AUSTIN (KXAN) — Right now, you can’t drop off a stray animal at Austin’s taxpayer funded animal center unless it’s severely injured or dangerous to the public. That’s largely been the case since September of 2022.
Intake has “ebbed and flowed” since September of last year, Director Don Bland wrote. That was when the shelter had more than 60 dogs stuck in crates, conditions that went viral.
“As space opens up, we’ve eased the restrictions but unfortunately we fill up again very quickly. Throughout all of this time, we have still taken in emergency situations, amounting to an average of 30 cats and dogs impounded every day,” Bland said.
For the better part of a year, animal advocates have been vocal about their displeasure and have questioned the city’s operation. So much so, a new petition is asking the city to review shelter leadership and policy.
“We were recently made aware of the petition and have no comment at this time,” Bland responded.
On Thursday, Bland discussed some of the issues facing the shelter with Travis County Commissioners. The county chips in money to utilize the city shelter because it doesn’t have its own.
At its core, Bland told commissioners that there’s an influx of animals and too few kennels in a shelter that has never been quite big enough.
“We saw a decreasing in spaying and neuter during the pandemic across the United States as well as longer stays for large and medium dogs in shelters,” Bland told commissioners. He continued: “Our animal care cost has gone up significantly.”
One of the biggest issues, Bland said, is medium and large dogs who are coming to the shelter at a higher rate, are not being reunited with their owners and are harder to adopt out — which Bland says is because apartments in Austin often have rules against them or charge expensive pet fees.
“Our length of stay has increased exponentially,” Bland said as a result.
Moving forward, commissioners talked about ways to expand spay and neuter services and asked Bland to come back with more targeted information about where those free services are being offered.
Bland also mentioned the need for an additional adoption center. He noted some of their clients are driving more than 20 miles to get to the shelter because it serves such a wide public.
“Operating a satellite adoption center has been a long-term goal for several years. Other municipalities our size have more than one adoption center to serve their jurisdictions’ needs,” Bland wrote to KXAN. “Since building our own is a multi-year project requiring significant additional funding and resources, last year we asked the City of Austin real estate office to identify any available city-owned properties that we could use in the interim. There have not been any properties identified as of yet.”
Several Austin City Council members have also announced over the last year that they’re working on solutions after hearing from an overwhelming number of constituents.
But as of right now, there’s no set time for when non-emergency intake will reopen.
“We have waived all adoption fees until that happens, and are about to launch a new program with Austin Pets Alive! where we will board up to 30 medium/large dogs with them. We also have KittyPalooza next weekend, which focuses on getting kittens and cats adopted,” Bland wrote.
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