Dec 24, 2023
0 is the type of younger, good-looking, playful canine who is instantly followed in maximum shelters. He has a grin that’ll make YOU smile, too.
However all all over Texas, canines thought to be “extremely adoptable” in other places within the nation, finally end up on under-resourced shelters’ euthanasia lists — always, and the entire extra so in a enormously difficult 12 months like this one. And that’s what came about to 0.
Our workforce first met 0 all through a web site talk over with at his refuge in overdue August — we have been there to vaccinate pets and in finding alternative ways to help within the refuge’s lifesaving. This giant canine was once heartworm certain, however lively and magnetically satisfied. After we returned to the refuge in November, 0 was once nonetheless there — however wouldn’t be for lengthy. The refuge wanted kennel house, and 0 was once at the euthanasia checklist. He’d been given only one hour left to are living.
And not using a time to waste, our workforce sprung to motion, achieving out to our rescue companions to look if any individual had the capability to take him in — and a relied on spouse in Chicago briefly stated sure. However they couldn’t take 0 in an instant. So 0 got here to Austin, and comfy in an Austin Pets Alive! foster house for 2 weeks earlier than we drove him north to protection, in a van with 22 different pets.
We all the time want extra fosters to briefly soak up pets like 0 who’re looking ahead to their lifesaving freedom rides. Some shipping pets want a foster for 2 weeks — others for as low as 24 hours. Get involved at [email protected] to be informed extra!
Sooner than getting at the van, our Delivery Group Supervisor Zoe Beriss instructed 0 the place he was once going, and what was once happening. “I all the time give them reassuring phrases once they load up,” Zoe says. “I do know they won’t be capable to perceive me, however I attempt to allow them to know that they are protected and they are on their solution to their new properties.“
0 is one among over 2,500 pets whose lives have been stored due to our Delivery Program in 2023 — up 100 pets over 2022. He’s one among 6,000 pets we’ve stored since founding our program in 2021. We’ve been in a position to avoid wasting those treasured lives due to our APA! circle of relatives’s improve — we’ve been in a position to avoid wasting them, due to you.
Listed below are a few of our different 2023 accomplishments we’re so proud to proportion with you, our spouse in lifesaving:
-
This 12 months, we rejoice a milestone this is very just about my middle — the fifteenth anniversary of Austin Pets Alive!’s Parvo Pet ICU, the primary initiative of its type within the nation. The tale of the Parvo Pet ICU started with a easy, but radical concept: to show a bath right into a lifesaving station for doggies stricken with parvovirus. It developed right into a modern program, saving over 1,000 doggies once a year. This initiative is not just remodeling the destiny of numerous doggies in Central Texas however has additionally impressed shelters national to undertake our lifesaving protocols. Reflecting on those 15 years, I am full of gratitude for the improve and trust in our venture. Your endured improve empowers us to redefine what is imaginable in animal rescue and save extra lives on a daily basis.
-
In 2023, Austin Pets Alive! proudly guided just about 12,000 animals thru our refuge, contributing to a grand general of 120,000 lives stored since our starting. Our affect extends past our refuge partitions, as we now have equipped the most important improve to under-resourced shelters, shared lifesaving wisdom thru our No Kill training initiative, and bolstered the bond between other folks and pets with our Human Animal Fortify Products and services venture. Every effort is a testomony to our dedication to saving essentially the most at-risk animals and holding households in combination.
-
We introduced a brand new program to coach the following technology of animal welfare leaders. Austin Pets Alive! is without doubt one of the first actual animal shelters anyplace to have social staff on group of workers. Our groundbreaking social paintings program is making the paintings of animal welfare extra sustainable — this 12 months, increasing the focal point on group of workers wellness with higher trainings on compassion fatigue, disaster reaction, grief and loss, de-escalation, and different essential subjects. In 2023, we additionally introduced our emblem new Puppy Buddies program, a paid internship in which at-risk teenagers be told the bits and bobs of refuge control, and achieve the essential abilities and enjoy to paintings in animal sheltering. We’re so proud that 3 categories of Puppy Buddies interns have now participated on this essential program, in its first actual 12 months!
-
Right here’s a record-breaking accomplishment: This 12 months, we discovered loving properties for 36 improbable incontinent cats, shattering misconceptions about their care. Our workforce has labored tirelessly to dispel the parable that incontinent cats aren’t adoptable. Now we have proven that each cat is exclusive, and with the proper regimen and improve, they are able to thrive in a loving house. Our determination to taking care of essentially the most at-risk populations, like incontinent cats, is unwavering. We are excited to proceed this adventure, saving much more cats and canines with the assistance of our wonderful supporters. This is to many extra a hit adoptions of excellent and deserving animals! (gif of cat that walks on two legs with caption: Child Cheeks is an excellent particular incontinent kitty! An harm paralyzed her hind limbs, and he or she evolved wounds from dragging them round. Lifestyles’s been more straightforward for this lovebug after you have her again legs got rid of, and he or she carries herself to cuddles on her entrance limbs!
-
We set the degree to deepen and amplify our footprint in Austin! APA!’s venture is to avoid wasting pets all over — however our house is and all the time might be in Austin, and in 2023 we set down even deeper roots. Six years within the making, we’ve got a brand spanking new settlement with the Town of Austin that permits us to stay running out of our The town Lake Animal Heart for a minimum of the following 25 years. This settlement grants us two further 25-year extensions, so we’ve got the possible to perform out of TLAC in some shape for as much as 75 years. The settlement lets in us to rebuild at the TLAC belongings, a large venture we’ll adopt over the following 3-5 years. We’re additionally shifting ahead with plans to transport massive chunks of our operations, just like the clinical heart and behavioral heart, off the valuables. Those traits imply we will be able to do much more lifesaving paintings in combination — and we’re past overjoyed to be on our solution to APA! 2.0. Keep tuned for extra thrilling main points in 2024!
0 was once followed only a few weeks after arriving in Chicago. In his adoption photograph, the one smile larger than 0’s is his new dad’s.
Those giant smiles are due to you. On the vacations, and all the time, we’re so thankful to each unmarried APA! supporter who makes tales like 0’s imaginable.
Thanks from me and everybody at APA! for believing that each puppy merits the exact same probability at a luckily ever after — and for status by way of our facet whilst we paintings to reach precisely that.
Ellen Jefferson, DVM
President and CEO, Austin Pets Alive!
P.S. Your reward is DOUBLED when you donate nowadays, as much as $65,000. Don’t wait to make your year-end reward and feature it matched for pets like 0 and Child Cheeks!