Critical volunteer hours for the Austin Animal Center are not being tallied

According to the Austin Animal Center website, there are about 100,000 free-roaming cats in Austin. That number is a conservative estimate, noting that cats can be impregnated as young as 5 months old and have one to three litters a year, with three to five kittens in a litter.

The Animal Advisory Commission heard public comments from Trap-Neuter-Return volunteers at their regular meeting on Dec. 9. TNR is a part of the Community Cats program, which provides local free-roaming cats with spay and neuter services, as well as other medical care.

“It is important for everyone here to understand the unconventional and often challenging nature of this work,” TNR volunteer Deborah Roe said. “Unlike volunteering at the shelter where hours are time-boxed and tasks clearly defined, TNR volunteers have to create a unique strategy for each cat they trap. Often it takes weeks, sometimes months and even years.”

TNR volunteer Jacoby Alvarez expressed frustration that “those (volunteer) hours are not currently being logged by the Austin Animal Center.”

Don Bland, chief animal services officer at Austin Animal Services, presented a staff briefing on the Animal Service Center. Bland recognized the TNR volunteers’ efforts, stating, “Thank you to all the folks that came and spoke about TNR. That program has increased year after year because of all the efforts y’all make and it is because of y’all’s hard work and dedication that we are doing such good work out in the community.”

Bland addressed concerns from the public comment period regarding the logging of TNR hours.

“We do know that our new shelter software that will incorporate the volunteers is scheduled to roll out in March, but we want to do that before then. … We definitely want to catch y’all’s hours because that is truly a benefit.”

When questioned by Ann K. B. Linder, vice chair of the Animal Advisory Commission, as to why that process cannot be sped up or a “temporary patch” be put in place, Bland said, “The folks who are volunteering for TNR have never gone through the formal process of becoming a volunteer through the city in terms of signing up, having the background checks, the orientation, all of that.”

Bland said TNR volunteers “do need and deserve all the things other volunteers get. We want them to show up at the quarterly volunteer meetings and volunteer appreciation and so we want to include them in and make them a part of the volunteer family.”

The Austin Animal Center logged 6,454 hours of volunteer service in the month of November, not including hours from TNR volunteers.

“Other shelters do that in a year and we do that in a month,” Bland said.

Dec. 9 was the last day for the second round of the Good Fix Clinic. A total of 1,065 animals were spayed and neutered. According to its website, Good Fix is “a program of Greater Good Charities, [that] deploys specially trained high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN) surgical teams and works with professional trapping teams on the local level to humanely control pet overpopulation.”

“I was extremely impressed by the organization,” Animal Advisory Commissioner Lotta Smagula said. “There was never a slowdown of cars going in and dropping off animals. It was amazing to see.”

The next clinic will be held Jan. 9-13 at the Travis County Exposition Center, 7311 Decker Lane, 78724.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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