Staff, volunteers and members of the community are pitching in, taking extreme measures to protect the dogs and cats at the Austin Humane Society from the relentless heat which was made even worse when a city transformer blew out around 4 a.m and burned out the building’s A/C motors, leaving dogs and cats with no air conditioning in temperatures that reached 112 degrees yesterday. Shelter staff and volunteers immediately stepped in. Fans were brought in, and ice was added to their water bowls.
“I saw it on Twitter first, then Facebook, that there was a call out for ice and fans,” said Terry Woodroofe, an Austinite who brought supplies for the animals. “Anything I could do to help. I want to bring one home, but I can’t.”
More than 200 animals (mostly dogs and cats) were without air conditioning. Because of that, for all adoptions yesterday and today the adoption fees are being waived in hopes of getting more animals into homes quicker. After 14 hours of no A/C yesterday, a temporary fix finally clicked on around 6 p.m. for half of the building. The dogs and cats were moved into the part of the building that staff was able to cool and others were sent out to emergency foster homes in hopes of keeping all of the animals healthy. A permanent solution won’t be in place until Monday afternoon.
Oh my goodness, poor babies. We can’t imagine
Benny & Lily