Austin Animal Center (AAC) has been struggling with crisis-level capacity for months. In an effort to reduce intake and prevent euthanasia, intake hours will be restricted to 11 am - 1 pm Monday through Friday beginning May 28, 2024.

If the animal shows extreme signs of distress or injury, such as heat stroke, young litters that would need to be bottle fed, and animals showing obvious signs of injury, those animals will be taken in during normal operating hours. Normal intake restrictions still apply.

From May 8^th – May 20^th, AAC experienced a 15% increase in onsite dog and cat populations. An additional 24 dogs have been boarded since April 30th off site at local boarding facilities. On Monday, before AAC opened for the day, people were lined up outside the building requesting intake. AAC also received notification from the Travis County Constable’s Office that there were 40 cats being seized and brought to the shelter.

As AAC limits intake even further and continues working to increase outcomes, the goal is to re-open once all the dogs in boarding have returned to the shelter and animals are safely housed in permanent kennels.   

AAC does not stand alone as shelters nationwide are seeing an increase in intake and decrease in adoptions, and many are having to make the incredibly difficult decision to euthanize for space. Recent data from national organization Shelter Animals Counts shows that the median length of stay for large dogs in shelters across the United States has doubled since 2019.

Some of the things AAC has done to mitigate space:

• Behavior Team members spend several hours a day observing and interacting with dogs who might be good candidates to pair together in some of the larger kennels.
• AAC is utilizing kennels that were originally designed for cats to house small dogs, puppies, and small animals.
• 24 adoptable dogs have been at local boarding facilities since April 30th.
• AAC instituted a finder-to-foster program to support community members who find an animal.
• Increasingly higher financial incentives have been offered to rescue organizations to pull medium/large dogs. AAC is currently offering $500/dog.
• Adoption fees have been waived since June of last year.
• AAC now offers VIP adoptions, which allow adopters to take home a medium/large dog for a 30-day trial period.
• AAC has joined national and local adoption promotion efforts to get the word out.
• AAC is launching a survey next week asking for feedback on people's priorities when looking for a new pet, and how AAC can improve foster and adoption processes. 

How the community can help:

Adopt

Foster

Volunteer

Reunite