REGIONAL NEWS
Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter
P ugerville Animal Shelter
Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter
P ugerville Animal Shelter
400 350 300 250 200 100 150
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Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter has been overcapacity most months since May 2022.
278
254
The P ugerville Animal Shelter* has managed to stay under capacity.
Capacity: 260
Caging accommodation: 106
*THE PFLUGERVILLE ANIMAL SHELTER DOES NOT TRACK CAPACITY THROUGH THE NUMBER OF ANIMALS,
40
27
26
50
BUT RATHER THROUGH WHAT IT CALLS “CAGING ACCOMMODATION.” THE SHELTER HAS CAGING ACCOMMODATION OF 106.
0
June 2022
July 2022
Aug. 2023
Sept. 2022
Oct. 2022
Nov. 2022
Dec. 2022
Jan. 2023
Feb. 2023
March 2023
April 2023
SOURCES: PFLUGERVILLE ANIMAL SHELTER, WILLIAMSON COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELTER COMMUNITY IMPACT
Local shelters continue to combat capacity problems
Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter scal year 2022-23 budget:
BY BRIAN RASH
nonpro ts, volunteers and area o cials continue to search for solutions to a problem they said is likely not going away anytime soon. “We’ve been putting out a lot of asks to our com- munity, to our volunteers, to our fosters just to make it through, literally sometimes day by day,” Valenta said. De ning the problem Summer Pavliska, a longtime dog foster and Round Rock resident, said shelter capacity issues grew soon after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions started lifting and people realized they didn’t have the time to care for their animals. “Everyone was getting a dog because everyone was sheltering in place,” she said. “Then the world starts opening up, and people realized they didn’t have time to care for their animals.” Other local experts cited additional reasons for the population spikes at animal shelters. Sheila Smith is the founder of Round Rock-based nonpro t Shadow Cats, which maintains a sanctu- ary for special needs cats, and said other reasons for shelter population spikes could include a reduction in a ordable spay and neuter services. Regardless of what’s causing the population jumps, local shelter o cials said more needs to be done. WCRAS Program Coordinator April Pei er said despite a $10.5 million expansion of the facility in 2019, shelter spikes are keeping pace with and sur- passing available capacity. The budget rose to $2.8 million in scal year 2022-23 from $2.6 million in FY 2021-22. After the expansion, critical capacity for dogs at the WCRAS rose to 170 or higher, and a comfortable capacity became 110 or lower, she said. As of late April, the dog population at the shelter rose to 186. “I don’t know that we’ve ever gotten into trouble with cats in the same way we are with dogs right
As space issues continue to a ect area ani- mal shelters, o cials in Williamson County and P ugerville are ramping up e orts to mitigate pop- ulation spikes. Misty Valenta, Williamson County Regional Ani- mal Shelter animal services director, said her shelter has been at critical capacity since at least last year. As of late April, the WCRAS dog population was at 169% capacity. Meanwhile, Rhonda McLendon, director of animal welfare services for the P ugerville Ani- mal Shelter, said the city facility is maintaining a manageable population but continues to increase additional adoption e orts to keep the populations under control. However, both shelter leaders said they expect their animal populations to grow in the coming months as kitten populations tend to rise substan- tially in late spring. Amid the ongoing capacity struggles, shelter sta ,
P ugerville Animal Shelter FY 2022-23 budget
SOURCES: PFLUGERVILLE ANIMAL SHELTER, WILLIAMSON COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELTER COMMUNITY IMPACT
has to do with the service area. While both shelters include geographical limita- tions on animal intake, the WCRAS service area is much larger than P ugerville’s and includes all of Williamson County minus Georgetown and Taylor, Pei er said. Austin Animal Center services the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and all other unincorpo- rated areas within Travis County. To help keep the WCRAS from going too far over- capacity, Pei er and McLendon said sta and vol- unteers have ramped up e orts in recent months, spearheading more adoption events, fostering calls and boosting community outreach e orts, among other initiatives. On a larger scale, in late March, Williamson County o cials approved an agreement with the city of Georgetown to conduct a $50,000 feasibility study on the viability of discontinuing the George- town Animal Shelter and expanding the WCRAS with funds from a potential November bond elec- tion, pending results from the study. “If [the study] nds that we can work together to build a building that would accommodate for every- one and accommodate for growth, then that would really help so many situations,” Valenta said.
Due to several challenges, including a high rate of animal intakes, two local shelters are working to mitigate ongoing adoption needs.
Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter
P ugerville Animal Shelter
Dog count: 24
Dog count: 186
Capacity: 169.10%
Capacity: 22.64%
now,” Pei er said. Finding solutions
NOTE: AS OF APRIL 24 SOURCES: PFLUGERVILLE ANIMAL SHELTER, WILLIAMSON COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELTER COMMUNITY IMPACT
Pei er said one reason it has been so di cult for the WCRAS to get below capacity, at least for dogs,
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CEDAR PARK FAR NORTHWEST AUSTIN EDITION • MAY 2023
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