Cuddly Quarantine

Queer Eye star drops into Austin Pets Alive! to foster dog during quarantine

Antoni Porowski and his foster dog, Neon.

Courtesy photo

The Fab 5 from Queer Eye are currently in town to film the sixth season of their hit Netflix show, and one is making especially good use of his COVID-19 quarantine time.

Food guru Antoni Poworski recently stopped by Austin Pets Alive! to do a little Facebook livestream, showing off the pit bull/beagle mix named Neon that he's fostering and encouraging Austinites to foster or adopt while we're all stuck at home.

Austin Pets Alive! is aiming to get at least 50 percent of its animals in homes, as there are fewer people available to care for the cats and dogs currently in their possession. Both of the Town Lake Animal Center and Tarrytown locations currently have normal hours of operation.

To become an APA! dog foster, click here. To become a cat foster, click here. All fosters must apply online prior to coming to the shelter to pick up an animal. To sign up to be an emergency on-call foster for Austin Animal Center, email animal.foster@austintexas.org.

"Finding foster homes for as many of our animals as possible has been absolutely crucial," says Austin Animal Center's Jennifer Olohan. "It helps with kennel space and it lessens the burden on staff who have already lost all volunteer support. It also gives the animal an opportunity to decompress from life at the shelter, and helps us learn more about their home life behavior. So that when the shelter is back open to adopters, we can have all kinds of notes and information about that animal and make even better adoption matches."

Those who cannot adopt or foster are encouraged to make a donation via the APA! website or purchase something from the organization's COVID-19 wishlist, found here.

Meanwhile, Austin Animal Center is currently closed to the public until March 30. It will not be facilitating adoptions during this closure, but will still approve foster applications and transfer of animals to rescue organizations.

AAC will not be taking in any animals from the public that are brought to the facility. If you find a lost animal, take these steps to reunite it with its owner:

Submit a Found Animal Report by calling 311 or using the Austin 311 app.
Take the animal to any Austin fire station or recreation center, a veterinarian, emergency animal hospital, or pet store to have the pet scanned for a microchip.
Post the pet as found on sites like Nextdoor, Craigslist, and Austin Lost and Found Pets.
Hang flyers where the pet was found, as most pets are found less than 1,000 feet from their home.

Animal Protection Officers will still be responding to calls of service in the community based on priority level response, which consist of rabies quarantine/bite investigation calls, and aggressive and/or injured animal calls.

If a resident has lost their pet and believes the animal is at AAC, they may call 512-978-0556 to begin the process of reclaiming their pet.

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MESSAGE OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE

Austin theater auctions off chance to write message on iconic marquee

Paramount Theatre/Instagram

The Paramount Theatre is auctioning off the chance to share a holiday message on its marquee.

Austinites craving the limelight might get the chance to see their name in lights — or at least a personalized holiday message — illuminated on one of Austin’s most historic marquees.

As part of the Austin Theatre Alliance’s final 2020 auction to raise funds for the Paramount and Stateside theaters, the nonprofit is offering up an array of unusual and very “Austintatious” items for bid, including the chance to share a customized holiday message on the iconic Paramount Theatre marquee.

The auction item is one of several dozen currently up for bid through ATA’s online holiday auction, which runs through December 11.

With a starting bid of $1,500, the Paramount marquee message is one of the pricier items in the auction, but it may be well worth the glory, as the winning bidder can treat all of Austin to a two-line, 80-character custom holiday message that will be professionally photographed and live on the marquee for a minimum of four hours. (It should be noted that the chosen message is subject to review. After all, this is a nonprofit theater marquee, not the infamously sassy El Arroyo sign.)

Having to cancel or reschedule hundreds of planned shows because of COVID-19 concerns, the Paramount Theatre has had a particularly rough year but recently reopened at 25 percent capacity for limited engagements, like its Holiday Film Series, which is currently underway. Funds raised from the auction enable the ATA, which manages the Paramount and Stateside, to reach Central Texas students through virtual programs, employ venue staff, and help the historic theaters survive the pandemic.

In addition to the Paramount marquee message item, the auction also includes other perfectly weird items befitting a homegrown Austin event, like Matt Lankes photos of Willie Nelson playing chess and the late, great Billy Joe Shaver looking contemplative while perched on a bridge in Waco; and several autographed guitars, including one commemorative acoustic guitar signed by 10 of Austin’s most notable musicians, Ruthie Foster, Carrie Rodriguez, and Tameca Jones among them.

Of course, there is no lack of booze-forward packages, hotel stays, and artist-signed prints also up for grabs. But true lovers of the Paramount Theatre will find the item with the highest opening bid ($5,000) steals the show: a private catered dinner for four on the Paramount stage.

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