City of Georgetown Texas > Georgetown Animal Services > Newsletter

Dog Walk Recap

What a nice day we had for our dog walk!  Thank you to everyone that participated and helped with the event.

  • Thanks so much to Nick Ramos for designing our popular Paws shirts.
  • Thanks to our vendors and the canine freestyle demonstration lady that added another nice addition to our event.
  • Thank you to Mike Cox (owner of The Creative Advantage) for being our photographer.

The walk had about 65 dogs participate and raised $1300 for the Friends!  We would love to have even more participants.  If you have ideas about enhancing this event, please share them!

Interacting with Bats

Warmer weather means increased activity in area wildlife, including bats. The most populous species of bat in the area is the Mexican free-tail, with several large colonies in or near Williamson County. They are insectivorous and help control our insect population, decreasing the need for dangerous pesticides.

On the occasion that a bat does enter a building, many will exit on their own, if given the opportunity. Turn off any interior lights and allow a clear pathway such as an open door for them to escape.

As long as there has been no risk of human exposure, dead bats can be disposed of by sweeping into a dustpan and placing in the trash.

Bats hanging on the outside of buildings are common in the area and, if left alone, will usually fly away at dusk.

If a bat lands on the ground, it has difficulty becoming airborne again and usually will attract attention from pets in the area. Make sure to keep your pets up to date on rabies vaccinations, and close off pet doors at night to lower the possibility of an encounter since bats are nocturnal animals most active at dusk and dawn.

If there is a possibility of either pet or human exposure, please contact Animal Services immediately at 512-930-3510 (non-emergency police dispatcher). We will need to collect the bat to submit it for testing at the Texas Department of Health to verify the absence of the rabies virus.

Bats are an essential part of the Central Texas ecosystem, and it is estimated that less than half of 1% carry the rabies virus. If precautions are taken when dealing with them, a safe coexistence can be maintained.

For more information, visit the Bat Conservation International website at www.batcon.org .

Drink Wine, Save Puppies

Join The Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter for the spring “Drink Wine, Save Puppies” Happy Hour on Thursday, May 2, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.  The happy hour will be hosted by the Framer’s Gallery on the Square in Downtown Georgetown.
This fun event will feature fabulous wines, light appetizers, and a small silent auction, all while enjoying the inspiring artwork on display in the gallery.  We’re raising funds for shelter expansion.
You will help us save lives by drinking a glass of wine and bidding on fabulous items.  Happy hour as a good deed and helping homeless pets find their forever homes for only $20?   Does it get any better than that?!  Invite your friends and buy your tickets today! 
 

Statistics for February

February was a good month for the shelter.  We had a record number of adoptions – 70!

And we only euthanized 13 animals, which was only 8% – another “NO kill” month!

Statistics for January

Animals impounded: 104 dogs and cats

Euthanized 14 animals (8%) !

Once again, we achieved NO KILL STATUS!

Challenges of Managing Animal Health

There are many challenges with managing an animal shelter, and of course the biggest is managing the animal’s health. Every shelter gets sickness, but acting quick is the key to controlling it. About 3 weeks ago we thought a couple of our dogs were coming down with kennel cough, then we noticed that some had runny noses, then runny eyes – not your typical kennel cough symptoms. Soon almost all the dogs on the adoption side of our kennel had some kind of sickness symptoms, and what was I going to do. So we erred on the sign of caution and quarantined our shelter, and treated the dogs with antibiotics. Happy to say our advisory board veterinarian has given us the all clear, so we are now well though very full. To help move our dogs we are waiving the adoption fee for the next week. If you know anyone that wants a dog or puppy tell them to come by this week!

Volunteer Hours

We keep track of volunteer hours, but until our volunteer Russ Ruff offered to put the hours on an Excel spread sheet I didn’t know just how many volunteer hours y’all are putting in. WOW – for the month of November volunteers spent 467 hours in some kind of volunteer capacity for us. And year to date hours are over 6200 hours! That’s amazing – thank you so much to all!

Start the New Year Off By Becoming a “Friend”

Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter had an amazing 1st year as 501C-3 organization, raising over $26,000. To accomplish even more this next year won’t you consider becoming a “Friend”? Even if fundraising isn’t what interests you there are lots more roles that we could use help with. The next general membership meeting is January 21, 2012 @10am. We meet at the Parks & Rec admin bldg (1101 N College).