Friday 13, 2011

Town Lake Animal Center saves animals after storm

By Simon Roig

The storm Thursday morning has caused a surge in animal intake at Town

Lake Animal Center. Within a period of 24 hours, about 80 animals were

taken to the shelter, which is three times higher than expected from a

Wednesday to a Thursday.

Thursday there were 40-45 dogs brought in by Animal Protection

Officers or people in the community who found them on the street.

The sudden influx in dog intake is attributed to the storm, as many

dogs are frightened away from their homes by loud noises.

Due to the limited number of kennels, TLAC workers have to find ways

to house above-capacity numbers of stray dogs.

When animals are brought in, the shelter needs space, and when there

is none, TLAC relies on the community for assistance.

"We're completely full. We set up the conference room to handle

overflow so that we would not be put in a euthanasia scenario

overnight because of the storm. For me and I think for the community

that's unacceptable, so we extended our capacity temporarily to

accommodate these extraordinary circumstances,” said Abigail Smith,

Animal Services Chief Officer.

Their goal is to avoid euthanasia, and for that to happen multiple

options were sought in the effort to create more room for the animals.

One of those ways has been to urge the community to look for their pet

at TLAC if it is missing. Smith stressed the importance of not waiting

for a pet to come home if it is missing because with as much rain as

Austin received Thursday, the scent trails used by dogs to find their

homes are washed away.

They also outreached to their community partners, working with the

Humane Society, Austin Pets Alive, dozens of foster homes and more

than 80 rescue groups.

The Center has asked its partner groups and volunteers for help and it

resulted in 25-30 animals being transferred, freeing up much-needed

cage space.

With that support, along with people showing up to reclaim their lost

pets, Smith hopes that the overflow shelter set up in the conference

room will not have to be used, although she assures they are prepared

to do so if needed.

When asked about the chances of euthanasia in this particular

situation, she responded, "I'm counting on zero."

The majority of the animals being brought to the shelter are dogs.

There had been 13-15 cats brought in, while the number for dogs was

three times as much.

Because there is no leash or fenced-yard laws for cats, many of them

roam their territory unsupervised. Occasionally they are mistaken for

lost cats and are brought to the shelter, which would be avoided with

pet IDs. Smith hopes that the message of pet identification spreads,

allowing for many animals' lives to be saved.

"Today we got the help, but tomorrow we won't need it if people would

ID their pets, and also spay and neuter them. We had an extraordinary
number of volunteers who stepped up today to help us and step up every

day," said Smith.

The shelter takes care of 350-400 animals at any given time.

Amber Rowland, Program Development Manager, says, "Because we operate

at near or full capacity all the time, it becomes a task to figure out

how to move animals around and make space available for the ones that

are coming in... We move fast. We have to move fast."

TLAC stayed open an additional two hours, making their closing time 9

p.m. to give people who are missing their pets more time to get to the

shelter.

Over half a dozen dogs have been reunited with their owners since the

storm, due to the fact that some people intuitively call the shelter

upon realizing their pet is gone.

"A good deal of them appear to have owners," said Smith. "These

aren't street dogs; these are animals that, I'm gonna say, more than

half of them have collars. The ones that are still here do not have a

microchip or a tag which is why they're here, so the message to the

community is ID your pet, please. And the other message is when

there's a thunderstorm or fireworks, keep your pet inside."

If you have lost a pet, please visit TLAC at Town Lake Animal Center,

1156 W. Cesar Chavez St.

Sources:

Abigail Smith, Animal Services Chief Officer.

Abigail.smith@ci.austin.tx.us
(512)972-6088

Amber Rowland, Program Development Manager.

amber.rowland@ci.austin.tx.us
(512) 972-6025