AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin's no-kill animal shelter status could be in jeopardy as the number of pets continues to pour in. City animal officials fears it could eventually run out of room at its new shelter.
Austin has just recently moved into a new shelter with fewer kennels than before. Smart move when you declare "No Kill" - NOT! Now Austin Pets Alive wants to take over the old shelter.
Austin Pets Alive loses the lease at its main headquarters later this spring and wants to take over the entire Town Lake site. The city's animal services staff said they need part of the site for overflow from its new center.
So what has been going on with this move into a new shelter just when you are packing them in, stacking them up, moving them out to questionable foster homes?
"We lost ground since we've moved into the new shelter," said one volunteer from the new Austin Animal Center. "Dogs that could be saved with some amount of training and work are being euthanized."
Does that matter to Austin Pets Alive? Course not, they are seeing dollar signs. Austin Pets Alive has entered into a deal with the City of San Antonio to take 4000 animals and bring them to Austin for adoption. Now wait, how does that figure in when Austin is now having to euthanize for space? APA is taking space away from the Austin pets and getting paid to do so.
Now for the comments which are a story in and of themselves. These are questions that need to be answered.
Why are the other Austin rescues not being given the chance to use the kennels, it was mentioned other groups would like the chance. My other question, what happens when the out of town "quickly adoptable" pets that are being used to fund APA, hit 6-7 months or 18 months and their impulse adopters get tired of them? Does APA have a back up plan for them? Will they take them back in or will they then flood AAC or WCRAS and surrounding shelters to be killed there? Making our kill numbers increase in a few months.
What is the plan for the out of town returns? Are other groups going to have access to the space? WIll AAC be able to house the overflow dogs (who decides the amount) so behavior or long term stay dogs can get help instead of being killed for lack of space?
FACTS:
FACT: The APA is getting from the City of Austin.
FACT: The APA is getting to use TLAC kennels at no cost to house their animals.
FACT: The City of Austin is paying $7,000 to $8,000 a month to cover the utilities at TLAC.
FACT: The APA wants to use all the kennels at TLAC, many of which are deteroriated and they want the City of Austin to pay for repairs.
FACT: APA feels that they can not only take animals from AAC, but they also want to bring animals from San Antonio. That is because the City of San Antonio offered them $200,000/year to take 4,000 of their animals. All will be housed at APA's only location- TLAC.
FACT: APA yearly revenue is over 1 Million Dollars, yet, they do not pay for a facility or utilities. 2/3 of their expenses is used for salaries.FACT: Nowhere in negotiations, there are any considerations to benefit any of the other rescue organizations in Austin. Even though rescue organizations pull a large number of animals from the shelter, those local rescues are not offered kennel space at the shelter and of course, local rescues are not offered any compensation.
SHADES OF BRENDA BARNETTE, LA CITY AND BEST FIENDS!!!
As usual, our favorite in Austin, the man that Whinograd loves to hate, Delwin Goss sums it up.
I just want to register my opposition to the way last night's AAC meeting was held. 9 of the 10 slots for pubic input were allotted to APA supporters because; instead of making it 5 and 5; the chairman allowed first come first serve. Most other rescue groups have to operate rescue in their homes and mostly out of their own pockets. They don't have the luxury of fat budgets and being able to store animals at the taxpayers expense.
Our current "No Kill" plan just continues to gobble up more and more tax dollars while we cut back on public safety, the parks, the arts, programs for our at risk kids, programs for our disabled and programs for the homeless. Then again? This is Austin and it's a City with a lot of people who never felt the sting of poverty growing up.
I think the conclusion was forgone and the meeting was basically a dog and pony show to meet the requirements of taking public input. Still hoping the other rescue groups will organize and sue the City for allowing to occur " conflict of interest" on the animal advisory commission
I doubt it matters. We can all see where this is going. The outsourcing of shelter operations to a nongovernmental ; i.e. private entity. No surprise since the City Council and the Animal Advisory Commission is dancing to the tune played by FIX Austin; a Republican lead organization.
Keep Austin Weird!
So there you have it folks. Austin ain't quite working the way Natan Whinograd wants it to go. Then again, does anything ever go the way he wants?
14 comments:
"Dogs that could be saved with some amount of training and work are being euthanized."
WHAT THE HELL?
These lunatics are out of their minds.
There are too many dogs! There aren't enough people in rescue to go broke taking care of the dogs that are being bred and bred and bred and bloating up the overpopulation problem.
There isn't enough money to clean up after the breeders and backyard breeders and the people who don't spay and neuter because No Kill told them they don't have to, there's homes for all!
The breeders that Pets Alive shills for and opposes laws for, helps breeders get rich so they can breed more and fill up the shelters, and not even pay taxes to help care for the shelter animals.
They brought in a Nathan Winograd shill ABIGAIL SMITH (looking for the big salary, her payola from the Winograd promotion) who was failing in Tompkins County NY. She ran through the endowment and they were still turning away pets to die AND stacking up cages of sick, dying, warehoused animals, and they stopped doing cruelty investigations so the cruel criminal mills and backyard breeders could breed freely and produce more and abuse more.
WHY HIRE A FAILURE CONNECTED TO A BUNCH OF LUNATICS AND LIARS?
It was like when San Antonio hired Winograd giant failure Doug Rae. He failed in Philadelphia! He killed animals, that bastard, and gave them to hoarders and dog fighters to kill while his staff was killing them with disease and fighting in the shelter. No vet care! They ran through the money hoarding, so the shelter stopped treating suffering animals.
Why would a city hire failures and shills of PRIVATE BUSINESS (Winograd and Berman) because a small group of insane people start raving and threatening?
