Already-full Austin Animal Center takes in around 100 cats and dogs over past 2 days
It's a yearly thing -- twice a year actually. Independence Day and New Year's. We humans choose to celebrate the holiday by blowing stuff up in the sky and our pets just don't seem to get it!
Can you blame them?
"There's the light, there's the sound and then they feel it too," said Jennifer Olohan with the Austin Animal Center. "Dogs go into a panic and they could maybe jump over the fence, they could dig under the fence, we've heard stories of a dog breaking through a front window."
With fireworks and storms on Wednesday night, Olohan was afraid there might be more lost dogs and cats coming in on Thursday than usual. "We had a line of people who were waiting to bring in pets this morning that they found last night. Austin Fire Department was here this morning with a puppy that had just wandered into their truck port last night during the storm," she said.
Olohan is talking about Austin Fire Department's "Engine 5."
A pit bull puppy showed up in the midst of the fireworks shows with no collar, no ID. They kept her at the station overnight and brought her to the Animal Center Thursday morning. Lt. Wes Gunn will take care of the puppy nicknamed Julia for the next few days to give the owner a chance to come find her.
Olohan says Lt. Gunn's fostering works out well because the Animal Center already has more than 400 animals and that's over capacity. She says they have dogs and cats in pop-up crates. "Definitely come down here and see if your pet is here because if you wait a week to see if they come back they potentially could be adopted already," Olohan said.
Framary Silverio brought in a little cat Thursday morning that has been camping out on her sister's front porch. "Yeah, I fed her and then I came here because I didn't want her to be outside and get attacked by racoons, it's like the worst thing that can happen so she's here now," Silverio said.
She found her before the storms and fireworks but made sure the kitty was safe during the crazy weather. "She's very submissive so she just went under a little basket that we have outside," Silverio said. "Adopt a dog or a cat if you can. Save a life. It's the best thing you can do."
The Austin Animal Center says they are waiving adoption fees and reclaim fees until Monday.