San Saba County Friends of Animals to discontinue operations

Since its formation in 2012, San Saba County Friends of Animals has helped over 2,100 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens find new homes through our rescue and adoption program. We have provided happier, healthier lives for approximately 2,200 free-roaming cats through our “trap/neuter/return” program and have made low-cost spay/ neuter services available to nearly 300 family pets. Countless other animals have benefitted from our efforts to reunite lost and found pets with their owners and through our pet assistance programs.

Regrettably, after this year, we will no longer be able to provide these services to our community. The board of directors of San Saba County Friends of Animals has made the difficult decision to discontinue all operations of the organization as of December 31, 2023.

Last year, our president (who has held the position since 2012) let the board know that 2023 would be her last year to serve in that role. We have spent the past 18 months searching for a capable, responsible individual who is willing and able to take over leadership of San Saba County Friends of Animals. Unfortunately, we have not found that person.

As most know, we have been closed to intake since December 1st of last year. We still have a small number of animals in foster care that we are working to place, either through adoption or by transfer to one or more of our rescue partners. For the remainder of 2023, we will continue to operate our TNR and low-cost spay/neuter assistance programs. If you have already signed up for one or both of those programs, we will do our very best to help you by the end of this year. We will also continue to post lost and found pets and to help as best we can through our pet assistance program.

We want to thank everyone who has supported San Saba County Friends of Animals over the past 11 years. Our organization has always been 100% volunteer-run, with no paid staff whatsoever. A lot of individuals – in particular, our amazing foster families – have sacrificed greatly to help make life better for companion animals in need. Other folks have donated cash or items or have participated in our many fundraisers to help cover food, supplies, and medical care for our foster animals, as well as to fund our other programs. The vets and the staff at San Saba Animal Hospital have provided many hours of care at reasonable prices and have accommodated us in other ways to ensure that the animals we brought to them received the medical attention they needed. For many years, ACO Jason Vogel worked closely with us to ensure that unclaimed dogs and cats in the San Saba shelter found new homes. Our rescue partners (both in and outside of Texas) have been instrumental in helping to place our fosters with “forever” families.

Our hope is that we have helped our community recognize the importance of animal rescue, the benefit of spay/neuter and regular medical care for pets, and all that can be accomplished by people working together to help companion animals. If so, our work will have a lasting impact. Thank you for always being a friend of animals in San Saba County.