contributed by April Peiffer
The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter had another great year of life saving. Overall, the shelter took in almost 7,000 dogs, cats, parakeets, guinea pigs, lizards, rabbits, mice, hens, and roosters. Most of these were, of course, dogs and cats—2,819 and 3,872 respectively—taken in as of mid-December.
Despite having to close for eight days in February, this year has been another filled with many successes.
The positive outcomes—pets returned to their homes, adopted, or transferred to other agencies or areas of the country—are just as impressive. There were 1,426 dogs and 2,674 cats adopted into loving new homes, plus 825 pets were reunited with their families. Thanks to a new part-time employee spending much of her time posting to lost and found pet pages on social media, WCRAS celebrated an increase of almost 20 percent in reunions…that’s an awful lot of tail wags, slobbery kisses, purrs, and kitty biscuits happening all over Williamson County, Central Texas, and other parts of the state.
VOLUNTEER THANKS
The off-site team, a group of volunteers helps tackle kitten season each year by coordinating the placement of the hundreds of kittens, plus cats, in need of homes into off-site partner stores for adoption. This task is a logistical feat that takes a lot of communication and organization. This year, so far, the off-site team has been responsible for 389 cats and kittens finding forever homes. WCRAS is also grateful to partner stores and their off-site cat adoption team for their dedication.
The transport program is just as vital to the dogs’ positive outcomes as off-site is to the cats. Many areas of the country have few adoptable dogs, so our donation-based transport program sends dogs to those areas for adoption. The program has been a huge success, helping 438 dogs begin exciting new adventures.
FOSTER FRIENDS
The foster program is an essential ingredient to the shelter’s life-saving mission. Fosters provide extra space to house dogs and cats who come to the shelter.
Fosters, as individuals, step up and make it possible for us to continue to meet the needs of each and every animal when:
- the facility is over capacity
- puppies or kittens are on the way or in need of a safe place to grow and learn
- dogs or cats need to heal from an illness or injury.
In 2021, the community took in an incredible 2,394 foster pets—even a duck and a lizard!
Every year the community steps up to support the efforts of the WCRAS staff, volunteers, and fosters. Adoptions, donations, social media shares and comments, volunteering and fostering add up to another year of life-saving and an incredible 94 percent save rate.
Click here to learn more about how you can help continue the mission in 2022.