Austin’s Ryan Clinton, founder of FixAustin.org has been recognized for his work on the no-kill efforts here in Austin.
Successful Austin lawyer and advocate for lost and homeless pets receives national honor for No Kill leadership.
AUSTIN, TX – Local attorney Ryan Clinton received the No Kill Advocacy Center’s Henry Bergh Leadership award today, an honored bestowed on six people in the nation for their work on behalf of companion animals. Clinton accepted the award live on the nationally syndicated radio show Animal Wise Radio based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Austinites know Clinton from his work as founder of FixAustin.org, a non-profit advocacy organization that aims to end the killing of lost and homeless pets at Austin’s Town Lake Animal Center. In 2007, FixAustin.org successfully led the effort to keep open part of the current shelter as an adoption center when the City builds a new shelter in East Austin.
According to No Kill Advocacy Center director Nathan Winograd, Clinton received the honor for raising the issue of shelter killing on the Austin City Council agenda, an effort that recently culminated in the Council’s unanimous decision to embrace a plan to make Austin a No Kill City.
Local attorney and fellow animal advocate Lorri Michel was pleased with the No Kill Advocacy Center’s decision to honor Clinton. “Change is in our midst here in Austin and it’s because of Ryan Clinton,” Michel said. “He challenged us, he educated us, he organized us and he gave us hope. It has been such a privilege to be a part of the work Ryan has done here in Austin.”
In addition to his non-profit work, Clinton is a highly successful appellate attorney. He has won seven cases in the Texas Supreme Court, and has five times been named one of Texas’s best appellate attorneys under the age of 40 in Texas Monthly magazine. Among his most notable victories are his successful defense of Texas A&M University in litigation arising from the tragic Bonfire collapse, and his successful defense of the Texas Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act in the Texas Supreme Court. Clinton is currently in private practice at Hankinson Levinger LLP.
Although Austin’s shelter has killed over 100,000 animals this decade, the number killed each year has significantly declined due in part to the implementation of policies advocated for by FixAustin.org. Other communities have ended the killing of healthy and treatable pets.
Congratulations, Ryan! And thank you!!
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