San Antonio Animal Care Services Closes to Intake

I reside in one of the best cities in the world- San Antonio, Texas. I love this city. It has a little bit of everything and it is home to the Spurs (Go Spurs!). I previously wrote an article about the wonderful things this town has to offer and I stand by that it is a great place to call home. That is, unless you are a stray animal.

San Antonio has one of the highest euthanasia rates in the nation- over 50, 000 animals a year. A few years back a fantastic reporter, Lisa Sandberg, wrote an expose on the conditions at San Antonio Animal Care Services (the pound, but they changed the name to appear more user- friendly). A portion of the public responded creating groups and coalitions to promote animal welfare reform.

The previous director stepped down and a new one was brought in- laterally from another city employment managerial position.

Animal Care Services began - finally- to work with rescues and a volunteer and adoption coordinator was hired. Approved rescues can now come in and rescue animals as they are able.

A new animal care facility is in the process of being constructed to the tune of 12-14 million dollars.

Fast forward three years- a few changes have been implemented. The one MAJOR change has been that they no longer gas the animals, but instead use lethal injections. Another new director is at the helm that is rescue friendly and a new veterinarian has been hired.

The new facility is not yet open and it will be located deep on the South Side of San Antonio, no longer centrally located right off downtown across the street from the zoo. The only negative aspect about ACS's current location is the utter lack of parking, but then again, so few people visit the pound, that parking is not essential.

The people who work at ACS are nice. Although, they are attempting to make changes and promote a better image, the workers are still not receiving adequate training when it comes to the care and identification of the animals. So breed specific rescues are not always contacted in time, or at all to save a life. One adoption coordinator can only do so much in a day and -believe me -she has her hands full.

They have built a new adoption center and interim waiting center area at its present location, which are well maintained.

Last year during kitten and puppy season, on more than one occasion, Animal Care Services closed for intake for seventy two hours because of the finite amount of space they have. They had so many animals; a hundred euthanizations were being performed daily. Not only do they need fosters, but are in need of adoptions. The adoptions at Animal Care Services have increased exponentially, but the amount of intaking has not.

As of yesterday, Animal Care Services is closed for intake again due to the vast numbers of animals being picked up as strays or owner released. A hundred animals a day are being euthanized just to maintain a balance between the influx of animals being picked up, or brought in and the available space they currently have in their facility.

Overcrowding is not beneficial to animals. Health reasons alone are reason enough to place a cap on the number of animals this facility can intake.

This is not a tirade against Animal Care Services. This is a tirade against the people of San Antonio who do not spay and neuter their animals.

Lisa Norwood, an Animal Care Services official, stated to KSAT news
"When we see dozens of animals, dozens of perfectly healthy animals, perfectly adoptable animals that are coming in everyday simply because the owners don't want them anymore, there's a problem," Norwood said. "We need the community to come aboard with us and embrace the spay-neuter message."

San Antonio has low cost spay and neutering available from several venues. The Animal Rescourse Center, which is located on San Antonio's west side, bases their costs on a sliding scale. And one Saturday a month, they offer FREE spay and neutering. SNAP (Spay-Neuter- Assistance- Program) offer low cost or free spay and neutering as well. They have a mobile unit set up in various parts of town throughout the week. Some animal hospitals will work with indivuals to provide low cost veterinary care.

Assistance is all around. San Antonio wants to be a pet friendly town, but not all its inhabitants' seem to get that message.

Please spay and neuter your pet. Do we really want our Animal Care Services to be continually at its cap or do we want to decrease the number of unwanted animals another way? The right way. Adopt, rescue, foster. But first and foremost- spay and neuter the animals.