Austin Animal Shelters
1. Many animals are frightened by the loud sounds created by fireworks. As a result, on New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July, a significant amount of pets become so panicked that they run away from home and wander the streets in fear. Because of this, animal control officers spend the following days catching these animals and taking them to the shelter to be claimed. This surplusconsequentlycauses the shelter to reach its maximum capacity until the owners come for their pets.
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2. In order to walk dogs at Austin Animal Center, you do not have to be an official volunteer. First, visit the shelter between the hours of 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Then look for the kennels with green dots and GO signs. Before deciding which dog to walk, check the white board. It contains information about which dogs have and have not been out that day. Next, grab a nylon leash provided by the shelter and leash up the dog by its collar. After the walk, be sure to update the white board on your way out.
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3. Austin Pets Alive! and Austin Animal Center are both responsible for the care of dogs and cats in Travis County. However, Austin Animal Center was created by and is funded by the city of Austin. Whereas, Austin Pets Alive! is a non-profit organization led by Dr. Ellen Jefferson. They receive their funding through donations. The two shelters work together but serve different purposes. Residents of Austin can drop off stray animals or surrender their pets to Austin Animal Center, unlike Austin Pets Alive!, which only pulls their animals directly from Austin Animal Center.
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4. Austin Pets Alive! has a variety of programs. For instance, they are the only shelter in Austin with a Parvo Puppy ICU. Parvo is a deadly virus that can affect all dogs but mostly puppies. Austin Pets Alive! keeps these infected animals quarantined and provides treatment until they are well. The Neonatal Kitten Nursery is another example of a program offered by Austin Pets Alive!. When orphaned kittens are too young to eat for themselves, they must be fed directly. In the Neonatal Kitten Nursery, volunteers bottle-feed each kitten several times a day. In addition to these two programs, the shelter also has a Barn Cat Program. This allows cats who are not suitable as household pets to still be cared for by owners who will allow them to remain outside and catch prey.
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5.Before 2008, the city shelter was euthanizing fifty percent of the animals that came through their doors each year. That’s when the City Council proposed to make Austin a no-kill city. If new programs were built and existing programs enhanced, then animals could be pulled from the city shelter and cared for by other organizations instead of being euthanized. Within less than a year of the plan, Austin became the largest no-kill city in the country, concluding that the methods used were highly effective and efficient.
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