Filed under: Executive Director | Tags: bond, EMANCIPE+, emancipet, love, pet, relationships
In my preparation for a recent presentation on the relationship between people and their pets, I came across some studies that have really gotten people talking. Since it’s all about love and relationships and sacrifice, I thought Valentine’s Day would be a fun excuse to share some of this data with you. So, here’s what I learned:
Pet owners love their pets and are afraid of losing them. Not surprising, but… 79% of pet owners felt losing their pet would be more traumatic than getting into a car accident, and 61% said it would be more traumatic than losing their jobs. Some people were surprised when I shared this last one. But, this tracks with my experiences in the clinic at Emancipet. Honestly not a day goes by that we don’t hear a story of a client who has lost his or her job and who is thankful for the love and joy they receive from their pets.
Most pet owners are willing to sacrifice for their pets’ happiness and safety, and an overwhelming 93% of pet owners said they’d be likely to risk their lives for their pets. Again, it may seem shocking at first, but people do brave and risky things for their pets all the time. Think back to Hurricane Katrina, and how many people chose to stay behind and risk their lives for no other reason than their pets were not allowed to evacuate with them. Recent data indicates 62% of pet owners would defy a forced evacuation order if they could not evacuate with their pets.
So there you have it. We love our pets. Here’s what I want to know: Have you ever risked your life (or even limb) for your pet, or any animal in need? Tell us about it!
Thanks for reading, and Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your furry companions!
Filed under: Executive Director | Tags: city of austin, emancipet, no kill, TLAC, town lake animal center
After a long, nationwide search, the City of Austin has selected Abigail Smith to become Austin’s new Chief Animal Services Officer, a job with duties that include overseeing the municipal animal shelter and animal control. Even though we are a separate non-profit, Emancipet partners closely with the City on many of our programs, including Free Days and Spay Street, our door-to-door outreach program; and our clinic is located on the land where the new shelter is under construction (and looking incredible, by the way). Needless to say, we’ve been eager to find out who the new leader would be. I’m happy to say that from what I’ve heard, we should be very excited about this selection.
Abigail has a reputation for a fierce commitment to saving the lives of animals in her current shelter, which appears to be matched by an understanding and commitment to preventing them from becoming homeless in the first place. We don’t know Abigail personally yet, but we’re looking forward to getting to know her, and working alongside her to serve all the animals in our community, and we are optimistic about her potential to continue our City’s wonderful progress on animal issues.
Abigail has a lot of support here, starting with a committed staff at the shelter, and the board and staff at Emancipet. And it’s a good thing – her’s is one of the toughest jobs in our community, and she’ll need the support and participation of the entire community to reach our ambitious and important goals for a humane community.
I hope you’ll join us in welcoming her, and in giving her the support she’ll need.
Filed under: Outreach
I find that it is so easy with work, as with most things in life, to just go through the day completing tasks. Marking something off of a task list has always been one of my very favorite feelings. But sometimes in doing that, I forget the bigger, warmer, fuzzier picture. I forget that each day people who love their pets as much as I love mine turn to us to provide the very best care for their furry family members. Today, we received the most excellent reminder of what this work is really about and I just had to share it with you. Below is a poem written by a client by the name of Beth about her dog, Strawberry.
Strawberry”s Story
Strawberry was a feral wolf dog, an outcast from her home.
A babe in the woods she wandered, soon to have pups of her own.
Some good folks took her in at last. The pups were born and grew up fast
These folks had love, but they had no vet. Who’d save the day???
EMANCIPET!!!
Now Strawberry and her family will never be alone,
Together for a life-time in their forever home.
Their future will be bright, I bet, thanks to the folks at Emancipet.
God bless the staff, the volunteers and vet, and all the folks who support
EMANCIPET!!!
Beth, like most of our clients, knew that Strawberry and her pups needed her help and she wanted to provide them with the very best. Her poem was a reminder that what we do is about more than “just pets.” It’s about the families who open their hearts and their lives up to pets who need them – and if you ask Beth, everybody wins!
Filed under: Executive Director | Tags: animal welfare, euthanasia, neuter, no kill, pet sterilization, spay, spay/neuter
I just read this interesting, but not entirely surprising article from our neighbors down in San Antonio. SA has had a mighty struggle with animal issues (formerly the highest per capita euthanasia rates in the nation). Recently the SA City Council, area foundations and animal welfare groups have come together to try to transform SA into a no kill community. They have started investing seriously in programs to increase live outcomes for their homeless pets.
But they quickly realized an inescapable truth – their efforts have not been as successful as they hoped because there are far too many homeless pets to begin with. They have learned that without significantly bolstering their prevention efforts, they cannot end the killing of homeless pets. Specifically, they cited the need for more spay/neuter.
