Houston PetSet Community Relations & Grants Manager Becky Best recently spoke with Cypress Lucky Mutt Rescue Board of Directors Secretary Paige Whitton Carter to learn more about this growing organization and her work.
Like many Houston area residents, there was a time when Paige Whitton Carter was not aware of how significant animal welfare challenges are in Houston. But she always had a heart to help animals in need, so she reached out to a local rescue group to adopt her own pet. It was then she began to learn more about the overwhelming needs of so many more animals in the region. Not one to walk away from a challenge, she began volunteering and continued to get more involved in rescue work.
Cypress Lucky Mutt Rescue was established in 2013 to rescue homeless and abandoned dogs, care for their veterinary needs and place them in homes where they will thrive. The organization may be all-volunteer, but you would never guess that from the hours of dedicated work or their results.
Although they were already helping thousands of local residents and dogs each year through rescue and adoptions, in July 2020 they took their work to a new level by adding transports to Upstate New York. With volunteers stationed there, the rescue now has boots on the ground helping to review applications
and meet with potential adopters to help ensure a great fit. Every two weeks, pups leave Houston and make the journey to the Empire State where they go directly into the homes of their new adopters. This process has yielded a very high success rate with the 1330 dogs placed since the program began just 16 months ago.
In addition to these transports, they have continued to provide local rescue and adoption services, never shying away from tough cases. The organization takes pride in building strong connections between the organization, fosters and adopters, even creating an alumni page so everyone can stay connected and up-to-date on pets’ journeys. She believes these success stories have been a tremendous benefit in keeping Texas fosters engaged – seeing first-hand how their work has made a difference in the lives of their fosters and their new families.
Although Paige was quick to highlight her organization’s success and more modest in discussing her own, she finally revealed that she has personally fostered more than 600 pets since starting in rescue! She jokes that her house is always full.
When thinking about the future, Paige hopes for a time when there are stricter cruelty laws and more resources to help enforce them. Similarly, says that because “we can’t rescue or transport our way out of this,” she would like to see more spay/neuter and restrictions on breeding. Until that day, her hope is that more people will get involved and learn first-hand how rewarding rescue can be.