Pets Alive is a BUNCH OF LUNATICS. These people are mentally ill zealots who only care about pushing their failed agenda. They don't care about the animals, they don't care about the people of Austin, they just care about CONTROL, controlling people and being nasty know-it-alls who blame others and tell them what to do while they FAIL.
This is like the Nazi occupation in France. They hand out some money to a few who push the Nazi's interests in the community to dominate and control everyone else and do bad things. They feed off the community like leeches and everyone gets sucked down the black hole with them and their greed, most of all the animals.
Catering to bad people who lie and terrorize and have a history of promoting and excusing animal abuse is the way to get more animals killed in more horrible ways.
What is wrong with this city? Are there legislators who get Berman money?
"Does that matter to Austin Pets Alive? Course not, they are seeing dollar signs. Austin Pets Alive has entered into a deal with the City of San Antonio to take 4000 animals and bring them to Austin for adoption"
This really is like the Nazis draining the money out of communities so they can do terrible things and LINE THEIR WALLETS WITH CASH.
No Kill is all about the few making money, stealing from taxpayers, and then killing the animals in horrible ways so there is more to stuff in their pockets.
"2/3 of their expenses is used for salaries."
And the Nazi plan is complete!
Dominate, control, terrorize weak legislators into giving them other people's money, and the REAL rescues go broke. The ones who REALLY help animals GO BROKE, while the very few elitist jackbooted terrorists collect all the cash and pocket it.
No vet care, warehousing, shove the poor animals at hoarders and dog fighters, use volunteers like slaves, while the brown shirts pocket the cash and scream at other people.
It's the WINOGRAD/ RICK BERMAN WAY!
My, my, Anon, you have such a way with words.
That guy is right about Fix Austin.
It's a Rick Berman propaganda group.
Anything I've ever seen from them is Rick Berman talking points and lies.
There to propagandize to protect the breeders and dog fighters from laws and rules so the breeder scum can keep cheating the taxpayers and breeding and boosting the overpopulation problem, while they torture the shelter pets.
If anyone doesn't know who Berman is, he's a lobbyist for the AKC and their puppy mill business, the puppy mills, the pet stores that sell puppy mill puppies like Petland, the dog fighters, and every other creepy profiteering animal torturer you can think of. He gets millions from the criminals like the AKC to promote their interests and manipulate shady legislators. The breeders took over No Kill for their own devices, to avoid laws and rules for breeders because they are a bunch of lying crooks.
http://
bermanexposed.org/
Ue my words freely anyone.
There needs to be a Resistance.
The Freedom Fighters fighting against the jackbooted Nazi No Kill Occupation.
It's quite a day when legislators and city officials cave in to a bunch of Nazis.
"Nancy Wake"
It happened in France, now all these years later in America.
In Mr. Hess's comment, I think you meant "public" not "pubic"? :)
Best Friends Animal Society promoted and enabled ANOTHER hoarder, since 2006!
How many cats have suffered since then, and Best Friends has done NOTHING but shill for her while the hoarding has been going on and on!!!!!!!!.
The hoarder who has been doing this for years
http://animal
hoarding
info.blogspot.
com/
2012/03/
non-profit
-animal-
shelter-
accused-of.html
and Best Friends promoting this St Francis Animal Rescue in SC in 2006 and again in 2009
(save this page! and if it doesn't open just search for "st francis animal rescue sc best friends")
http://
webcache.googleuser
content.com/
search?q=
cache:ig2xzm5wDDkJ:
network.
bestfriends.
org/news/
postdetail.aspx%
3Fnp%3D8953+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Look at the money they shilled out of their donors for this hoarding!
They never even reported the problems with this place to their donors, just encouraged people to send money and support her hoarding.
Best Friends has become the hoarder enablement Society. The dumb donors suck down the lies.
These problems have been known about at this St Francis. At any time Best Friends could have spent some of their millions and come to the rescue of these cats.
But they abandoned the cats after enabling and marketing the hoarder!
Best Friends also could have warned their donors that there were problems, but instead the donors that were lied to by Best Friends were sending money to hurt these cats!
Best Friends created a false marketing scam for this hoarder no kill, then they didn't take any responsibility.
Do people really believe the lies on the Best Friends website?
Don Chambers, who killed those pit bulls that Best Friends gave him, also was promoted by Best Friends on their website and marketed so he could shill for money from unknowing donors. He was torturing and killing the dogs even as Best Friends marketed him.
They just prey on the mindless idiots through their website and all their "social media" scams. The idiots take Best Friends Animal Society word for it, and send money and support, and help abuse animals while thinking they are doing good.
I suspect that part of the reason that APA wants to take in San Antonio animals is because the cost of the Austin venture is becoming so apparent on the Austin budget as the costs increase 500 thousand each year. If they have a second city, they can give the Austin budget a break for a year or two and use San Antonio's budget to pass costs onto. Reminiscent of a pyramid scheme where you have to bring in additional investors to pay off the previous ones.
Keep in mind that no-kill keeps trying to sell their legislation to states with the false claims of it costing less, so the costs to Austin is not helping their claims. My bet is they think they can obscure those costs with bringing San Antonio into the mix.
Now that is a new thought, Thanks Anon. Got a link on that budget that can be posted to show this?
Here is the link to their most recent proposes budget.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/budget/11-12/downloads/fy12proposed_budget_vol1.pdf
Page 244 shows the year over year numbers. But it's also helpful to search "animal" throughout this publication to read the details.
Who comes up with these numbers in Austin? Is it a deliberate attempt to confuse people? Of all the numbers I see all over the country, Austin is the most confusing of them all.
Anon, I am shocked to see that big of an increase in these hard times. Could I ask you to write a commentary and let me post it as a guest writer? I'm afraid I won't do it justice and I want to put this all over.
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