It’s a lesson that many communities have to learn the hard way. The road towards ending euthanasia often starts with a focus on increasing adoptions, and then dead-ends with a realization of the need for a whole more spay/neuter. Though a balanced approach (between prevention and management of the homeless pet population) is critical, failing to adequately prioritize prevention efforts can be a death knell for humane efforts, and the animals they are supposed to save.
Thankfully, it sounds like SA is getting on the right track and is ready to fully invest in prevention efforts. Good luck, SA – everyone is rooting for you!
Filed under: Outreach | Tags: cats, dogs, foster, overpopulation, shelter, spay/netuer
I saw both litters of puppies in the video below in the lobby this morning as I was heading to the clinic for my daily dose of cute. I asked the human parents how they came across such sweet little ones – their stories are the kind we hear all too often. The first Good Samaritan told me that she woke up to find a box of Labrador puppies on her doorstep. The other said that she found the box of Schnauzer/Pit Bull puppies in her neighbor’s yard, without food or water. They were relinquished with no argument from the uninterested owner.
While I reap the benefits of hugs, kisses, and puppy breath – these little lives are an all-too-cute example of dogs that were not wanted or planned for by a family committed to caring for a new pet.
Not wanting to put additional burned on our already crowded shelter system, both foster parents have decided that they will care for the little ones until they can place them in loving permanent homes. They are committed to getting all of the dogs spayed/neutered, knowing that is the only way to end the cycle of unwanted litters in our community.
Filed under: Outreach | Tags: cats, clinic, dog, emancipet, neuter, pets, spay
There is so much cuteness at Emancipet that I feel bad keeping it all to myself, so I’m sharing it with you! The debate over what makes the cutest pet is a heated one that happens almost daily inside the walls of Emancipet. Since I have the password to the blog, I win this time with a sweet puppy that visited yesterday named, Princess Charlie.
When I tell people what I do, they always say, “Oh, I couldn’t work there. I would want to take all of them home.” Well, the vast majority of our patients only visit us for the day for services, and go back to their loving families at night, which makes taking them home with me a real no-no. Princess Charlie was here visiting Amber, our wellness technician extraordinaire, for her first round of puppy shots and will be back soon to be spayed.
Filed under: Executive Director | Tags: city of austin, EMANCIPE+, emancipet, euthanasia, no kill, no kill city, spay/neuter, TLAC, town lake animal center
The other day I was at Town Lake Animal Center for a meeting, and a sweet family came up to the front desk with a tiny kitten they found in their garage. When they handed her over to a staff person, they said, “Congratulations on being no kill now. We knew this little kitty would be safer with you guys since there’s no euthanasia anymore.”
The moment really took me aback. This family had heard on the news that in March, our City Council voted to ban euthanasia at the shelter as long as cages were available, and like many other hopeful animal lovers, they had assumed that meant TLAC was now “No Kill.” If only it were that easy.
Sadly, the moratorium passed in March has not ended euthanasia at the shelter. Every day, more animals come in, and with every cage already full, euthanasia continues every day. In short, our community is still producing far too many unwanted pets.
As you already know, ending unnecessary euthanasia will require reducing the number of animals entering the shelter, and increasing the number that leave alive. Austin has been making steady progress towards both of these goals for the last few years. Frustratingly, since the news of the moratorium started to spread, we’ve been losing ground on our race to reduce shelter intake.
Perhaps due in part to the misunderstanding caused by media coverage and mistaken beliefs about the shelter’s no kill status, shelter intake is actually up since the moratorium passed. Since March, about 800 more animals ended up at the shelter than in the same time period last year – mostly cats abandoned by their owners. (Click here for access to the data)
Thank goodness for the hardworking staff at TLAC and the dedicated rescue groups working to get animals out of the shelter alive. Remarkably, adoptions and transfers are actually up a little, which has meant that euthanasia has so far not increased with the uptick in intake. But that can’t and won’t last long if intake keeps rising.
At Emancipet, we are working hard to combat this new trend by advocating for spay/neuter and offering free spay/neuter as often as we can afford to. As owner surrender rates rise, we can’t afford for even one unwanted litter to end up at the shelter, competing for scant resources with the dogs and cats abandoned by their owners, many of which are adults and harder to adopt out.
Want to help? Here’s two easy things you can do right now that will make a difference:
- Tell 3 friends about Emancipet’s free and low-cost spay/neuter clinics and walk-in wellness clinics. Or, better yet – donate $50 so we can offer another family a free spay/neuter surgery.
- E-mail Sarah Hammond (sarah.hammond@ci.austin.tx.us) at TLAC to volunteer to foster kittens or other animals in need.
