AUSTIN, Texas — Members of Austin’s Animal Advisory Commission approved a "no confidence" vote for leadership at the Austin Animal Center (AAC), the City-run shelter. The issue now goes to the Austin City Council.
One of the issues the commission touched on was violations of a mandatory three-day hold period for sheltered pets. The purpose of that policy is to give owners time to find lost pets if they're at a shelter.
But Chief Animal Services Officer Don Bland told the commission last week that some animals have been adopted out or sent to other shelters early.
Some commissioners worry that the City could be held liable if any pet owners come to claim those pets.
"It's actually kind of a non-issue. Nobody's come forward missing their pet that we have transferred early on," Mark Sloat, one of the field operations managers at AAC, said on Tuesday. "The only time we send them out the before that three days up is there is a medical emergency. Sometimes it's a mom about to have puppies. This isn't the right environment for puppies. It could be a medical emergency that we can send to a partner group."
On Monday night, commissioners said staff at the shelter are talented, but there are problems at the top. One former commissioner said on Tuesday the problems were there before Bland was hired.
"The two candidates as the finalists for the Chief Animal Services Officers officer position were inadequate and [we] recommended opening up the process and reverting back to a previous process that included stakeholders," said former commissioner Larry Tucker.
However, the vote of "no confidence" is just a recommendation. It will be up to the Austin City Council to instruct the city manager to make any changes in leadership at AAC.
A spokesperson for the shelter released the following statement on Wednesday:
"Austin Animal Center (AAC) is the municipal shelter for the City of Austin and unincorporated Travis County. The shelter became no-kill (meaning that 10% or less of the animals at the shelter are euthanized) in 2011 through a community-led effort and has been on the forefront of navigating no-kill on a large scale in the decade since. In 2019 City Council raised the mandate to a minimum 95% live release rate; AAC has consistently remained above that rate and has also remained within budget. AAC’s overall save rate for 2021 was 97%.
"We are committed to keeping Austin a no-kill city and have implemented several programs over the last few years to maintain no-kill,” said Chief Animal Services Officer Don Bland. “Right now, shelters across the U.S. are struggling with medium/large dogs, decreased adoptions and decreased foster/volunteer numbers. The leadership team at Austin Animal Center has a combined 124 years in animal welfare and has helped the shelter navigate a global pandemic and national hiring shortage while remaining well above 95% save rate. We are focused on continuing this important work in the months and years to come."
If you find a loose pet, AAC says the best thing you can do is to try to find its owner by walking around the neighborhood and posting on Nextdoor and Facebook. Most pets are found very close to their homes and have a higher chance of being reunited with their families if they stay in the community. More tips can be found here.
If someone finds a sick or injured pet on a Sunday or believes their pet is at the shelter, they can call 311 or 512-974-2000 to be connected to an animal protection officer.
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