Crowd Heavily Favors Keeping Shelter Downtown
September 5, 2007– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUSTIN, TX - On Tuesday evening, the Alamo Drafthouse hosted a public debate on the controversy surrounding the City of Austin’s proposal to move Austin’s animal shelter from the shores of Town Lake to a mostly industrial area near East Airport and 7th Street. Following the debate, Austinites voted in a landslide in favor of rebuilding the shelter at its current location.
Tuesday’s debate was part of a series of intellectual forums called the Dionysium series at Austin’s famed Alamo Drafthouse. According to the group’s website, the series is funded in part by the City of Austin and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Ryan Clinton, President of animal-welfare advocacy group FixAustin.Org, argued in favor of rebuilding Town Lake Animal Center on its current Central Austin location. During the debate, Clinton referred to a study by the nation’s preeminent animal sheltering expert, California’s Nathan Winograd, who concluded that relocating Austin’s shelter will be a “death sentence” for homeless cats and dogs who would otherwise find loving homes.
The City’s proposal to relocate the animal shelter has been met with consistent and heavy criticism from local and national animal-welfare advocates who say that moving the shelter away from the heart of Austin will lead to even more animals being killed at the shelter each year. The City currently kills approximately 12,000 dogs and cats each year—about half the pets it shelters.
In November 2006, Austin voters approved a $12 million bond to build a new animal shelter. The bond ballot’s language did not specify whether the shelter would be rebuilt at its current site on Town Lake or moved.
Austinites Favor Rebuilding Animal Shelter in Landslide Vote at Public Forum
In vote of citizens at public forum, Austinites favored rebuilding Town Lake Animal Center 5 to 1 over relocating.AUSTIN, TX - On Tuesday evening, the Alamo Drafthouse hosted a public debate on the controversy surrounding the City of Austin’s proposal to move Austin’s animal shelter from the shores of Town Lake to a mostly industrial area near East Airport and 7th Street. Following the debate, Austinites voted in a landslide in favor of rebuilding the shelter at its current location.
Tuesday’s debate was part of a series of intellectual forums called the Dionysium series at Austin’s famed Alamo Drafthouse. According to the group’s website, the series is funded in part by the City of Austin and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Ryan Clinton, President of animal-welfare advocacy group FixAustin.Org, argued in favor of rebuilding Town Lake Animal Center on its current Central Austin location. During the debate, Clinton referred to a study by the nation’s preeminent animal sheltering expert, California’s Nathan Winograd, who concluded that relocating Austin’s shelter will be a “death sentence” for homeless cats and dogs who would otherwise find loving homes.
The City’s proposal to relocate the animal shelter has been met with consistent and heavy criticism from local and national animal-welfare advocates who say that moving the shelter away from the heart of Austin will lead to even more animals being killed at the shelter each year. The City currently kills approximately 12,000 dogs and cats each year—about half the pets it shelters.
In November 2006, Austin voters approved a $12 million bond to build a new animal shelter. The bond ballot’s language did not specify whether the shelter would be rebuilt at its current site on Town Lake or moved.