How do celebrities show their love for Austin? Many show it by supporting Austin Pets Alive! Today seems like the perfect day to share that love because it’s Betty White’s birthday. In honor of that, a challenge has been given encouraging fans to donate to animal shelters or animal rights charities. Throughout her life, White was a champion for animal rights and she spent five decades working with the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association.
Austin Company “Card My Yard” has even placed a big Betty White tribute at APA! encouraging people to donate to the shelter.
If you take things a step further by adopting or fostering a pet from APA!, you’ll be in good company. Many celebs have volunteered and/or adopted from APA (as has yours truly).
Here’s how some of our favorite celebrities support Austin Pets Alive!
Jonathan Van Ness and Antoni Poworski
While shooting the current season of Queer Eye, Antoni Poworski fostered a dog from the shelter while new Austin resident JVN adopted! He posted about the adoption on his Instagram, calling his new pup “the final member of my animal Fab 5.” He named him Pablo after Pablo Picasso.
Renee Zellweger
After Hurricane Harvey left so many pets in need, Renee Zellweger returned to her roots and took some time to help out at APA! According to fellow volunteer Lois Rodriguez, the Oscar winner “looked online to she where she was most needed and when she saw Austin Pets Alive! was doing much work, her decision was made.” Rodriguez also told KVUE that Zellweger said she used to work at a shelter while she was going to school in Austin, and that she had gotten her dog, Dylan, there.
Rachael Ray and Brooklyn Decker
While Rachael Ray doesn’t hail from Austin, the mayor did make her an honorary Austinite at SXSW in 2014. Post Hurricane Harvey, Ray donated $1 million to help support various animal welfare organizations who are actively working in Texas and Louisiana to care for animals displaced by the storm. Then, in 2016, the chef, talk show host and animal lover shelled out $10K to Austin Pets Alive! as part of her annual Santa Paws campaign. Brooklyn Decker nominated the local animal rescue group.
Justin Theroux
Justin Theroux is not technically an Austinite either, but we’re officially naming him an honorary one. The star of HBO’s The Leftovers discovered APA! while shooting season two of the series in the Austin area in 2015. He first posted about the organization in 2016, pleading with his Insta followers to give this trio a good home.
Then, in April 2017, Theroux went on Ellen to play the game “Hot Hands.” If he won, host Ellen Degeneres said Shutterfly would donate $10,000 to the charity of his choice. That charity just happened to be APA!
“Austin Pets Alive! [is] a wonderful organization in Austin, Texas that’s a no-kill shelter that I love and I used to go and pet their dogs when I was shooting in Austin, and they are great,” Theroux told Degeneres.
Since then, he’s posted and dropped in at the APA! numerous times.
You can read more about Theroux’s love of APA! here:
Danny Pintauro
And finally, in 2019 we posted about Who’s the Boss star Danny Pintauro working at Austin Pets Alive! as a vet tech. We’re unsure if he still works there but we do know he has three pups that pop up o his instagram feed from time to time.
Featured photo via Jonathan Van Ness on Instagram.
