After spending some time at this shelter, we can honestly report that the best thing Pflugerville's lost and homeless animals have going for them is the potential for Shelter Director Lt. Bill Anderson, his Animal Control officers, and their growing team of volunteers, to engage the whole community in working to become a model No Kill city focused on saving lives instead of making excuses for ending them. "No Kill" is not so much about budgets and shelter facilities as it is about communities working together to save lives.

Statistics from the Pflugerville Animal Shelter show the city could quickly become nationally recognized as No Kill with an organized effort from its animal-loving citizens. This would erase the shame of the city's recent decision to spend $7 million dollars on a library expansion while its homeless animals got a few new fans (to help keep their eleven adoption cages in the open-air shack the city calls a shelter below 110 F during the summer) and a donated washer/dryer!

Currently, Mayor Coleman's boast on the city website that Pflugerville "provides the highest quality of services..." ignores the animal shelter like a dirty family secret. Though change is beginning to happen, at this time shelter volunteers must be thick-skinned enough not to mind seeing animals unattended up to 19 hours at a time because staff and volunteers are not present to care for them, leaving dogs panting in cramped kennels that have no temperature control, and learning that healthy, loving animals they've been caring for were killed when the tiny facility got full. After the community has embraced all elements of the No Kill Equation, and resources have been allocated to bring Pflugerville's animal shelter out of the dark ages, Mayor Coleman's boast that "Pflugerville remains a place where quality meets life" will be an honest one.

Get involved!

History

Current Status

GET INVOLVED!

• Send emails to city officials - see EASY instructions on right

• Volunteer at the shelter
  If you live in or near Pflugerville, this is the BEST way to help the animals and move the city toward becoming a No Kill community! Volunteering with animals and the public CAN be a creative, fun, and satisfying job WHEN it focuses on saving lives through maximizing reclaims, adoptions, rescues, and fosters.
  

  Until the volunteer program in Pflugerville gets organized enough that volunteers know their time is being maximized, and the Mayor, City Manager, and City Council replace their old excuses with a lifesaving mission that gives the community hope and something to work toward, volunteers must be prepared to handle frustration and heartbreak.

  Currently, scheduling of individuals for tending the animals and helping at too few off-site adoption events is non-existent. Volunteers are expected to stay "positive" in the face of tragedy as animals are trapped inside small, hot (and often dirty) kennels without air conditioning, often neglected due to city understaffing, and then killed when kennels and cages in the make-shift shack are full. As in other backward cities that see volunteer programs as more trouble than they're worth, one volunteer was even threatened with dismissal for asking too many questions and voicing too many concerns.
  
  Nevertheless, change is underway and volunteering is the best way to help it move forward. The animals who cannot speak need people to care for them as well as speak up for them. PAC's on-line volunteer application is at the bottom of their web page. Since training classes are offered infrequently, you might ask Lt. Anderson if he would allow you and other interested individuals to fill out the required paperwork and view the instructional DVD's so you can get started helping as soon as possible. The animals need you!

• Sign the on-line petition
  You do NOT have to live in Pflugerville to sign the petition asking the city to build a new shelter.

• Visit the shelter
  8am - 6 pm, 7 days a week, 1600 Waterbrook Drive. You may schedule an appt with Pflugerville Animal Control at 990-PETS. If you arrive without an appt and officers are not on site, call the Police Dept at 251-4004 and dispatch will send someone to meet you.

• Contact media
  Click here for excellent advice on writing press releases!

• Donate to the shelter
  Pet food, treats, toys, or blankets can be dropped off at the Police Dept (across from Walmart on Pfennig Lane). Or contact Lynn Vaughan at 512 587-8221 or Lynn@Lynnspetsitting.com and she can pick them up and deliver them to the shelter.

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CONCERNS FOR CITY COUNCIL

• A full-time Shelter Supervisor who is passionate about transitioning from traditional to No Kill is urgently needed. Despite best efforts of current shelter staff, demands of their on-call positions leave animals unattended for UP TO 19 HOURS AT A TIME and too many healthy, loving animals are killed at the discretion of staff because of "space/time" concerns. As desperately as a new shelter is needed in Pflugerville, it's already been proven in many other cities that facilities don't save lives, PEOPLE do! That's why a new Shelter Supervisor must be the city's top priority. Financial help is even available for cities who are committed and working toward No Kill goals!
• The city desperately needs an aggressive low-cost spay/neuter program to curtail its homeless pet population. The shelter is often filled to capacity, with many dogs and cats not spayed or neutered. Females are often pregnant.
• Reclaiming, adopting and rescuing animals are hindered for reasons that are easily and economically remediable:
  • Many elements of the No Kill Equation are completely missing in Pflugerville,
  • Most Pflugerville residents are not even aware the shelter exists:
    • Street signage needs to be enlarged and strategically placed to help the public find the shelter in its current location behind the Gatlinburg Subdivision.
    • Information about the shelter should be prominently displayed on the city's website to accommodate citizens looking to retrieve beloved lost pets or seeking to adopt new ones.
    • Public service announcements, news articles, and advertizements via local TV, radio, and print media informing the community about current lifesaving efforts and victories at Pflugerville's animal shelter, showcasing a shelter "Pet of the Week," extolling the benefits of adopting shelter animals (as opposed to buying pets from breeders), etc., are needed to increase public awareness and grow the volunteer team.
  • Kennels are locked and six days a week there is only one Animal Control Officer on duty and that person is often out on call. A full-time Shelter Supervisor is urgently needed to assist the public.
• The shelter's PetFinder site (showing lost and adoptable pets) is not updated daily. This is critical for the sake of citizen's lost pets as well as homeless animals who deserve a chance to find forever homes.
• Although conditions at the out-dated, make-shift facility are maximized by Lt. Anderson and his staff using the meager resources they are given to work with, Mayor Coleman, City Manager Brandon Wade, and City Council are LONG overdue in budgeting for a real animal shelter:
  • The small kennels and tiny stackable cages are often filled to capacity.
  • In the adoption ward, the eleven dog kennels are too small for large dogs; cots take up almost half the space and there are no outside runs.
  • In the intake ward, kennels are even smaller and the structure is not fully enclosed. The outer "wall" consists of a chain link fence with plastic covering.
  • There is no central heating or air conditioning. In the summer temperatures inside both wards can reach 105 degrees F even with the newly installed wall fans operating. If fans could provide adequate defense against central TX summer temperatures (which regularly reach over 100F in Pflugerville), city officials would surely consider installing them in their own offices in lieu of expensive air conditioning to save money. In winter kennels are drafty despite the addition of space heaters that were added to try to prevent winter temperatures from falling below 65 degrees F.

