Georgetown Edition | November 2022

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MAINTAINING NO-KILL STATUS To be deemed a no-kill facility, a shelter or rescue organization has to have at least a 90% live release rate for the animals in their care. Both local shelters have maintained their status for several years.

HUNTER TERRELLCOMMUNITY IMPACT

While the WCRAS’ average number of animals has exceeded capacity each month this year, the Georgetown Animal Shelter has not. However, Shawn Gunnin with the GAS said the shelter’s bandwidth has still been strained due to the high number of dogs in its care.

90% threshold

Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter

Georgetown Animal Shelter

Has maintained no-kill status since 2014

679

95.3% 94.3% 93.6% 94.2% 95.7% 94.1%

Georgetown Animal Shelter FY 2016-17 FY 2017-18 FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21 FY 2021-22

50 0 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700

513

341

Has maintained “no-kill” status since 2010

Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter capacity: 260

93% 94% 95%

FY 2016-17 FY 2017-18 FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21 FY 2021-22

Georgetown Animal Shelter capacity: 99

95.3% 94.4% 96.2%

Live release rates

2022

JAN. FEB.

MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT.

SOURCES: GEORGETOWN ANIMAL SHELTER, WILLIAMSON COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELTERCOMMUNITY IMPACT

SOURCES: GEORGETOWN ANIMAL SHELTER, WILLIAMSON COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELTER COMMUNITY IMPACT

“I can’t remember the last time we were comfortable,” Peier said. Over capacity The WCRAS—which serves the cit- ies of Round Rock, Cedar Park, Hutto and Leander as well as unincorporated regions of Williamson County—was already facing hard times when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Peier said. In scal year 2017-18, the WCRAS took in 2,689 cats and 3,664 dogs. “Being forced to close our doors [during the pandemic] to walk-ins and potential adopters and fosters impacted our sta and resources tre- mendously,” Peier said. “Not to men- tion the safety concerns for our sta and volunteers. We had to put in a lot of work to keep our operations aoat.”

During that time, the organization placed major emphasis on fostering and curbside services. “The community reacted well to our shift in services,” Peier said. “But the number of intakes did not slow.” Peier said fostering allows the facility to open up space for at least two weeks as more animals come in. Located 4 miles north of the WCRAS, Georgetown’s shelter had a similarly tough time following the height of the pandemic. Gunnin said she thinks because peo- ple did and still are experiencing nan- cial hardships and employment issues, more people have had to unexpectedly surrender their pets. “COVID was a hard time for every- one,” Gunnin said. “Unfortunately, it

hasn’t gotten much better.” Aside from accepting surrenders and strays, both facilities work closely with animal control departments, including taking on animals from cruelty cases. In August, the WCRAS had to take in 44 animals from a cruelty case when the facility already had more than 400 animals in its care. “Circumstances like that push us to our limit,” Peier said. Peier and Gunnin said the sum- mation of animals from cruelty cases and from everyday surrenders has taken a toll on their resources and sta. “We can’t predict these situa- tions,” Gunnin said. “So when some- thing like a cruelty case happens, we have to work with what we got.”

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than available kennels. Shawn Gunnin, program coordina- tor at Georgetown Animal Shelter, said the cat population at the shelter has been light this year but varies between 20-100 kittens at a time. “It’s been a tough time, and I am anxious as to what’s to come,” Gunnin said. One potential solution would be building an addition to the George- town shelter or consolidating its oper- ations with those of the WCRAS. With both facilities consistently fac- ing overcrowding, nancial struggles and understang, Peier and Gunnin said they have been overwhelmed for months, if not years.

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