Please get involved to OPPOSE both of these proposed budget reductions:

Proposal ID: HHS-11: “Fund one day of sterilization program costs with donations.”
This means that half of the free sterilization program funding would be cut from the City’s general fund, and funded instead through unsolicited, and unguaranteed, donations to the City.  This could potentially displace the important programs that are already funded through the donation program including treatment of sick and injured animals at the shelter.

Proposal ID: HHS-26, “Eliminate a day of the sterilization program.”
This means that after they have already moved one day of program funding out of the General Fund, and half is still remaining, they would cut the remaining half.  The cut of the remaining day means over 2,000 pets that will not receive this service.

We oppose these budget reductions for the following reasons:

1. Reducing the funding for spay/neuter means more homeless animals will die.
Shelter intake rates drive euthanasia rates.  If more animals enter the shelter next year, the number of animals killed will also increase, reversing the progress Austin has worked so to make over the last several years.

2. Reducing the funding for spay/neuter actually costs more money than it saves.
A 2005 LBJ School study of fie years of program data conclusively determined that the free sterilization program reduced the intake of dogs and slowed the intake of cats at the shelter when compared to the non-program area.  A reduction of half of the program funding would cause a decrease of about 2,000 surgeries each year.  Eliminating these surgeries will lead to an increase in shelter intake, and that will cost the City far more than they will save by reducing this funding.  One surgery costs about $33 while the cost to shelter one animal is $141.95.

3. Reducing the funding for spay/neuter puts human health and safety at risk.
Spaying and neutering animals make them safer to live with humans. Because the budget reductions also include the elimination of free rabies vaccinations, these animals will also be more likely to transmit the deadly rabies virus if they do bite humans. Eliminating the only source of accessible pet sterilization and vaccination in these neighborhoods puts Austin’s poorest children and families at risk of needlessly contracting dangerous diseases transmitted by unhealthy animals.