About six months after I started working at Roice-Hurst Humane Society, I had the opportunity to participate in a massive spay/neuter campaign in Mérida, Mexico. In the span of five days, our team fixed over 2,400 dogs and cats and addressed countless other issues.

There were moments where I’d just marvel at what we were doing. The direct impact on the human community was evident in a way I hadn’t yet noticed back in the U.S. I could suddenly observe the link between human and animal health with astounding clarity.

Poor animal health leads directly to poor human health, especially when animals are free to roam, as many are in that part of Mexico. By spaying and neutering dogs and cats, administering vaccines, and treating pet illnesses, we did more than just improve the health of the animals. We were also decreasing their propensity to stray far from home in search of a mate or to fight over territory, which limits the transmission of illness from animal to animal. Additionally, we were reducing zoonotic diseases that jump from animals to humans, like rabies and Lyme disease, in turn improving the health of the human community.

By controlling and eventually reducing the pet population with these annual campaigns, there were fewer animals defecating in the streets. This results in less fecal matter ending up in water sources, being tracked indoors, or baking in the sun and turning into airborne particles. 

But back home in Western Colorado, how was Roice-Hurst’s work improving health beyond the animals? Since we don’t have a ton of animals roaming the streets and pooping near our water supply, our work was not having any major effect on environmental health. Could it be that our work here had less impact than in other communities?

There’s another dimension to a community’s health: the mental health crisis, and how pets can help.

When people leave our facility with a new pet, they walk out the door with a creature that will undoubtedly play a role in their mental health (and potentially physical health, too). When we provide resources to a pet’s owner who’s fallen on hard times so that he or she doesn’t have to give up a pet, we’re preserving a bond that contributes to that person’s mental and emotional stability. Pets are part of our community’s overall health, not just when it comes to zoonotic diseases.

That trip to Mexico has shaped our role at Roice-Hurst Humane Society and guided everything we’ve done since then. Our understanding of our role as purveyors of health shaped our organization’s culture, programming, and approach to what we do. We still provide the highest standards of care for pets that inevitably enter the shelter for a myriad of reasons. But we also know our mission is as much about the people as it is the animals. Together, we’re creating a healthier community.