AWASA History

AWASA was incorporated in late 2001 as an alliance of individuals and animal welfare organizations in Southern Arizona.

  • Working with AWASA in September of 2001, Tucson's Mayor and City Council made an official Proclamation that Tucson would become a city with "no more homeless pets," and presented the Proclamation to AWASA.
  • In July of 2002, with tight budgets for both the City of Tucson and Pima County, it became apparent that the budget for Pima Animal Control Center (since renamed Pima Animal Care Center) was going to be cut by 10%. This was unacceptable, since PACC was already under-funded. AWASA members went into action and, working together, were able to get the PACC budget reinstated.
  • Tucson's City Council then solicited input from AWASA regarding the Intergovernmental Agreement they have with the County for Animal Control.
  • In an ongoing effort to keep community officials aware of the Animal Welfare issues in their wards and districts, representatives of AWASA have met with almost every City Council Member and most of the Board of Supervisors. We will continue to remind them that there are a lot of animal people in our community - and that animal people vote.
  • Moving quickly to action, AWASA - literally at the last hour - mustered enough support from the City Council to prevent an ordinance that the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association was trying to sneak through that would have banned dogs from their street fairs.
  • Our friends from the PETCO Foundation and The ASPCA provided AWASA with a grant that allowed us to post ten Spay/Neuter billboards throughout the community. (See "The AWASA 2003 Spay/Neuter Billboard" link in the left margin for photos!)
  • Also in 2003, AWASA hosted the first annual Southwest Conference on Animal Welfare withcorporate sponsors including Petfinder.com, PETCO Foundation, and the ASPCA.
  • Tucson joined many communities in the nation, by officially participating in National Feral Cat Day in 2003. City Council member Fred Ronstadt, on behalf of Mayor Walkup, read the official Proclamation. Many thanks to Mary Phelan of Feline Uprising for the original idea.