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Friday, September 9, 2011
Tigger's back! Austin Humane Society unites owners and pets separated by fires
Fire blocked escape from the back door. A burning tree had fallen in front of the house. And though 911 dispatchers told Jacob Perez that help was on the way, he and his sister had to save themselves.
"Dad, we're going to die," the 17-year-old screamed over the phone to his father.
Perez and his sister, Amy Chagoya, who has limited mobility, made it out of their Bastrop County home . But like many other evacuees, the family pets went missing in the chaos.
Chagoya cradled her beloved terrier-Chihuahua mix, Tigger, until heat from the fire got so hot that Chagoya, who suffered second- and third-degree burns to her arms, had to let go.
On Friday, Chagoya got Tigger back, and it was hard to tell who was more excited.
"He's Amy's baby," her mother, Julie Perez, said at the Austin Human Society's shelter, where dozens of recovered pets were taken to be treated for injuries and boarded. "Yup, that's him. He's making that noise."
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Should you get the day off when your dog dies? Short answer: Yes
from huffingtonpost.com:by: Mark Tillinger
When our pets get sick, or when they die, we experience the most human of emotions -- worry, compassion, fear, uncertainty, and ultimately, extreme grief. The depth of these emotions easily match the depth of the love we feel for our pets, and the loss of a beloved pet can feel as intensely sad as losing a family member or a close friend.
What can make this traumatic experience even more difficult is when other people fail to recognize the depth of your loss. You don't get a day off when your dog dies. Bereavement benefits are extended in the event of the death of an immediate family member -- and that is defined as a parent, parent in-law, brother, sister, spouse, child, grandparent, domestic partner, grandchild, or person in an equivalent relationship -- but not the family pet.
Our animals are with us through thick and thin. They comfort us when we're sad and they brighten our days when they greet us with delight each and every time we walk through our doors. They go where we take them and they're happy to do so, just as long as they're by our sides. They witness our arguments, our challenges, our milestones and our losses. We can be at our very worst and they do not judge us. You are always perfectly you in the eyes of your pet. Someone once described their dog as a heart with fur and I think many of us feel that way. With the domestication of animals, it seems that their main (and in some cases, only) purpose, is simply to love -- so how is the gravity of the illness or loss of such an integral part of lives not understood by all?
Read rest of story: here
Friday, July 22, 2011
These folks walk the walk and talk the talk on no-kill
More dog for your buck. APA! lowers big dog adoption fee to $25.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Statesman editorial board recognizes city shelter's no-kill efforts
We welcome the update on the city's planned new $12 million animal shelter, which Austin City Council Member Mike Martinez says is on budget and, at this point, on time. It is scheduled to open in November. We also applaud the Town Lake Animal Center's efforts in keeping with Austin's no-kill policy during one of the busiest times for the shelter.
In June, the center surpassed no-kill goals, achieving a live outcome of 91 percent, meaning at least 9 of 10 animals that came in to the center left through adoptions, foster care or other placements that kept them alive. So about 1 in 10 died or was put down. And June is not a fluke; the animal center has achieved a live outcome of 90 percent for the past six months, and that is no small achievement considering that the center provides shelter for about 23,000 animals, mostly dogs and cats, each year. In the past, it relied heavily on putting stray animals down to manage Austin's stray pet population.
This weekend would be a great time for the public to support the center and Austin's no-kill goal. On Friday, the center ran out of space for cats and set up temporary cat cages in administrative offices. To make more space, officials are calling for owners who have lost a cat to come to the shelter to look for it this weekend and to wait a week before dropping off any other pets.
"Being a no-kill city takes the support of the entire community," said Abigail Smith, the city's chief animal services officer.
Through Sunday, the Town Lake Animal Center is running a $20 adoption special on all ready-to-go pets.
The no-kill goal recognizes that some animals must be euthanized because they have a serious illness, are too aggressive or are dangerous. But we're still hearing tragic stories from some volunteers there who say the center continues to put down dogs with behavioral issues brought on from being caged in dismal surroundings for too long. Those dogs would be adoptable if they got better attention sooner. And when the center reaches capacity, as it has now, dogs and cats are at risk of being euthanized.
The next big decision regarding the animal center will be made by City Manager Marc Ott, who will select a nonprofit to run the Town Lake animal shelter after the city's new animal center in East Austin opens. The old shelter will become a pet adoption center for at least six months to give the public a chance to adjust to the new site. After that, just one building at the Town Lake center, the Davenport Building, will continue as an adoption facility.
Austin has a strong and vocal animal welfare community that makes itself heard at City Hall. This month, the council passed a resolution directing Ott to choose a nonprofit to run the Town Lake shelter that would focus on animals that are the hardest to place. That decision is pending.
Austin's experiment with no-kill policies is still evolving, and it seems logical that the city will need expanded adoption programs to be successful. We support no-kill policies as the humane way to handle stray animals or abandoned pets. But that effort takes more than adoption centers. It takes educating owners about properly caring for their pets to prevent them from getting lost, providing affordable ways to spay and neuter pets, ensuring pets have identification tags or chip implants to help find owners when pets get lost and working with apartment managers to create more friendly pet policies and affordable fees so that people are not put in the position of abandoning animals when they rent apartments.
And it also takes partners, such as Austin Pets Alive and the Austin Humane Society, which rescued 350 dogs and cats and 90 animals, respectively, from the Town Lake Animal Center in June.
Let's give them all a hand. Even better, let's help Austin maintain its no-kill goal. Pets have improved the quality of life for so many. We can do the same for them.
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