Austin Pets Alive keeps Austin no-kill

Austin Pets Alive will be able to continue their efforts of being a no-kill animal shelter after Austin City Council approved at their last meeting an extension of their lease and are allowing them to renovate the building.

APA became a no-kill animal shelter in 2008 and was face this year with the threat of having to shut down if their lease was not renewed. The original lease was supposed to be temporary and end in 2015. However, the shelter and the city of Austin have decided that it is better for the city to continue to build on to the current shelter instead of at a new location.

To persuade the council to vote in favor of renewing the lease, APA volunteers and Austin citizens were asked to send a letter to council members expressing their want to keep Austin a no-kill city with the help of APA, according to volunteer Mary Hedengren. Hedengren volunteers with the Ruff Tail Runners program and regularly exercises the dogs on the trails around the Town Lake location.

“Keeping the shelter is a win all around for the community,” Hedengren said. “If they were farther south I wouldn’t be able to volunteer.”

The lease that APA has with the city of Austin states that the shelter must only pay for utilities. According to Rebecca Reid, marketing manager for the shelter, they also have to reach a certain quota of animals saved that would normally be put down by other shelters. For example, they must save 1,500 bottle babies (orphaned unweaned kittens).

“It’s a great win for them,” Nathan Smith, owner of Austin Tenant Advisors, said. “Especially since the city could definitely make more money by selling to someone else. In that area you would normally pay $32-45 per square foot per year.”

In addition to allowing Austin residents to adopt animals, they also have several other programs to encourage healing animals instead of putting them down. Some of these include the FeLV Sanctuary that helps cats that have feline leukemia find homes.

“We look at the demographics of which conditions cause the most animals to be put down by other shelters and ask ourselves: how can we help those?” Reid said. “We wouldn’t be where we are with all of our programs.”

The majority of their help around the shelter comes from volunteers, like Hedengren. According to APA, they had roughly 3,000 volunteers in the year 2013.

“About half of APA is ran by volunteers,” 20-year-old volunteer Josh Moczygemba said. “And they are always looking for more help. I have seen the good these people have brought to battered animals first hand and am extremely proud to be able to assist this noble organization. “

APA is continuing to grow and the renovations that they are now able to make will help expand the shelter even more. They are planning on making changes that will bring them up to health and safety standards such as replacing cement in kennels, electrical rewiring in some rooms, and getting a new industrial dryer.

In forms submitted to the IRS by APA they stated that in 2012 the total revenue collected was $2.5 million while in 2013 it increased to $4 million. The majority of revenue generated by the shelter comes from individual donors, according to Reid. Between 2012 and 2013 the amount of contributions increased by $1.5 million. After all expenses have been factored in to the revenue for the year, the net fund balance for the year was $2.2 million.

“Every day we are growing more,” Reid said. “We are super grateful to the city for renewing our lease. If it hadn’t Austin wouldn’t be no-kill.”

Photos of shelter here