Friends,
I need to discuss something urgent with you, and we need you. Each of you.
Starting Tomorrow, August 13, the Austin City Council will vote on a budget proposal (Agenda Item 19) that would allow spay procedures on pregnant shelter dogs and cats, even when safe, loving foster homes are ready and waiting to care for them.
Let me be clear:
This is not the cost-saving measure it is falsely proposed to be.
It is a waste of taxpayer money, shelter kennel space, and expensive veterinary time to perform complex, risky, bloody surgeries on pregnant animals.
And it is inhumane, targeting animals who are days or weeks from giving birth.
Austin Pets Alive! already accepts 100% of requests to take pregnant and nursing animals from the Austin Animal Center when they ask us for help. We have the fosters, the resources, and the track record to care for these mothers and their puppies/kittens without costing the city a dime. We’ve been doing it for years.
So why is this policy even being proposed? It’s being disguised as a “budget” item but it actually costs the taxpayers MORE. The real capacity problem at Austin Animal Center is a backlog of non-pregnant adoptable animals waiting in kennels for routine spay/neuter surgeries, not pregnant dogs and cats who can all be moved to APA! for free. Every extra day a pet waits in a kennel until there’s room in the surgery schedule costs the city more and is a contributor to overcrowding.
If this policy passes, it would mean ending the lives of puppies and kittens who are close to being born before they even have a chance, despite foster families and adopters lined up for them. It would mean performing unnecessary, complex and risky surgeries on dogs and cats.
This is a line in the sand for us. Austin became the nation’s largest No Kill city because our community stood up for animals when it mattered most. This is one of those moments.
We need as many voices as possible speaking up before and during Wednesday’s vote.
1. Call and Email Your Council Member Today
Tell them: “Please vote NO on Agenda Item 19. Austin Pets Alive! takes 100% of these animals at no cost to the city. This policy is unnecessary, inhumane, and wastes taxpayer resources.”
Call your City Council Member’s office (find your City Council district here) and find a list of Council Members here, and let them know you are a constituent and would like them to “vote no” on Agenda Item 19.
2. Sign Up to Speak at City Council
Budget Adoption Reading of the Austin City Council: Hybrid Speaker Registration and Rules - Meeting on 8/13/25 at 10 am.
In Person: Sign up at City Hall by 9:30 a.m. tomorrow
3. Show Up at City Hall
Fill the gallery so the Council knows Austin cares about its shelter animals.
Wednesday, August 13th 10 AM | Austin City Hall. More information here: https://www.austintexas.gov/department/city-council/2025/20250813-reg.htm
We need you:
As the city’s largest animal welfare partner, we work hard to be a good partner. We have been very clear about two organizational red lines: this and the city’s commitment to a 95% live release rate.
We’ve been here before — Hurricane Harvey, Bastrop fires, Winter Storm Uri, the Central Texas floods, and every time, this community came together to do the right thing.
Now I’m asking you to do it again. Every call, every email, every seat filled at City Hall could save lives. Let’s ensure Austin remains a city that protects its most vulnerable animals.
With urgency and gratitude,
Ellen Jefferson, DVM
President & CEO, Austin Pets Alive!
