Dec 24, 2021
Expensive Buddies,
As this yr involves an in depth, I’m in awe of the lifesaving love that you’ve got for canines and cats who haven’t any different probabilities to outlive. You made certain that pets survived a winter storm. You made certain that Austin remained the most secure metropolis within the US for pets for the tenth yr in a row. You bought APA! one step nearer to maintaining shelter pets within the coronary heart of Austin. Most significantly, this yr, you made certain that greater than 12,000 pets had been saved from pointless demise in shelters.
This yr additionally marked an enormous shift, because of COVID, in the way in which that authorities shelters function everywhere in the nation. For the primary time in historical past, governments are banding collectively to deal with the basis causes of crowded shelters and pointless euthanasia. Though we’re not a authorities shelter, APA! helps to steer the motion in direction of a extra humane, for people and pets, method of working. The present all animal lovers have wished for yr after yr lastly feels possible- to get rid of the killing of shelter pets in America, without end.
Early in 2022, APA! management will likely be sharing our full 2021 impression numbers and highlights, however as you have fun the vacations (in case you have fun them, and nevertheless you safely can this yr) we need to want you and your family members nicely and thanks on your continued position in saving animal lives.
Let’s have a look again on only a few of the milestones from 2021.
February: Winter Storm Uri & the beginning of transport
When Winter Storm Uri hit Texas in mid-February this yr, it leftover 4 million individuals out of energy and water for days. Temperatures bought all the way down to traditionally low single digits, and there was widespread lack of web and cellular phone reception.
In our work, lives are on the road on daily basis. When disasters like Uri hit, it takes a village to make sure no companions’ lives are misplaced — regardless of the circumstances. Our devoted workers and volunteers went above and past to maintain the animals on-site protected and heat, with some workers even sleeping on the shelter.
With the assistance of the group, we had been capable of triage burst pipes and regain energy by way of donated mills. We relied on our group greater than ever throughout this time, and our group relied on us. Our P.A.S.S. (Optimistic Options to Shelter Give up) program was in full drive, saving group pets from the chilly, offering meals and water to pet homeowners in want and a lot extra.
As we gained management over our personal disaster, the main focus turned to animals who had been dropping their lives in shelters that didn’t have energy as we madly transported greater than 1,000 of them to different cities that would assist. Whereas Austin is the most secure place for pets within the US, solely a tiny fraction of the 150,000 animals dropping their lives every year in Texas can get into Austin. The chilly disaster bought us to think about Austin as a pit cease within the journey from one very harmful place in TX to a a lot much less harmful place within the north, even when that ultimate vacation spot is just not at Austin’s stage of No Kill success. In doing so, we began to open the door to creating Texas No Kill. As of as we speak, 2,228 lives have been saved in 2021 due to your help of the transport efforts in Texas.
April: Launched partnership with Austin FC
The primary-of-its-kind honorary mascot partnership featured APA! canines obtainable for adoption as Austin FC honorary mascots at every Austin FC regular-season house match all through the 2021 season. One of the best factor about this partnership is that the main focus was on canines who usually are regarded over within the shelter as a result of they’re too massive or too previous. For the reason that launch of the community-centered partnership, 15 Austin FC mascots have been adopted!
September: Austin tenth No Kill Anniversary
2021 marked Austin’s tenth yr as a No Kill metropolis. When APA! was based in 1997 as an all-volunteer advocacy group, Austin Animal Heart’s save fee was 15 p.c. In June 2008, APA! was reborn as a rescue group and by 2011, the town reached a 90 p.c dwell launch fee, making Austin the most important No Kill metropolis within the U.S.
Ten years later, our metropolis now has a 97 p.c dwell launch fee. Along with you, the best values of the individuals of Austin are represented in the way in which we take care of our group’s pets.
October: Shelter Re-opening
By late October, after over a yr of adopting APA pets completely on-line, we determined it was time to re-open our doorways — safely. With masking and different security measures in place, our shelter is now open Saturday and Sunday from midday to six p.m. Seeing our group members in particular person in spite of everything this time has been one of many highlights of the yr.
November: Metropolis Decision Passes
We pulled off one other season of profitable lifesaving regardless of the challenges with our City Lake facility and restrictions inside our settlement with the town. This November although, we achieved a serious milestone in working in direction of a years-long overdue answer. Our settlement, because it had not been up to date in over 10 years, didn’t permit us to satisfy our group’s mission. We had been restricted by the places wherein we might assist surrounding shelters whereas maintaining Austin No Kill. And we had been restricted to an arbitrary variety of animals that we should pull from Austin Animal Heart, which has the most important municipal finances within the nation, even when it meant we had been duplicating their work.
With out a new settlement, our house within the coronary heart of the town and our daring imaginative and prescient for the way forward for animal welfare was in jeopardy. On November 4th, Metropolis Council voted to permit us to soak up animals from anyplace and stay at house in our present location. We nonetheless should finalize an official lease settlement, which ought to replicate the worth of the land use by way of donated {dollars} we spend to undertake out animals of their cost. However we’re thrilled that one of many two main roadblocks to a profitable authorized partnership is now out of the way in which. It might NOT have occurred with out you elevating your voice and telling the council that saving our four-legged, and generally three-legged, members of the family’ lives, responsibly, issues to you.
Immediately
We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made on our new strategic plan we introduced final yr. We’ve accomplished and are implementing quite a lot of applications to be a sustainable group and to put money into our individuals. We’ve additionally opened our Human Animal Help Companies (HASS) mission so any group could be a accomplice and, in doing so, exponentially grown the work underway to vary the way in which authorities shelters operate- by shifting the main focus from simply animals to families- each human and nonhuman. Immediately we’ve 104 HASS accomplice organizations. Right here at house in Austin, we’re persevering with to seek out higher methods to avoid wasting the lives that we encounter in want, it doesn’t matter what problem or trauma they’ve to beat.
As we are saying goodbye to 2021 and hey to 2022, we’re nearing 100,000 intakes of animals since 2008. That’s practically 100,000 that will’ve been killed for habits quirks, medical points and even only a lack of house at partnering shelters. Along with you, APA! continues to be the security web for pets who’ve nowhere else to show.
In 2021, we by no means might have anticipated the help that you just gave to animals and we’re so grateful for YOU. Nevertheless, we’re nonetheless in need of our December objective for donations to help the work we have to kick off on January 1, 2022. If you’re nonetheless ready to assist financially this yr, please click on right here to make a present as a result of, due to beneficiant nameless donors, it will likely be doubled as much as $100,000 by means of December thirty first. Each bit helps exponentially if given earlier than the yr ends.
Thanks for every little thing you do for the pets that want you most. Joyful holidays and glad new yr!
-Ellen Jefferson, DVM
