Animal organization calls on local shelter to better care for strays

ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – Visitors to the Ector County Library might see a display on the first floor. It highlights Odessa Deserves Better, an initiative put on by the Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS). While the BFAS is a national organization, it is focusing its efforts on saving animals in the Permian Basin.

“The idea that I can lose a pet, or I could not be able to adopt an animal and bring it into my home is really not, it’s just really hard to hear,” Sophia Proler, the BFAS’s South Central Regional Director said.

Proler added the project started because of alarming statistics from the Odessa Animal Shelter.

“Odessa’s animal shelter is the fourth-highest killing shelter in Texas,” she said. “We believe strongly that Odessa as a city can do better and we know the community wants better for their cats and dogs.”

The BFAS Director cited a March 2024 study revealing more than 7 in 10 Odessans support a no-kill policy, which requires 90 percent of dogs and cats to be taken in.

Part of the Odessa Deserves Better initiative includes promoting safer ways to handle stray animals, such as spaying or neutering them before returning them to their homes.

Ector County Library Director Howard Marks said the display will stay until the end of September – but says anyone can get involved with the initiative. “We all need to be part of the solution,” he said. “This is not a lost cause – it starts with one person at a time.”

In a statement, the Odessa Animal Shelter said, “It’s critical for our citizens to take responsibility for their animals. This includes containing / restraining, vaccinating, altering and microchipping your pets. It takes all of us working together to improve the save rate in our shelter!”

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