Mass euthanization scheduled this week

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Last week, 15 cats were surrendered to Town Lake Animal Center by their owner who was moving.

One was already euthanized on Wednesday. Five are already spoken for thanks to a foster organization. Four cats, however, still need a home before they're scheduled for euthanization Friday night.

"Someone cared for these cats and made them social and loving, but unfortunately had to leave them all at the shelter," said Dr. Ellen Jefferson with Austin Pets Alive. "They don't have much time."

The reason there is such a rush on this is because all the cats have colds. In cats, colds are easily treatable. However, a cat with a cold must be put in isolation because it is heavily contagious.

Town Lake does not have the room or the space to isolate all of these cats, and the longer they stay at the shelter, the higher the risk of infecting other animals there. So, they are facing death.

It takes about 10 days to treat a cat with a cold. Austin Pets Alive is offering to provide the medications that are needed for a cat to recover from the cold.

Luckily, these cats can be taken by either foster homes or people who wish to permanently adopt them. However, they plan to euthanize these cats by Friday night.

This becomes a bigger issue for taxpayers in Austin. About $5 million is allocated to the Town Lake Animal Shelter every year from the general city budget. This money goes towards the maintaining of animals at the shelter. Obviously, it is cheaper to euthanize a cat than to keep it alive.

"Most shelters get beat up for euthanizing too fast to save money rather than paying staff to clean and feed and medicate animals 'til they get adopted," said Dr. Jefferson.