Texas Shelter Budget/Performance Comparison

Last night, we spent some time gathering information on area shelters. The results were pretty shocking, and we'll continue to release more information as we can.

Shelter Intake Expenses Live Release
Town Lake (Austin) 24,542 ('09-'10) $5.5 million ('09-'10) 71% ('09-'10)*
SPCA of Texas (Dallas) 8,280 (2010) $8.45 million (2010) 65% (2010)
Houston SPCA 21,767 (2009) $6.83 million (2009) 49% (2009)**
Dallas Animal Services ~34,000 annually $7.7 million (2010) 26% (2010)
Houston Humane Society 17,552 (2004) $3.36 million (2007) 12% (2004)****


*Town Lake Animal Center is on pace for a 90% or higher live-release rate for calendar year 2011.
**Intake and outcomes reported to Guidestar.com
***Figures reported in Dallas Observer.
****Intake and outcomes reported by Mayor's Task Force.

Austin City Council Candidates Answer No Kill Questionnaire

The top-five major candidates for the 2011 City Council elections answered a series of questions from the Austin No Kill Coalition regarding No Kill issues in Austin, Texas. The Coalition also held its first-annual City Council Candidate Forum on May 1, 2011, before a standing-room-only audience. FixAustin.org will be rating the candidates' answers in a full-page Chronicle advertisement this week. Forum co-sponsors included Love-a-Bull, Austin Pets Alive, the Austin No Kill Coalition, and FixAustin.org. Here are the candidates' answers to our No Kill Questionnaire.

Kathie Tovo: http://www.fixaustin.org/pub/Kathie_Tovo_No_Kill_Answers.pdf

Randi Shade: http://www.fixaustin.org/pub/Randi_Shade_No_Kill_Answers.pdf

Chris Riley: http://www.fixaustin.org/pub/Chris_Riley_No_Kill_Answers.pdf

Max Nofziger: http://www.fixaustin.org/pub/Max_Nofziger_No_Kill_Answers.pdf

Laura Morrison: http://www.fixaustin.org/pub/Laura_Morrison_No_Kill_Answers.pdf

Update!

FixAustin.org has released its annual City Council Voter Information Guide on animal-welfare issues. We rated the candidates based on their answers to the No Kill Coalition questionnaire as well as on their voting records. To read our short voter information guide, click here: http://www.fixaustin.org/pub/2011_FixAustin_Election_Ad.pdf

House Bill 3450 Will Save Lives, Ban Painful Gas Chambers

It is a great time to be an advocate for lost and homeless pets in Austin, Texas. Last year, thanks to you--- the animal-loving community of Austin--- our City Council mandated that our municipal shelter implement proven and cost-effective programs and policies to dramatically reduce unnecessary shelter killing in Austin. And it worked. Since the Austin No Kill plan was passed in March of last year, our community's "kill rate" has plummeted, and more lives are being saved than ever before.

Through the combined efforts of Town Lake Animal Center and its placement partners (especially Austin Pets Alive), Austin's shelter is having great success. In December 2010 and January 2011, the shelter saved 88% of all dogs and cats surrendered to or found by the shelter. And in February 2011, that number jumped to 92%, the best "live outcome" rate ever in history of Austin's shelter. Thanks to you, Austin is quickly becoming the most humane city in the United States. And we also warmly welcome the shelter's new director, Abigail Smith, a proven leader in the national No Kill movement.

But now we have an even greater opportunity--- to help spread Austin's success to the rest of the State of Texas. Just days ago, State Representative Jessica Farrar of Houston filed a bill to comprehensively reform Texas's animal shelters. That bill, called the Texas Companion Animal Protection Act, goes a long way to protect companion animals at Texas's shelters.

The bill:

• Bans the use of painful, unnecessary, and expensive gas chambers at Texas's shelters.
• Bans the practice of killing healthy adoptable animals "for space" when cages sit empty.
• Requires all animals adopted from Texas shelters to be spayed or neutered prior to adoption.
• Bans breed discriminatory adoption policies at Texas shelters.
• Requires shelters to collaborate with 501(c)(3) rescue groups to save animals.
• Bans shelters from selling live shelter animals to research laboratories.
• Requires shelters to honestly and publicly release their intake and outcomes data.

Simply put, this bill makes Texas's animal shelters treat animals humanely, respect their lives, and work smartly and efficiently to find loving homes for animals. But, like Austin's No Kill plan, it is being opposed by groups who would rather the public not know what goes on behind many shelters' closed doors.

Here's how you can help pass this historic bill. Please:

• Call, write, and/or e-mail your Texas Representatives and ask them to support HB 3450 (the Texas Companion Animal Protection Act). You can find out who your representatives are here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/. (Here is a sample letter if you would find it helpful: http://bit.ly/gBOliI)
• Call, write, and/or e-mail the members of the Texas House of Representative's Public Health Committee (who will be considering the bill), and ask them to support HB 3450. You can find the members' contact information here: http://bit.ly/huspbu
• Sign Change.org's petition supporting HB 3450 here: http://bit.ly/gtdGMp
• Forward this message to all of your animal-loving friends, family members, and colleagues and ask them to do the same.

Thank you, in advance, for your important help!

Warmest regards,

The FixAustin.org Team

P.S. To stay in touch on animal-advocacy issues, please "like" us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FixAustin.org

Fosters Needed for Gatesville Rotties!

We've received new information on the Houston SPCA/Gatesville seizure. One highest-level need right now is to line up fosters to volunteer to provide temporary (one-to-three months) foster care for seniors, medically compromised, and behaviorally challenged (rambunctious teenagers and timid females) Rotties. At this point, they are looking for 30-40 foster homes for these categories of higher-needs dogs.

The dogs are currently located in Houston, Texas, in the custody of the Houston SPCA. But once the legal process is over (a week to two), most of the dogs will be transferred to the custody of non-profit rescues as organized by the American Rottweiler Club. There is a preference for fosters to be in Texas or nearby states so that the dogs do not have to travel too far. Fosters will need to keep the dogs as in-house pets (not "yard dogs" or in kennels 24/hours/day) and may need to house train and leash train the dogs.

Once the dogs are available for adoption, they will be adopted out through local non-profit rescue groups. In addition, the dogs will be marketed on the website RottNet.net, and through adoption events.

If you are interested and available to help save these magnificent and abused dogs' lives, please send an e-mail to Lew Olsen at lewolson@earthlink.net. In your e-mail, please provide your name, location, and contact information, as well as any experience you might have with medically compromised dogs and timid females.

Together, we can save these dogs. We're just going to need your help to do it!

Thanks,

The FixAustin.org Team

What's the Deal with the Houston SPCA Raid?

We don't know why the Houston SPCA was called in to rescue 240+ rotties from a ranch outside of Killeen, Texas, rather than various animal-welfare groups in Austin (which is much closer to the ranch than Houston is). But we do know that there is reason to be concerned for the seized animals: According to animal advocates in Houston and public information, the Houston SPCA has a 65% kill rate, won't release its current intake, adoption, and euthanasia data, won't commit to putting the rescued animals up for adoption, and has an official breed-discrimination policy.

You can read OisforOnward's analysis of the HSPCA raid here: http://oisforonward.com/2011/02/houston-spca/

And stay up-to-date on the dogs' care on NoKillHouston's Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Kill-Houston/117281633060