AUSTIN, Texas – Austin is maintaining its status as the largest No-Kill city for shelter animals nationwide after a unanimous City Council vote on Thursday.

  • Austin largest No-Kill city nationwide
  • Save rate raised to 95 percent
  • In 2018 save rate was 97.5 percent

Austin City Council has raised the percentage of shelter animals that must be kept alive from 90 percent to 95 percent. This means that only five percent of homeless animals can be euthanized compared to the previous 10 percent.

Austin has strived to be a No-Kill city for nine years after the resolution passed in 2010. In 2011, the city was able to keep more than 10 percent of animals alive, which has continued to rise since then.

Last year, Austin reached a 97.5 percent save rate through a partnership with the Austin Animal Center and Austin Pets Alive.

Council Member Leslie Pool, Mayor Pro-tem Delia Garza, Council Member Ann Kitchen, and Council Member Alison Alter proposed the resolution that passed on Thursday.

“There was incredible vision in 2010 when our city, just two years after improving an only 45 percent save rate, passed a 90 percent No-Kill resolution,” said Dr. Ellen Jefferson, Executive Director of Austin Pets Alive. “That vision is being surpassed today by passing a 95 percent save rate and taking Austin to the top of the ladder of the national No-Kill movement.”