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HISTORY

Pflugerville's current animal shelter was built about twenty years ago. Since the year 2000, the city's population has grown from approximately 17,000 to over 50,000. With this increase has come an increase in the numbers of homeless animals.

Conditions improved somewhat at the Pflugerville Animal Shelter (aka PAC or the Pound) after a rescuer “blew the whistle" in January 2006 and citizens complained to city officials about poor kennel conditions and the shelter's use of a barbaric, inhumane gas chamber to kill unwanted animals.

The kennel attendant was fired, two Animal Control Officers and two part time employees were hired, and the shelter started using lethal injection to kill animals when they run out of kennel space.

Facility improvements included upgraded electricity and water heater, and the addition of three wall fans in the kennels and two large outdoor exercise pens for the dogs. A washer/dryer combination and a dishwasher were also donated.

To increase adoptions, Pflugervillle Animal Control (PAC) officers began taking dogs offsite to Petco and PetsMart as well as transferring animals to the Humane Society of Williamson County (a No-Kill facility) and a cat rescue group. Concerned citizens formed Friends of the Pflugerville Pound (which has become mostly inactive) to increase community involvement through volunteer participation.

Since May of 2006, PAC held about six training classes but attendees either decided not to volunteer or quit after only a brief time. Two volunteers who quit said they found it too depressing to see the animals in their small enclosures with no heating or a/c. Other people who decided not to volunteer complained the shelter was too depressing and/or there was too much bureaucracy involved.

Several years ago a new animal shelter facility was placed on the City of Pflugerville's bond election issues to be voted on. The shelter's supervisor Lt. Bill Anderson did extensive research for the new facility estimated to cost approximately $1,000,000. In the end, the bond committee voted not to include the new animal shelter on the bond package but instead proposed spending $7 million dollars on a library renovation. Citizens voted without being made aware of the needs at their city's animal shelter!

In 2006, Police Chief Hooker informed City Council that when Pflugerville developed the Justice Center’s master plan, an animal shelter would be included right next to the Justice Center. A high traffic location right across from the Walmart store would have been ideal! Now, Chief Hooker says that the area behind the Justice Center is too small and the nearby property is too expensive to purchase.

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CURRENT STATUS

Currently, Plugerville's animals are languishing in an old, tiny, open-air, shed-like facility while plans commence for the city's new $7 million dollar library expansion project. For the animals and the people in the community who care about their welfare, this is entirely inconsistent with the city's motto: "Where quality meets life!"

While Lt. Bill Anderson and the current PAC staff work hard to maximize the pathetically meager resources they are given to work with, the truth remains that:

• The shelter location is hidden out-of-sight and out-of-mind,
• The facility is twenty years old, make-shift, and not even fully enclosed,
• Kennels have no temperature control,
• Kennels are very few and very cramped,
• Animals are killed at the staff's discretion after their hold times are up,
• The shelter is tragically understaffed,
• Animals go unattended up to 19 hours at a time (meaning that during this time the bored, playful ones who overturn their bowls have no water and some dogs end up sleeping in their own waste),
• Animals come last on their city's list of budget priorities.

The city urgently needs to hire a full-time Shelter Supervisor. Currently the kennels are locked most of the time. Six days of the week there is only one Animal Control Officer on duty; on Wednesday there are two. ACO's are often out on call. This means visitors, rescuers and citizens seeking to reclaim lost animals or adopt new ones often have to call the police department and have dispatch arrange for one of the officers on duty to meet them at the kennels (a huge inconvenience for most busy people).

The most heart breaking concern (besides the killing that happens when kennels are full) is that animals can go unattended up to nineteen hours at a time. The part time staff leaves at 1:00 p.m. and regular staff doesn't return until 8:00 am the next day.

While Lt. Anderson and his staff are currently getting some help from community volunteers, and a new citizen group has formed whose goals and priorities are unclear at this time, citizen activists should not be expected to take on the duties of Animal Control Officers or a much-needed Shelter Supervisor which their tax money should already be paying for!

In progressive No Kill cities, volunteer energy and enthusiasm are directed toward creative programs and activities designed to get the animals out of the shelter and into good homes. Volunteers don't face having to learn that animals they cared for and bonded with were killed because of tired, out-dated excuses like "budget, time, and space." They are encouraged to focus on tasks that maximize adoptions and minimize killing to the true definition of euthanasia (Mosby's Dental Dictionary, 2nd edition: 1. an easy or painless death. 2. the deliberate ending of life of an animal suffering from an incurable disease...). They enjoy the satisfaction and fulfillment that comes from saving lives, and are motivated by that hope to dedicate more time and energy to the cause.

Until Pflugerville gets on board with the No Kill movement and passionately commits to making it happen in their community, the future for Pflugerville's homeless animals remains uncertain.

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