Of Cool Cats and Hot Dogs

Austin Humane Society, the largest nonprofit no-kill pet shelter and adoption center in town, recently suffered a tremendous setback: yesterday, the facility's A/C system abruptly shut down. A subsequent inspection found the system to be broken beyond repair. "Our air conditioning unit died," said AHS representative Lisa Starr to KXAN. "Went kaput."

The center is installing a temporary mobile A/C unit today, but this solution won't work for the long term; even now, the animals are still at considerable risk of heat stroke, which could lead to anything from nausea and loss of consciousness to permanent brain damage and death.

AHS needs to raise an astounding $200,000-$300,000 to install a new A/C system, which a nonprofit of their size can't possibly accomplish without considerable help from the community.

"We are asking for help from the community. We're asking for donations," said Starr. "This is just a huge, unexpected expense that we're going to have to have."

If you'd like to help out, several ways of donating exist:

Online
Over the phone at 512-646-7387 ext 226
In person at 124 West Anderson Lane [map]

One of our readers also had an excellent suggestion: do you know of an environmentally-friendly and, more importantly, cheaper alternative to installing a $200k-$300k system? Feel free to pitch your ideas in the comments section.

[Austin Humane Society]

Thanks, Laura M! Photo of Gotham, Austinist editor's former (and neurotic) Jack Russell Terrier

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Allen Y Chen in News on June 15, 2007 3:55 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

M1EK

Winston,

That's the point. Maybe we ought not build buildings that can't function without air-conditioning if they're going to be used by a group for whom air-conditioning is a nigh-unsustainable expense.

Ahaley,

Suck it.

Shawn Shillington

To me, this is another indication of the beauty of the Town Lake Animal Center - no A/C, but still always nice and cool, even on a hot day. It makes moving it to a cement box on the East Side seem like less of a good idea.

Ahaley

Wouldn't be a good week without having M1EK go off on something. Ahhh, le sigh...

Winston

These animals aren't exactly sitting outside under majestic pecan trees and sipping fresh water from a nearby stream.

Maybe you haven't been to the Austin Humane Society building, but it isn't terribly shady there, and it isn't feasible to open the doors and windows for ventilation. So yes, it is sort of like an "unventilated cement box," only better because there is a lot of glass to let in the sunlight.

But even if the dogs and cats don't need air-conditioning, the people who work and volunteer there might appreciate it.

coffee cat

My cat is outside all day during the summer. She finds cool places to hide in the shade and sleeps.

What is AHS....a large unventilated cement box? I have friends with pets in Vegas who keep their animals outside all day w/ plenty of water and shade. And it gets to 115 out there.

M1EK

That's insane. A well-ventilated and well-shaded facility should be fine for most cats and dogs without A/C, given sufficient water. Many of the animals will be living large portions of their day out in the weather anyways if they're adopted. What, do they think we didn't have cats and dogs before air conditioning?