Tagged: Animals

After three reports of smell pets being attacked in the last month, the City of Kyle Animal Control Department is asking pet owners to be extra cautious as the area's predators become more active.

Three attacks, occurring at night and the early morning within fenced in back yards, have left three pets dead in the Kyle area. The neighborhoods of Amberwood, Steeplechase, and The Trails are all involved.

Austin’s Animal Advisory Commission is considering a recommendation at its meeting tonight that would ban the use of so-called “painful devices” – such as whips and electric prods – on elephants. The policy would mostly affect animals in town for the circus.

The idea was brought forward by a group called Action for Animals. Last year, commission chair David Lundstedt says the same group approached the commission about banning circuses with animals from coming to Austin altogether.

More than 100,000  cats and dogs are euthanized every year in Texas shelters. Euthanasia by carbon monoxide – essentially a gas chamber –  is still common practice in nearly 30 shelters.  

Within the last five years, almost 30 Texas cities banned gas chambers, switching from carbon monoxide to lethal injection. Pennsylvania and Louisiana banned gas chambers statewide last year.

Many of us here at NPR have pets or are animal lovers, and recently discovered that National Dress Your Pet Day is in January. We were inspired by this to ask you to show your appreciation for public media by accessorizing your pet.

To have a little fun with it, we want you to snap a picture of your pet listening to your favorite public radio station.

Can you put a price tag on man’s best friend?

The Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday morning in a case that could answer that question.  An animal shelter employee is appealing a lower court’s ruling that found her accidental euthanasia of a family dog gave the pet’s owners grounds to recover damages related to the dog’s “sentimental or intrinsic value.”

Austin Animal Center is urging residents to “cast a ballot for companionship” on Election Day this Tuesday.

Tomorrow marks the final day of the center’s “Elect to Adopt a Homeless Animal” campaign, which launched on Thursday, November 1. As a part of the campaign, Austin Animal Center is waiving adoption fees for all dogs and cats. Adopted animals will be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and equipped with a collar and tag.