Austin Pets Alive! helps coastal shelters evacuate pets

Austin Pets Alive! is helping shelters along the Texas coast that are preparing to be affected by Hurricane Harvey. Volunteers are working hard to transport as many animals as possible to APA!.

"Historically, when hurricanes hit, many shelters have euthanized their animals to prepare for an influx of more animals as well as for human evacuations," said Dr. Ellen Jefferson, Executive Director of Austin Pets Alive!. "We've already been receiving calls for help as well as doing our own outreach to coastal shelters - because of our No Kill community.  Austin is the safest large city for pets in the country, so we're planning to do everything we can to get pets to safety."

Austin Pets Alive! has been reaching out to counties and shelters along the coastline to help rescue at-risk pets and is now expecting a significant number of animals to be arriving at the Austin shelter.

The organization, which is already at full capacity, is making a community-wide plea. In order to save the lives of these animals APA! needs urgent help from our community in the following ways:

• Dog and cat fosters to help clear the shelter in preparation for taking in animals transported from the coast. People interested in fostering just need to fill out a dog foster application or cat foster application.
• Donations. The most urgent need is large crates, as without these, APA! will not be able to transport and house any additional animals. They are also asking for cat litter, litter boxes and wet food for both species. More needs can be found on the APA! website.
• Financial support to help support any animals with medical conditions or injuries and for supplies to support the increase in animals at the shelter.
• Volunteers to sign up and register as an APA volunteer and be on call and ready to help this weekend, pending further information.

For more information or to donate supplies or funding, click here.