Conversations For The Animals

Jeanette Savage, owner and one of the founders of Pearland Parvo Recovery Center, retired in 2019 after a career in Information Technology and 20 years working in that field at a large oil & gas company. She was a registered First Responder in the state of Louisiana for over 15 years before she moved to Pearland, Texas in 2008.

After retiring from her career in IT, Jeanette became interested in the rescue community in Houston and the surrounding areas. Specifically, she became interested in the effects of Parvovirus on dogs and the struggle of rescues trying to save dogs that contracted parvo. After months of research and study, in August 2019, she along with a group of women who had worked for years in the rescue community, opened Pearland Parvo Recovery Center - a center dedicated to providing low-cost parvo treatment for dogs that are under care of a rescue.

Lisa Hernandez is an anchor and reporter for KPRC2 News. While her primary duties include anchoring the morning and midday newscasts, she reports on pet adoption and animal welfare stories whenever she gets the opportunity. Lisa and her husband Joel are the proud parents of two beautiful girls, and have adopted and fostered dogs in the greater Houston area for nearly a decade together. In addition to their human kiddos, they have 4 big rescue dogs who are spoiled daily. Lisa and Lisa chat about the unique perspective of animal welfare from a media standpoint, and some of the ways Houstonians can step up and help!

Angelique Strickler founded Waiting Under the Willow Foundation after a lifetime spent rescuing animals on her own. A mother of two and lover of animals, she upended her life and quit her job to start a nonprofit to address the homeless animal crisis in Houston. In the few years since its start, WUWF has fostered and rehomed hundreds of dogs, and they're already expanding their new shelter location. Angelique and Lisa talk about what it takes to start a 501c3, and what Houston needs in order to tackle pet overpopulation.

Carlos started volunteering in 2018 at BARC animal shelter as part of the photo team. Over the years he has volunteered with many rescue organizations in the Houston area and worked closely with out-of-state rescues in Minnesota. In 2020, he joined #teamferal as a board member and continues to help hundreds of cats and dogs in need in Houston. Keri has worked in animal rescue for over a decade. Since moving to Houston, she has focused on fostering, outreach, and education in Houston and the surrounding areas with emphasis on spay/neutering and TNR (trap/neuter/return).

Mary Warwick is the Executive Director of the TWRC Wildlife Center. She has been rehabilitating Texas wildlife for 40 years. She started her journey as a rehabilitator at the Houston Zoo. She worked in the Special Care building, where all babies born in the zoo were cared for. They also took orphaned native wildlife from the public. Mary taught briefly, then got her master’s degree in environmental science and worked for a non-profit on Galveston Island. She became director of TWRC in 2019.

Shelby Bobosky is the Executive Director at the Texas Humane Legislation Network since October 1, 2019. She began her service as a volunteer with THLN on January 1, 2011. Since 2011 and under her leadership as President, Vice President and Legislative Chair, the organization has had multiple successful legislative sessions wherein THLN successfully passed the Anti-Gassing Law (passed in 2013), the Mandatory Canine Encounter Training Law (passed in 2015) and the Animal Cruelty Enhancement Law (passed in 2017). Ms. Bobosky most recently helped pass SB5, the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, and the new City of Houston ordinances banning the sale of puppy mill dogs in pet stores.

Learn more at www.thln.org

A native of Brownsville, Texas, Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. began his public service in 1971, when he was elected Cameron County Treasurer and later Cameron County Commissioner. He served for two consecutive terms in the Texas House of Representatives until he was elected to the Texas Senate in 1991. He has served as State Senator of Senate District 27 ever since, and is currently third in seniority in the Senate. Senator Lucio Jr. authored SB5, the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act that passed during the last session and outlaws the use of chains for tethering dogs.

Dr. Katie Eick, Founder and CEO of Rockin’ Pets, Rollin’ Vets, is a 1998 Graduate of the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. Having had the benefit of working in so many different aspects of veterinary medicine, Dr. Eick saw a real need for at home vet care. In 2016, she launched her full- service mobile veterinary practice, South By South Vets, which is now known as Rockin’ Pets, Rollin’ Vets. Dr. Eick joins Tama and Tena to talk about the benefits of mobile veterinary care, and how Rockin' Pets, Rollin' Vets is working to support nonprofits like Houston PetSet.

Council Member Amy Peck was elected to Houston City Council for District A in 2019 and is currently serving her first term. She was a major supporter of the recently-passed Houston city ordinance banning the sale of puppy mill dogs in pet stores, and requiring the use of microchips to register pets. Council Member Peck joins Tena and Tama to discuss the impact of the ordinance on her district, as well as other initiatives she has taken with great results already!

Dr. Pearlman has a B.S. in Biology and received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Purdue University in 2016. Although she was always drawn to veterinary shelter medicine, she found the impact of veterinary forensics on animal cruelty cases to be inspiring. Following graduation from veterinary school, Dr. Pearlman practiced as a small animal emergency veterinarian in Indianapolis, followed by a year as a staff veterinarian for the Houston SPCA. In the summer of 2018, she joined The ASPCA full time as a forensic veterinarian. Dr. Pearlman is passionate about veterinary forensics and teaching. She discusses animal cruelty trends in Houston with Tama and Tena in this week's episode.