County Updates

Planning for Pet Resource Center taking shape

The San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter posts its intake and outcome numbers as well as the amount of dogs currently housed in popup shelters daily on Instagram.

On March 26, the shelter posted that the intake of animals was 18 while three left the shelter, and 37 dogs are housed in popup crates. These numbers are similar to what occurs on a daily basis.

It is clear that the shelter needs help with the large number of unhoused animals in the county. To address this need, Hays County partnered with Austin Pets Alive! to establish a Pet Resource Center in Hays County.

Austin Pets Alive! Executive Advisor Lee Ann Shenefiel gave an overview and final recommendations for the Pet Resource Center to the Hays County Commissioners Court, and the court unanimously approved Amendment 1 for the Pet Resource Center Request for Proposal that added an additional three months (ending June 30) to the Project Coordinator position at the regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday.

Shenefiel said the goal is to build an animal services organization “that supports pets and people in this county and is based on this community’s unique needs and values.” She said that the regional shelter model is not adequate to address the needs of the rapidly growing population in the county. Shenefiel said investing in keeping pets and people together improves outcomes for both.

“A finding that really stands out for me is that children in this country are more likely to live with a pet than they are to live with their biological father,” Shenefiel said. “I think that really speaks to the importance of keeping pets with their people.”

Shenefiel said the Team Shelter USA 2022 Feasibility Study recommended a Pet Resource Center model.

“That model is a smallscale shelter supported by a larger investment in community facing programs and increased access to resources. Those resources can be anything that helps keep people and pets together, including increased access to spay/neuter, vaccinations, basic veterinary care, things like fencing and proper housing, pet food, education, etc,” Shenefiel said. “The basics for this recommendation is that larger scale shelter models where a lot of animals are intended to be housed together and then shelter staff work to find new homes, they’re inexpensive to build. They’re inexpensive to operate, and they’re frankly inefficient and ineffective.”

Shenefiel said the focus of the Pet Resource Center should be on getting those resources and interventions to the areas where it will have the most impact.

“The success of this model really hinges on investing appropriately in each of these areas, so a shelter without the programs and resources is not going to be successful,” Shenefiel said. “Simply put it's not enough to just build another shelter.”

Shenefiel said a good portion of work has been done already toward the achievement of this goal: a Community Needs and Assessment Survey, five community meetings and the virtual Pet Resource Center, which launched in Jan. The virtual Pet Resource Center extended the Hays County Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender Program. The virtual center has information about pet resources and how to navigate pet-related issues. She said that since the expansion in January, the use of the P.A.S.S. has tripled. Shenefiel said that APA has spoken with over 1,200 residents, and that was before the community pet food drive occurred.

“We are primarily supporting Hays County residents who are looking to possi- bly rehome their pet. The other major service gap we’re filling is helping folks navigate financial limitations in accessing veterinary services,” Shenefiel said. “We are working with local nonprofit groups to create a shared foster pool to help increase capacity to pull animals from the shelter. We just held a food drive this past Saturday in conjunction with the Central Texas Food Bank at the McCormick Middle School, which served over 250 residents. We’re estimating well over 90% of those also needed access to pet food, which we were able to give them.”

Shenefiel said the full implementation of the plan could take approximately three years.

“Our recommendation is that program implementation runs concurrently with the shelter planning and construction. Investing in expanding programming now will help reduce intake to the regional shelter as well as help bring down the population of at-risk animals when the Pet Resource Center ultimately opens,” Shenefiel said. “Implementing community level programming helps build trust and relationships with the community. Increased access to resources helps people keep pets. Establishing that continuum of care improves outcomes now, and also presents the opportunity to help create the robust network of fosters I referenced that will be needed to support the smaller-scale shelter.”

Shenefiel said that APA proposes that in the first phase focuses on building out the programming to create the full virtual resource model.

“One of the key programs that we’re proposing in this phase is to create a comprehensive support program to reunite lost pets with their families,” Shenefiel said. “We know through conversations with the shelter and the sheriffs office that there needs to be more resources dedicated to [reuniting families with lost pets]. Also given the scale of need to support pet owners being faced with surrendering, I think that 3,000 caseload number is actually pretty conservative. So we’ll need some dedicated support to be able to continue supporting that program.”

Shenefiel said another part of the first phase is working with human and animal services organizations to capture pet data from their clients.

“We’re also proposing increasing direct support to the San Marcos shelter to be able to relieve some of that intake burden and additional resources made available to the community through things like spay/neuter clinics, microchipping events, food drives, etc. And to ensure that those are hosted and promoted in areas that have the greatest need,” Shenefiel said. “The last significant program in this phase that we’re proposing is establishing the call center. One of the reasons we’re proposing this earlier in this project proposal is that the virtual resource center currently is accessed primarily online. So folks need to have access to smartphones or internet either through their own devices or community groups. Establishing a call center would create a dedicated phone line and a way for folks to actually speak to someone.”

Shenefiel said the last phase would be to fully operate and support the Pet Resource Center model, including the open door clinic, spay/ neuter program and the full physical shelter.

Hays County Assistant General Counsel Jordan Powell said the county is going to overhaul its animal ordinance to include updates in statute changes and changes resulting from legislative cycles as well as to incorporate best practices.

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra clarified what Powell had said.

“I think it's most important in this endeavor to harmonize all of our municipalities and all of our jurisdictions, so that we’re all on the same page working together to bring people and pets together again,” Becerra said.

The virtual Pet Resource Center is available on Facebook at facebook.com/hayspetresource.