Animal shelter breaks no-kill record

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austinites love their pets, and in the month of February the Town Lake Animal Shelter saw just how much, first hand.

“I just wanted to share great news with you. Our February Live Outcome rate is 92%!,” wrote Filip B. Gecil, Interim Chief Animal Services Officer for the Town Lake Animal Shelter, in a message emailed to volunteers on Tuesday.

“We achieved what no city or open intake shelter of our size achieved anywhere in Texas,” wrote Gecil. “This has never happened in the 60 year long history of the shelter.”

Austin City council passed a resolution in March of 2010 making Austin’s Town Lake Animal shelter a no-kill facility.

The measures put an immediate stop to killing animals at Town Lake Animal Center if there is empty cage space, and mandated that Austin move toward a 90 percent save rate at Austin's animal shelter.

In 2009, the city was forced to euthanize more than 7,000 animals left at its animal shelters. That's down from the 12,000 in the previous year. Groups here in the city believe there are plenty of options to save animals here in the city.

"If you are dealing with only one piece of the issue, then you are really not solving the problem," said Council Member Laura Morrison. "You need to deal with all the pieces."

The City Council also voted to build a new animal shelter in East Austin last year. The construction timeline on that project is about 18 months.