The Humane Society of West Texas was created when several animal
service organizations came together to pool resources and volunteers. The
Alliance to Sterilize Any Pet (ASAP) served as the umbrella organization.
Their original mission was to provide free spays and neuters for applicants
to the Animal Control Shelter. Later, as an incorporated non-profit
organization (501(c)(3)), ASAP took in the Lubbock Pet Project and the Feral
Cat Project. For documentation of our non-profit status, see Appendix D.
The Lubbock Pet Project formed in Fall of 1997, originally as
the Estacado Pet Project, a student organization designed by Estacado
counselor Belinda Richardson to introduce students to volunteerism. In
2000, this volunteer opportunity became available to teens throughout the
Lubbock community and our teen volunteers remain a vital component of the
Humane Society of West Texas. The Pet Project found foster homes for
abandoned cats and dogs and find permanent homes for these animals through
the PetSmart Charities adoption program. This project continues under the
auspices of the Humane Society.
The Feral Cat Project also began as a student volunteer project
on the Texas Tech Campus in 1993. The mission of this group, organized
originally as the Jane Goodall Society, was to stabilize the feral cat
population on the Texas Tech Campus. The feral adults cats were sterilized
through ASAP and kittens were socialized and adopted out through the
Lubbock Pet Project. Gradually the program expanded to all areas of the
city although campus student participation decreased. The Humane Society
continues to support the Feral Cat Project.
The formal relationship of the three organizations came about in
2005. The board of directors filed an ³assumed name certificate² and the
organization is now known as the Humane Society of West Texas.