Filed under: Outreach
We all know the story about the man who stood on the shore watching a beautiful woman who was dancing on the sand. As he walked closer, he realized that hundreds (or thousands if you like the drama) of starfish had been washed ashore and were dying on the beach. It was getting dark and the man asked why she even bothered to try to save some of the starfish – there were just too many – they couldn’t all be helped. She continued to pick them up one after another and said, “But I just saved that one.”
The first time I heard that story, I was moved. The second, third, and tenth time – I was over it. But today I have visions of starfish swimming in my head.
I had the opportunity to ride along with our Spay Street program coordinator. Spay Street is a door-to-door community outreach program that provides resources and education to pet owners in Austin’s neediest communities. Thanks to a generous grant, Emancipet is able to provide free spay/neuter and other basic services to these pets in need. I understood the program before, but seeing it in action gave it a whole new meaning. In just two hours time, we covered about 3 blocks. Some homes had boards covering openings where windows should be, others had gates so flimsy I wondered why they even bothered. There was one common theme: lots and lots of dogs and cats. As we approached each house, the barking was often loud enough to bring residents to their front door. Laura, the program coordinator, explained why she was there and that she had the resources to provide much needed services to their pets. The van used for transporting animals to the Emancipet clinic was full after just over an hour. Many pet owners were thankful and even a bit relieved. I must have heard, “I don’t want anymore” at least a dozen times. One house had a small, sweet puppy who was clearly very loved. The man explained that this puppy had a sibling, but that sibling was nowhere to be found. Another house had 8 Chihuahuas living together in a large yard. The family had gone to the City of Austin Rabies Vaccination clinic the week before and had gotten all of them their shots. We were able to bring in the dogs that had not been spayed or neutered to keep them from adding to the brood.
When the van was full and we had to drive away, I couldn’t help but feel like there was so much more that we needed to do. But, like the lady dancing on the shore, I know we made a real difference in the lives of the handful of pets we were able to help that day.
If you would have asked, I never would have imagined a few years ago that I would be doing what I am today. I knew I wanted to help “people” so I received my graduate degree in Social Work. Long story short, I adopted my first dog, Miko, who is the love of my life and quickly taught me what so many already knew- that pets are some of the best “people” around. Years later, I jumped at the opportunity to interview with Emancipet and here I am.
My position in outreach involves coordinating events, managing volunteers, media and the ever-so-popular social media relations, and communications. I have found over and over again that people are genuinely interested in the work we do and I want to share that with you here. Hopefully, you will find my journey into this work as exciting as I have. If there is something you want to hear more about – tell me and I’ll fill you in.
As you may have seen recently on the news or online, there has been concern about a possible delay in the approval process for the construction bid that would allow the City to finally break ground on a new Animal Services Center. We wanted to give you the latest facts and news on this issue as we understand them:
• At the January 28 City Council meeting, in the introductory statements, Mayor Lee Leffingwell announced that item 20, which was the approval of the construction contract for the new shelter, was postponed “indefinitely.” Click here for video of that.
• This caused great concern in the animal welfare community, because this particular construction bid expires on April 9, 2010, and this facility is desperately needed as soon as possible. The current TLAC facility, with its 1950’s design, is far below the modern standard for humane and healthy housing for homeless pets.
• Since hearing this, concerned citizens have contacted Council and staff encouraging them to get the item back on the agenda. Responses from some Council members indicate that the removal of the item was to allow more time to first consider some of the other important animal welfare issues currently in development, namely the use of the Davenport building for adoptions, and was not intended to delay the construction process.
• Further, several City Council Members have indicated in their responses to citizens that the item WILL be voted on in March and that the construction will continue will continue without delay.
We are relieved to hear that the item will be back on the agenda in March. While we certainly understand that the shelter is not the only animal welfare issue facing the City Council, we do believe that it is one of the single most important things we can do to improve the welfare of animals in our community. It is so important that it should move forward as planned, regardless of any other issues that may also be considered.
We are also very excited about the City’s commitment to utilizing the Davenport Building for adoptions, and partnering with the community to save more animal lives. While those plans may not yet be finalized, we are confident that the City Council and staff will continue to make progress on this front, and we hope the construction of the shelter can begin without delay as these plans are fully developed and evaluated.
Background and more info:
In November of 2006, Austin voters approved $12 million for a new animal services facility. The design process occurred in 2008 and 2009, and the facility, which will be state-of-the-art and Silver LEED certified will finally allow us to house our community’s most at-risk animals in safety and health. The new Center will be located with Emancipet at the 7201 Levander Loop site. You can click here to see the plans.
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