The Austin Animal Center is urging the public to help foster animals as it grapples with overcrowding, Austin-based media outlets reported.
Citing the facility’s Instagram profile, Austin CBS affiliate KEYE reported that canines are being kept in crates in places where stifling heat proves too much.
The situation in question has drawn the attention of at least one member of the Austin City Council in Mackenzie Kelly, per a report from Austin ABC affiliate KVUE.
KVUE reported Kelly sent a memo to her colleagues at the horseshoe on Monday, recalling her visit to the facility, describing the overcrowding of dogs as “a distressing situation.”
The councilwoman is worried things could worsen as temperatures in the state capital flirt or surpass the century mark.
"Oh, my stomach hurt big time," Kelly, the lone Republican on the city council, said, KVUE reported. "I wouldn't want my worst enemy to be treated in that condition."
As to why the areas where the dogs are kept are having difficulty staying cool, the shelter said on Instagram its “Porta Coolers have broken,” KEYE reported.
“Repairs are taking place but will not be immediate,” the post read. “We have dogs housed essentially everywhere a dog can be reasonably [and] physically housed.
“We do not have space for one more single crate,” it added.
According to a report from Austin NPR affiliate KUT, the shelter opened in 2011 with a capacity to house 309 dogs and 165 cats.
As of Monday, there were more than 550 dogs and at least 660 felines.
Per KUT, animal advocacy groups claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic and the city’s no-kill policy created the present problem.
Thursday marked the first day of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ (ERCOT) weeklong weather watch.
Austin Journal reported that the operator of the state’s energy grid cited forecasts of triple-digit heat and the likelihood of increased demand for issuing the watch.