What is a no-kill community?

Austin Animal Center, the city’s animal shelter, helped extend Austin’s status as a no-kill community, according to the animal services office’s 2016 annual report.

A no-kill community keeps 90 percent of animals sheltered at its facilities alive. In no-kill communities, euthanasia is reserved for terminally ill animals or those deemed public threats.

The AAC kept alive 95 percent of the cats and 98 percent of the dogs in its shelter system in fiscal year 2015-16. This includes companion animals adopted, transferred or returned to their owner and excludes those court-ordered or owner-surrendered for euthanasia.

Austin City Council passed a no-kill implementation plan in 2010, which requires a greater-than-90 percent live outcome goal.

In a Jan. 11 memo to council, Tawny Hammond, chief officer for the city department, said the shelter reached its highest life-saving rate in the city’s history despite a “challenging year of weather events” that caused the shelter’s animal population to sharply rise.