Austin Pets Alive! Working Toward a No Kill Millinnium

Austin Pets Alive! is an organization of concerned citizens who want to stop the killing of adoptable pets at Town Lake Animal Center. Town Lake Animal Center is the municipal animal control facility of the City of Austin and Travis County. It is operated by the Austin/Travis County Animal Services Unit, a unit of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services.

During fiscal year 1997, about 28,000 animals came into TLAC, and 19,000 of them were killed. The best estimates are that over half of them were reasonably healthy, reasonably well-behaved dogs and cats, puppies and kittens, who were killed simply because there was not enough room to keep them all until suitable homes could be found for them.

While a number of factors contributed to this terrible tragedy, certain factors stood out. First of all, virtually no effort had been made by either the city or the county to educate the public on the pet overpopulation crisis or on the fate of the thousands of unwanted pets taken to the Center. Second, some of the policies of the Animal Services Unit contributed significantly and unnecessarily to the perceived need to kill animals. Third, almost no effort was being made to advertise the Center as a place to adopt a pet or to advertise individual animals for adoption. Finally, the Animal Services Unit was and is operating severely understaffed. The city cut its already meager budget for two years in a row, reducing its staffing level by about ten percent.

Efforts were made to address the problem factors through the city's and county's Animal Advisory Commission for over a year, but those efforts proved unfruitful, so, on November 2, 1997, Austin Pets Alive! was officially formed as a group dedicated to the goal of ending the practice of killing adoptable animals at Town Lake Animal Center by the end of the year 2000. Since the end of the year 2000 is the start of the new millennium, Austin Pets Alive! adopted the slogan "The No-Kill Millennium" as a short-hand phrase to describe our goal.

Austin Pets Alive! started with four members. As of May 1998, the membership numbers over 450. While most of the members are Austin pet owners, the group includes members from other Texas cities who are interested in replicating the work of Austin Pets Alive! at their municipal or private animal shelters. It also includes some people who do not own pets, but are concerned about the senseless and unnecessary killing of adoptable pets at Town Lake Animal Center and want to help put an end to the practice.

The first step in the No-Kill Millennium campaign was to present a "No-Kill Millennium" resolution to the Animal Advisory Commission. Such a resolution was presented and adopted by the Commission on November 18, 1997. The next step was to present the same resolution to the Austin City Council and the Travis County Commissioners Court. The county adopted its "No-Kill Millennium Resolution" on December 9, 1997 and the city followed with its own resolution on December 11, 1997.

Both the city's and the county's resolutions instructed their staffs to prepare a plan to meet the goal of ending the killing of adoptable pets at the Animal Center and to present that plan to the City Council and the Commissioners Court by the end of March 1998. While the staffs failed to meet the deadline imposed by the political bodies, with the help of Austin Pets Alive! and other animal welfare groups in Austin, they have developed a comprehensive plan for the No-Kill Millennium. The plan involves a small, but important, increase in the city's and county's budgets for the Animal Services Unit , and large and important participation by the public through monetary donations and volunteer efforts.

On May 26, 1998, the Travis County Commissioners Court endorsed the No-Kill Millennium Comprehensive Plan, although they have yet to appropriate the funds called for in the plan. The Austin City Council still has not set the matter on their agenda.

In the meantime, Austin Pets Alive! has not waited for the city or the county to adopt their plan. In connection with the staff and management of the Animal Services Unit and in cooperation with several other animal welfare organizations in Austin, Austin Pets Alive! has already begun implementing the various components of the No-Kill Millennium Comprehensive Plan.

On December 15, 1997, Austin Pets Alive! began its volunteer program, bringing volunteers to Town Lake Animal Center to help the staff move animals through the Center faster and get them adopted and into suitable homes more quickly. No public volunteer program previously existed at the Center. Over 95% of the volunteers now working at the Center are Austin Pets Alive! members and we administer the volunteer training program for the Animal Services Unit.

We have begun significant advertising and public education initiatives. Our volunteers are distributing information on the need to spay and neuter pets and the tragedy of pet overpopulation. We have begun advertising individual pets available for adoption on television. Work has begun on television public service announcements about the need to adopt animals from Town Lake Animal Center to save their lives. Significant contacts have been made with the press, both television, radio, and print, educating them on the problem of pet overpopulation and the number of needless deaths and resulting in numerous news reports about the No-Kill Millennium campaign on local television and radio stations, the Austin American-Statesman, the Austin Chronicle, the Associated Press, and, most recently, National Public Radio.

In April 1998, Austin Pets Alive! launched its Business Partners Program with a press conference announcing the six founding business members of the program. Businesses participating in the Austin Pets Alive! Business Partners Program commit to make ongoing contributions to the No-Kill Millennium campaign. Participating businesses are doing such things as paying for their employees to have their pets spayed and neutered, donating services, such as printing services, and making periodic financial contributions to organizations participating in the campaign, such as Animal Trustees of Austin , which operates a low cost spay/neuter clinic. The Austin Pets Alive! Business Outreach Committee continues to recruit businesses to participate in the No-Kill Millennium campaign.

EmanciPet Mobile Clinic started serving East Austin in 2000. APA! supports this van as it parks indifferent neighborhoods in East Austin to perform spays and neuters for the residents.

The media campaign continued with interviews on TV and radio. A 60 second video was developed for a TV campaign and was usually aired as a PSA (public service announcement). Also started was a popular Off-Site program. Volunteers would take animals from TLAC to various businesses to try and get them adopted.

In 2001, a vibrant Classroom Education program was implemented. Many presentations have been done in both elementary and junior high schools, particularly in East Austin. APA! feels it is important to educate the future generations toward responsible pet stewardship. APA! also hosted a festival to honor National Homeless Animals Day at Waterloo Park. APA! also set up "tablings" at events and businesses to hand out literature and promote spay/neuter. Also in 2001, the City of Austin hired a new assistant director for TLAC, Dorinda Pulliam. Since then there have been many changes at TLAC. One of the most notable is the development of statistics which show accountability. APA! feels accountability is necessary to reach the goal of No-Kill. Communication between the "partners" has increased. The partners are Animal Trustees, Humane Society, TLAC, and APA!.

In 2002, APA! hosted a "Paw Party" at a park in East Austin. APA! has been targeting the population in East Austin because, according to TLAC statistics, a large number of animals come into the shelter from this area. Programs continued throughout the year.

In celebration of National Spay Day, a candlelight vigil was held in 2001. In 2002, a large ad was placed in the American Statesman. In 2003, APA! sponsored 1500.00 worth of free spay/neuters for low income residents.

In 2003, the organization was restructured. Many non-working teams and divisions were eliminated. APA! redefined it's goals and streamlined the most important teams. This new structure is much more easily managed. The focus is now on helping East Austin. APA! now has an East Austin Coordinator who makes presentations to neighborhood associations. Also started was Pet Projects. Those are rotating events that are coordinated with TLAC. APA!'s website was also updated and redesigned. A new online donation program was set up in coordination with the new Community Spay/Neuter Program.

In conclusion, about 28,000 animals came into TLAC in 1997 and 19,000 of them were killed. In 2002, those numbers had dropped to 20,000 incoming animals and 10,000 killed. That's a huge drop and APA! is proud to be a part of such a dramatic change. APA! will continue working to help promote cultural change regarding our pets.

If you have questions about Austin Pets Alive! or the No-Kill Millennium campaign, please contact us at austinpetsalive@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 6247, Austin, Texas 78762.