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April was a good month for the Austin Animal Center

Thursday, May 11, 2017 by Sommer Brugal

The Animal Advisory Commission received a number of updates from the Austin Animal Center at its meeting Monday night. Chair David Lundstedt said the presentation was, most likely, the highlight of the meeting. One of the more notable updates was the center’s year-to-date live outcome rate, or live release rate. That number is currently 98.2 percent. “Nationally, there’s nobody else doing more than that – and we have open kennels,” said Mark Sloat, Field Services program manager at the Austin Animal Center. He said having open kennels, yet maintaining such a high live release rate, further highlights the achievement. Other successes include the center’s inventory. According to Sloat, the inventory continues to be at its lowest in history, with an average of 600 pets in the center’s care in April. Last month alone, a total of 429 animals were placed in foster homes, while another 70 pets were adopted directly from foster care. For the most part, the updates were positive. Still, though, a few incidents were mentioned. Sloat said Travis County officers responded to a raccoon that tested positive for rabies last month. “This is notable because this is now the fourth animal (the city has) had, other than a bat, that had a positive rabies result with it being a skunk rabies.” Sloat said Travis County hadn’t had a skunk rabies-related case in more than 10 years.

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