, the Harlingen Humane Society said.
Mona, Smith’s daughter’s indoor dog, will have to stay with the Harlingen Humane Society and will likely be placed for adoption if Smith doesn’t provide proof the dog has been treated by a veterinarian and is up-to-date with all its shots, the shelter said.
“We take this very seriously,” said Kim Warunek, Harlingen Humane Society director. “We are trying to prevent overpopulation and prevent animal euthanasia deaths.”
Warunek said this dog’s offspring can rapidly reach up to 100 puppies off of one litter.
Smith’s dog was adopted as a puppy and was not sterilized prior to adoption.
“We are not trying to be mean or unreasonable,” Warunek said. “It’s not like we made this law up. It’s a state law we are required to follow.”
According to adoption records, Mona had been adopted in 2015 and was long overdue for a sterilization operation.
Smith said he is a responsible pet owner.
“I didn’t know anything about the contract before I took it over there,” Smith said. “These people just did something that is way out of bounds.”
He said Mona is an indoor dog and has been taken care of.
He said the Harlingen Humane Society could have called them ahead of time to follow up to see if the dog had been sterilized.
He said his veterinarian where he takes Mona is closed for the holidays and he does not have the paperwork ready to provide the Harlingen Humane Society to pick up Mona.
“How can you take a perfectly good dog from a perfectly good home,” Smith said. “The dog has been taken care of for three years.”
The spay and neuter operation is one of the adoption conditions in order to prevent the animal from having babies after adoption, the shelter said.
The Humane Society said it knows about of at least one litter birthed by Mona.
“They needed to get this animal fixed,” Warunek said. “Our goal here is to decrease euthanasia.”
According to Humane Society officials, they had no choice but to repossess the animal.
“Three years is a little too long to wait to have an adopted pet sterilized,” said Misael Lerma, Harlingen Humane Society manager. “They were in breach of contract.”
The animal adoption contract states sterilization of any cat or dog must be made by a certain date. Breaking the agreement is a violation of state law and is punishable as a Class C misdemeanor, according to the adoption contract.
“We are asking for people to be responsible with their animals,” Lerma said.
The Harlingen Humane Society receives 30 to 100 stray animals a day.
And 95 percent of all the animals are euthanized.
Last year, the number of euthanized animals at the Harlingen Humane Society was 7,000 by the month of October 2017.
Dogs and puppies $125
Cats and kittens $100
Payment includes vaccination, spay/neuter, microchip tax, deworming and wellness visit
Number of animals currently awaiting adoption at the Harlingen Humane Society.
Cats 7
Kittens 109
Dogs 148
Puppies 56
Sterilization of any dog or cat adopted from the Humane Society of Harlingen is required under the Texas Health and Safety Code.
Violation is punishable as a Class C Misdemeanor.
If found in violation of these terms, by management of the Humane Society of Harlingen, the pet owner agrees to surrender the animal upon request and will not be entitled to any compensation.
