The FixAustin.org Voter Information Guide Has Been Released!

Hello friends,

We're happy to announce that FixAustin.org's annual Voter Information Guide was released this morning.  Four City Council candidates received the highest marks for their commitment to animal-welfare issues:  Mike Martinez, Bill Spelman, Chris Riley, and Perla Cavazos.

You can read our guide, along with links to each candidate's response to our questionnare, on FixAustin.org's homepage linked here.

Happy Voting!

The Team

FixAustin.org is now on Twitter!

Just in time for the No Kill Conference this weekend in Washington, D.C., FixAustin has joined Twitter! Visit http://twitter.com/FixAustin or text "Follow FixAustin" to 40404 from your cell phone to follow our updates.

Several members of the FixAustin team will be attending the conference and will be tweeting about our experiences. The conference will feature forward-thinking shelter directors saving over 90% of the animals in their communities and animal law experts using the legal system to protect animals. You can keep up with all the news from the conference by watching #nokill on Twitter or by visiting http://thenokillnation.ning.com. Animal Wise Radio will also webcast from the conference.

Candidate Ratings Coming!

As FixAustin.org has done before past elections, we'll be posting City Council candidate animal-welfare ratings and also their responses to our animal-welfare questions.

As a teaser, you'll be shocked to hear what one leading candidate plans for the future adoption center on Town Lake... or should we say "lack thereof."

Stay tuned!

Two New, Limited Time Free and Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Options in Austin

Emancipet and Animal Trustees of Austin have announced two new, limited-time low-cost and free spay/neuter opportunities in Austin.  We've tracked down the details and highlighted them below.

As you may know from reading this blog, decreasing intake is a critical part (though only part) of bringing a community to no-kill success.  While the City of Austin does a deplorable job on keeping animals alive once they've reached the shelter, it does a great job in supporting low-cost spay-neuter programs to decrease shelter intake.  Here are two great new programs run by Austin-area non-profits.  The second program is funded by the generous donations of Austinites to the City pound's donations fund.

Three cheers for Emancipet and Animal Trustees of Austin for providing these services!

1.  Emancipet's "5 Saves Lives!" program:

• For the month of May only, puppies and kittens up to 5 months old will receive spay/neuter surgery for just $5.  Schedule your appointment now at Emancipet.  Call 512.587.7729 or visit www.empancipet.org.  Mention "5 Saves Lives."
  
• The 5 Saves Lives special is at Emancipet (stationary clinic) only.  It is a new effort to highlight the importance of spay/neuter at an early age (preferably between 3 and 5 months old).  An appointment is required, so pet owners should call now to book one, and this is good for the entire month of May - all puppies or kittens 3- 5 months old get surgery for $5. 
  

 2.  Emancipet's and Animal Trustees of Austin's "Summer of Love" cat special:

• Emancipet and Animal Trustees of Austin are providing free cat surgeries for all pet cats.  Free Microchip.  Free Rabies shot will be provided if there is no proof of current vaccination.   Schedule an appointment at Emancipet 587-7729 or Animal Trustees of Austin 450-0111.
  
• The free cat surgeries are available the first full week of each month in May, June, and July (May 4 - 9, June 1 - 6, and July 6 - 11).  The special includes surgery, rabies, and microchip for all cats who come into either clinic those weeks.  At Emancipet, the cats will also get a free collar and custom ID tag.  Appointments are required and spots are limited, so book early.  This is for owned cats only - not for rescue groups or feral cats.

Oops The Chronicle Did It Again

In it's April 10th issue, the Chronicle admitted (in a correction titled "Oops") that it had mistakenly reported, based on information from the ASPCA and Austin's pound, that the percentage of animals killed at Austin's pound has declined each year since the current shelter director was hired in November 2000.  As FixAustin.org pointed out at the time (and here), that claim is not remotely true. 

So the Chronicle editor issued this statement in its latest edition:

In "How Many Cats Did Austin Save Last Year?" News, April 3, in briefly summarizing long-term trends, we mischaracterized the euthanasia rate over the last nine years, and we regret the error. Although the total numbers of animals killed at the Town Lake Animal Center slowly declined over the previous decade, the marked improvement in the euthanasia rate (that is, the percentage of received animals killed) has occurred over the past year in connection with the new Mission: Orange partnership. The larger trend is that, for most of the Nineties, Austin was killing two-thirds of the animals received at the center but is now killing less than a third.

One would think the Chronicle would have bothered to fact-check its factual correction to its incorrect factual claim, but on the subject of Austin's pound, it has become clear that the Chronicle does not bother to verify that its factual claims are true. The editor's new claim--- that "the total numbers of animals killed at the Town Lake Animal Center slowly declined over the previous decade"---is also wrong.

Starting with fiscal-year 2000-01, the total number of animals killed each year at the shelter is (in date order):  11,567; 10,722; 12,466; 12,887; 14,304; 12,343; 14,055; 10916. While we feel safe speaking for most Austinites in celebrating the most recent decline in shelter killing, we wish the Chronicle would limit its reporting to "facts" that are actually true.