3 of our 6 dogs are from HoTxSPCA. They really care about the dogs, their health, & finding the right homes for them. The shelter does not get any funding so we know that the adoption fees are put to good use.
I adopted our lab mix puppy from CARE in February 2016. We paid the adoption fee of $550.00 had her flown into Portland Oregon from Texas. We were a little skeptical and worried not being able to meet the dog and having to fly her so far but CARE was very reassuring and keep in contact with us through the whole process. Our puppy arrived on time and we fell in love with her at first sight. She had only been in a foster home for one week before we adopted her. She was a little under weight and nerves but was in good health. We have had our puppy now for 7mo and she will be turning 1 this month. We are extremely grateful for CARE and all that they do. Our puppy has turned out to be the best dog and we are so happy with her, she is a great addition to our family.
Since their internal restructing and new focus, Animal Friends now Heart of Texas SPCA, is making a huge positive impact on the community and helping more homeless animals than ever. They have a great team who work together to assure that every dog that finds their way to their facility finds a forever loving home. Their community involvement is key and staying focused on their mission gives them the strength to continue.
I have worked with Animal Friends for more than 5 years- fostering as well as volunteering. All of my ratings are based upon the new management and location (my answers would have been much different a year ago). I'm glad I hung in there so that I could see all of the positive changes first hand!
I adopted a little spaniel mix from this shelter and was very happy with the organization. I am sure it is difficult to run a shelter on a limited budget while depending upon volunteer help. When I realized they needed help, I organized a drive at our school to gather food, blankets, and money to help them out. It would seem that if more people would help instead of criticize, life would be better for all concerned. I commend them for saving the lives of the animals that have been in their charge.
The people currently running Animal Friends are very dedicated and competant. Over the past 30 years plus I've been helping various shelters and rescue groups wherever I am- that includes Albuquerque, Boston and the pacific northwest. I've seen the worst and the best and believe me, Animal friends is among the best. From the medical care they seek to the love (and food, and flea products, deworming, etc.) that they give is nothing short of commendable. Every step taken to preserve a life is admirable and AF dogs are fortunate to end up in such good hands.
Review from Guidestar
It seems that there are those who make harmful statements that are no longer based in truth. With the change in location, there have also been changes in supervision and the Board members not only pitch in, but they do much of the work themselves. It saddens me to think of all the wasted time and energy that is spent counteracting the hateful gossip aimed at Animal Friends. They have been invited out to the new location, but it seems that they prefer to sling mud and venom from behind the cover of annonimity. They claim to care about the animals when in reality, they are causing more harm. The former director is gone and the people responbsible for all the trouble, have taken over the Borgfeld location. Maybe they should focus on the animals in their care and let Animal Friends do the same.
I am so grateful for Animal Friends. There have been so many dogs that just want and need to be given another chance in life and that's exactly what Animal Friends does. Each and every dog that comes through the doors of Animal Friends are loved unconditionally. The volunteers work hard at providing for these animals and help to make sure they are adopted out to a good home. The volunteers have such big hearts and really put these animals first, making sure they are cared for.
Review from Guidestar
We got our baby girl from this shelter. Was the shelter like my home? Of course not. They have more animals than I and less money to work with! All the folks who are complaining about the shelter, well, maybe they need to change their outlook. The animals are what are important. Sure, paperwork is a necessary evil, but it shouldn't take precendence. The animals should. Board members, have you spent a day voluntering here? Have you cleaned the kennels, fed and watered the animals? Do you know that side of the picture? Or are you simply sitting at a board room table criticizing? I am greatful for the shelter and the help they provide for abandoned animals. I think they are doing the best they can do with what they have and that is more than a lot of people are doing.
I have two great dogs that I got from Animal Friends. Both were in excellent health when I got them. Every time I have been to the shelter, the animals wewre being exercised, enclosures were being cleaned; everything possible was being done to help the animals.
There's not enough words to express the gratitude I have for Animal Friends and what they've done for our family. Our family consist of 4 cats and our 12 year old Standard Poodle. We were in search of another poodle and from the recommendations of our vet found Animal Friends. 'Dewey' the Goldendoodle was 4 months old and had been surrendered by it's owner to Animal Friends. We could not have found a better match for our family. The staff was so kind and friendly to Dewey and took such good care of him until he chose us to join him to make our family complete. Paula and her team work tirelessly to find homes for these special pets and as I stated earlier we cannot thank them enough. Dewey is living a grand life with us being mothered by our Standard Josie and taught who's the boss by our 4 cats :) Thank you Animal Friends for all you do! Amanda McTyre
After my two dogs were killed by wild hogs (before moving to San Antonio) I thought I'd never get another dog. Then I met the most wonderful collie mix. He is my constant companion. He got his start with Animal Friends. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be together. He was healthy and happy when I adopted him. Now we are both happier. I go to as many events as possible and donate food and money. Everything is always appreciated. Thank you and God Bless Animal Friends.
As a volunteer for this organization for over 5 years, I have seen the growth it has gone through. They have been around for over 10 years and have experienced many changes throughout those years. All along, keeping the mission as the number one priority, helping homeless animals. The organization has welcomed anyone with questions to visit or call anytime. As with any organization, there are those who love and those who hate. Those who love, support them and care about the animals. Those who hate, are only trying to satisfy personal issues and obviously care nothing for the animals.
