2024 was mediocre; 2025 will be worse

While irresponsible “shelter” directors failed to make commitments to animals, the responsible public did

When it comes to animal shelters — specifically, intakes and outcomes, including adoptions, redemptions, rescue transfers, and killing — 2024 was decidedly a mixed bag. While shelter intakes for dogs and cats remained significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels and declined by roughly 5% from the prior year, only part of that was attributable to the public’s commitment to their animals.

The other part was the continued “shelter” embrace of Human Animal Support Services (HASS), a program peddled by groups such as Best Friends, Austin Pets Alive, and the National Animal Control Association, and individuals such as pound apologist Kristen Hassen, a HASS-enamored consultant.

Under HASS, euphemistically referred to as “community sheltering,” shelters stopped taking in healthy strays, including kittens, telling people to handle them themselves, turn them loose, or leave them on the sidewalk. This puts the onus on residents to do the job they already pay shelters to do through their tax dollars. It also puts animals in harm’s way and ignores their right of rescue.