Austin Animal Shelter tried to ban rescuers from saying negative things about the shelter

Austin Animal Center has been in the animal rescue news as per a report by Nathan J Winograd who has his own organisation called the No Kill Advocacy Center. He has a Facebook page and on that page is a post which explains the situation. In summary, the shelter decided to, in effect, gag the employees to stop them criticising the shelter in public (see FB post below).

Winograd argued that that was a breach of their constitutional rights and also it would increase the prospect of animals being killed at the shelter. He won the argument which doesn't surprise me because he's a brilliant lawyer and an incredibly precise individual. 

He firmly believes that every animal shelter in America should be and can be no-kill which means that 90% at least of the animals at the shelter should be adopted out and not euthanised because a home cannot be found for them. He has advocated for this over many years and in essence changed the face of animal shelters in America of which there are about 4500 as I recall. He says this level of no-kill can be achieved with much better management and a superior method of working bringing together various strands of the rescue process to enhance the chance of adoption.

The shelter address is: A, 7201 Levander Loop, Austin, TX 78702, USA

Austin Animal Shelter. Photo: Google Maps.

Over the years the kill rate at shelters has dropped dramatically; I guess mainly because Mr Winograd. The video below shows the shelter and how they process adopters of animals. Below that is a Facebook post which covers the story nicely. Or if you wish you can click on this link will take you to the main website where I also cover the same story.

Note: Above is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it. The same applies to the FB post.

---