Review from Guidestar
I was a former board member and volunteer of this organization. I saw issues with them as far back as 2005. Poor records, poor cash management, outright theft from the director, allowing children to clean cages, no rules, regulations or procedures. Several of us tried to clean up the organization, tried to establish policies and procedures and worked tirelessly only to no avail. You could only do so much when you constantly butted heads with Paula, Cheryl and her family. So we gave up and left.
I gave $1,000 in a directed donation to have rabbits spayed. This money was not used for that purpose as the rabbits were not spayed. They had 13 rabbits and ended up with over 100. Dozens died due to poor conditions. I later learned a vet had offered to spay these same rabbits for free and was turned down. This so-called rescue is actually a hoarding situation.
I've volunteered and have been involved with this facility for 8+ years and I have first-hand experience that the animals are cared for and constantly showed love and affection. The folks there work tirelessly to care and nurture all of the animals at the shelter. It's unfortunate that there are people out there because of whatever anger they keep, would rather criticize and actually work to hinder the shelter instead of channeling that energy into a positive force that benefits the animals.
Keep up the good work, Animal Friends!
Issues personally observed:
Substandard facility and general care of animals:
No proper protection from the elements for animals housed in outdoor pens - only tarps protect them from the wind and cold in winter or harsh sun in summer and they rest on gravel, not a concrete base which can be disinfected or allow proper drainage for waste; animals eat in same area they defecate; water bowls dirty and not generally filled in a timely manner - especially in summer; inside, dogs placed in crates stacked on top of each other; 50 plus cats housed in one room with no ventilation - most cats had bloody stools and mother cats were forced to deliver their babies in this same room which resulted in mother cats eating their own offspring at times; no proper isolation area for puppies or new intakes; no proper cleaning protocol followed, close quarters and no exercise caused animal aggression and fighting; no smoke alarm or sprinkler system and animals were kept locked in cages, overnight, unattended.
Animals fed any food donated - no matter if cans were extremely dented and/or missing labels. No food was ever checked for expiration dates or screened for recall.
Mismanagement of funds and population headcount to the extent that animals are at risk of running out of food each month.
No proper record keeping method for vaccinations, veterinary procedures, or heartworm preventive and testing, as well as adoptions.
Vaccinations administered by Director were not kept properly refrigerated or stored.
Despite repeated attempts by many volunteers, no formal volunteer training program was able to be initiated and continued for any length of time due to Director's lack of knowledge, experience or willingness to learn how to conduct a successful program.
Despite repeated attempts by many volunteers, no formal fundraising program was able to be initiated and continued for any length of time due to Director's lack of knowledge, experience or willingness to learn how to conduct a successful program.
Minor age children were allowed to use dangerous mange dips, unsupervised, and dips were done in the same sink used to clean animal food bowls.
Animal food bowls were routinely cleaned with brushes used to clean litterboxes.
Despite repeated attempts by many volunteers, no formal adoption program was able to be initiated and continued for any length of time due to Director's lack of knowledge, experience or willingness to learn how to conduct a successful program. Shelter did not participate in public adoption events.
Despite repeated attempts by many volunteers, no formal training and exercise program for shelter dogs was able to be initiated and continued for any length of time due to Director's lack of knowledge, experience or willingness to learn how to conduct a successful program. Shelter did not participate in public adoption events.
No formal foster home program was developed. There was no training, handouts etc. for the few fosters that did help.
Qualified adoption applicants were dismissed out of hand with no background or reference check conducted.
Qualified adoption applicants told animals had "multiple applications" when none had been received.
Board of Directors mostly comprised of family members. Only one "outside" member. No formal Board meetings held. No meeting minutes posted or published.
Donated funds and items used for shelter Director's personal use and no formal accounting of cash donations.
Director did not participate in the rescue community at large nor attend continuing education training or seminars on shelter management.
Our two dogs came from this place, before we knew better. Both have turned out to be wonderful pets, but the conditions they were living in before we adopted them were absolutely awful. In the few weeks we knew her through volunteering before adopting our heeler she was left outside, unexercised, for several weeks during which she developed a very bad dog aggression problem. Additionally, she was suffering from a badly injured rear leg - both the knee and hip, likely from being struck by a car.
Once we adopted our heeler, we took her to our vet for evaluation and were absolutely shocked at the condition of her leg. There was a pin through the knee, placed improperly, so clearly on the X-ray that it's obvious Animal Friends never had a proper veterinary evaluation performed. She needed to have reconstructive surgery and physical therapy to recover from the damage, which ended up being several thousand dollars. Furthermore, we needed a lot of help from a pretty costly trainer in order to get her behavior problems in check. All because she was left unattended outside for long stretches of time.
Our experience there was awful, and the lies we were told about how the animals are cared for were worse. I would not trade our dogs for anything, but this place needs to be shut down. It is not a rescue organization, it's one person's sad hoarding disease writ large. Do not support Animal Friends, give your money to a legitimate rescue that's trying to do real good.
Animal Friends Humane Society's governing board is comprised
of the shelter manager/director Cheryl Wildenstein, her mother Billie,
brother John, and family friends Paula Oberle and Laura Alderman. The board does not meet formally or informally, and AFHS does not provide annual reports to the public or maintain accurate financial
records. AFHS relocated in 2009 to land owned by Paula Punkin, LCC, an entity owned by AFHS board member Laura Alderman. Land use and facilities are donated to AFHS, and Cheryl and John Wildenstein, both paid employees of AFHS, reside on the property. The conflict of interest violations within this organization are appalling, and the lack of disclosure fraudulent. As a nonprofit management professional I would strongly urge the public to consider donating their funds to more legitimate organizations.
Review from Guidestar