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Abilene officials respond to video of shelter animals during hot weather

ABILENE, TX — A video is circling around Facebook raising many questions as to how the city is managing animals at the shelter during hot weather conditions.

The woman who shared the video didn't want to show her face on camera said on her Facebook post the AC was broken in the cat room and that staff just put a small fan in the room, Wednesday afternoon.

"Things break, it happens to everyone. But you don't leave cats in there to possibly have heat stroke,” said the woman.

The AC did break but in a different part of the shelter and they’ve been working to keep the animals cool, said Mirenda Walden, director of Abilene Animal Services.

"The AC in the cat is working, but it's just not keeping up,” said Walden. “It's one of those evaporative cooler systems. So the more humid it is the less effective it is."

The city bought 7 fans and a portable cooling unit because the AC in the yellow canine room broke.

"Between 5:30 and 8 o'clock at night we moved some cats out of that room so they can get cooler,” said Walden.

"I don't understand why they did not move those cats long before they looked they were going to have heat stroke,” said the woman. “Cats can have stroke just as well as humans."

"We have not lost any cats or kittens due to heat exhaustion,” said Walden.

Shelter staff is giving animals a little ice in their water to help during this heat wave.

As far as the AC in the yellow canine room, they hope to have it fixed tomorrow morning. They also plan to add a third AC unit to the cat room soon.

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