The volunteers and employees of Austin Pets Alive! are deeply saddened by the reported news of a case of severe animal neglect in Austin. The terrible conditions reported to us simply cannot be tolerated, and we unreservedly support the efforts of Town Lake Animal Center and local authorities as they investigate this matter and seek to put an end to the reported animal neglect. In addition to supporting investigative authorities, we have also volunteered to provide medical care for, and ultimately find loving homes for, each of the sick and healthy animals successfully rescued from the home. With all that these cats have already been through, we believe that they now deserve the opportunity to live out their lives in loving “forever” homes.
We hope that the individual involved is able to find the care and support she may need to make sure this never happens again. Regrettably, similar instances have occurred all across the United States, especially in communities where animals surrendered to animal shelters do not have a high chance of leaving alive. It is our hope that as Austin moves towards its goal of being a No Kill city where only suffering animals are euthanized, the need felt by some people to hoard animals will be forever eliminated.
At Austin Pets Alive!, we hold ourselves to the absolute highest standards of animal care, stewardship, and transparency. We have been informed by TLAC authorities that 5 of the 75 seized cats were originally saved by us from TLAC’s euthanasia list. According to our records, one of those five was adopted by the individual in question directly from us. Although APA performed a home visit at the home of the individual, we are saddened to learn that it was not the residence in question. We do not know how she acquired the other cats from multiple other adopters but we are looking into it. It is troubling to us that an animal that passed through our hands could end up in such a circumstance, and we will revisit our protocols, starting today, in hopes of preventing any of our animals from entering such a home ever again.
