Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Sales Tax Proceeds Fell for February
Saturday, March 09, 2024
"Breaking Point" for Dog Crisis
Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden wrote City Council members in response to a letter from a concerned citizen about San Angelo's loose dog crisis Her e-mail included:
San Angeloans are in fact at their breaking point. Previously well-intentioned citizens are documented letting their dogs loose behind restaurants, at homeless encampments, and in residences they’ve moved out of.
Citizens are dumping their dogs because the shelter choked off intake for the last five years. Neither death nor moving to assisted living are reasons for the shelter to accept a pet.
Add that the shelter released at least 2,000 unaltered dogs to their owners over the same period.
FY ended 2023 - 358 unaltered dogsPuppies overran the shelter in September 2022 and are doing so again.FY ended 2022 - 674FY ended 2021 - 708FY ended 2019 - 730
We’ve previously stated the City has no contracts with American Pets Alive! or Best Friends Animal Society, and that remains true.Morgan can parse language. The 2020 RFP for Adoption Services specified the shelter's Pets Alive initiatives and vision under scope of services:
Animal Services must be a resource to residents before they’re in crisis by offering free microchips to residents of target neighborhoods, the fence inspection and repair program, and additional Animal Services Officers for enforcement and outreach
113 animals were transferred to rescue, including adoptions coordinated by to Concho Valley PAWS
Friday, March 08, 2024
Shelter Owner Redemptions: Most Unaltered
Over 61% of dogs released to owners from the San Angelo Animal Shelter in fiscal year 2023 were not spayed/neutered. This occurred in the midst of a focused effort to cite pet owners for failure to spay/neuter their pet after an Animal Shelter stay. Here's the data for FY 2023:
Of 583 dogs stays, 358 left the shelter unaltered. That's 61.4%
It's not clear how many of these owners received citations for failure to spay/neuter. That responsibility shifted from a special effort by the City Attorney's office to Animal Services.
Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden promised to provide this information to City Council in a November 2023 memo. I'd hoped to get that one page memo via a public information request. Instead I received a 79 page document. Had staff provided volumes of raw data to Council they likely would have gotten an earful.
Releasing unaltered dogs from the shelter is not a new practice. The numbers are below:Director of Neighborhood and Family Services Bob Salas warned of the consequences of failure to spay/neuter pets.FY ended 2022 - 674 unaltered dogsFY ended 2021 - 708FY ended 2019 - 730Eight month period in 2017 - 500
June 2023: Owners claimed 956 cats and dogs in FY22, 282 of which were already spayed/neutered. 44 pet owners have since provided proof of spay/neuter. 24 provided proof of an exemption, such as moved outside city limits, pet is medically fragile, pet has died, etc. This leaves 606 pets still reporting as unaltered. We’ve cited or filed a complaint with municipal court for almost 400 animals and are moving through the remaining backlog.
1. Releasing unaltered shelter dogs under return to owner, a longstanding practice.2. Failure to enforce mandatory/spay neuter ordinance as promised by Shelter Chief James Flores when Council passed the requirement in 2015. A focused effort by the City Attorney's office had over 600 unaltered animals outstanding from FY 2022.3. Adoption of Pets Alive programming which does not include spay/neuter in their performance measures. Pets Alive programming is specified under "scope of services" in the latest RFP for Adoption Services. The shelter first implemented managed intake for owned pets, then added "found" pets. Owner surrenders fell from the thousands to less than one hundred under managed intake.4. Completely stopping loose animal intake when the dog census hits 180. This hard maximum capacity has been used as a reason for Animal Control officers to not respond to a caught stray dog call. When Council endorsed this strategy the shelter was mostly occupied by large, long stay dogs that are more difficult to adopt.5. Ignoring area dog breeders. Puppies contributed to horrific conditions at the Animal Shelter in September 2022. Recent pictures on the city's Facebook page show puppy after puppy.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Council Endorses "Let Them Roam Unaltered"
One year ago San Angelo's City Council approved nearly $2 million in short term financing for urgent Animal Shelter renovations. It's been seven months since the city paid back the $2 million and renovation plans are not completed. Borrowing costs totaled $93,827 in Council approved tax money.
One month ago Council discussed our community's loose dog crisis and asked staff to bring back prioritized recommendations with associated costs for each strategy.
Last week Council heard about Concho Valley PAWS programming. PAWS is contracted to provide adoption and veterinary services for shelter pets. PAWS Executive Director Jenie Wilson made a number of recommendations, most outside her areas of responsibility as a Shelter contractor.
The Mayor said the city had no money for spay/neuter despite the city releasing thousands of unaltered pets to owners over a two year period.
San Angelo's third world loose pet problem took years to develop. At it's base are irresponsible pet owners who refuse to spay/neuter and properly restrain their dog. Add to that people who'd sought support with surrendering an animal due to life changes. The shelter stopped assisting this group when it enacted managed intake in 2019.
The next group shut out were "good Samaritans" who'd found a lost dog and sought the shelter's help. The Animal Shelter pushed responsibility for found dogs onto the "community." It mattered not if a frail elderly lady found an 80 pound dog in her yard. They were asked to keep it for a few days or turn it back out. Frustrated citizens have been threatened with arrest for trespassing if they show up at the shelter with the loose dog in question.
San Angelo is five years into choking off shelter intake and the impact can be seen on city streets.
"There are more dogs on the streets than there's ever been"--City Councilman Harry Thomas
Two years ago I encouraged City Council to consider Animal Services in their strategic planning undertakings. It seemed an opportune time to review the impact of shelter service reductions and I provided a number of charts showing changes over time. Council had no appetite to explore shelter changes until roaches overwhelmed the facility.
City Manager Daniel Valenzuela conducted a review of shelter operations and implemented a hard cap on dog capacity after Councilman Tom Thompson provided the green light. Citizen access to the shelter did not change. It got worse and the shelter continued taking in fewer animals. That left more on the streets.
Irresponsible citizens who don't spay/neuter or restrain their pets don't complain to City Council. Other groups do. That's people needing to surrender their pet and good Samaritans wanting to do right by a lost pet. Council will continue to get an earful from these folks until the city stops prioritizing large, long stay shelter dogs over serving citizens.
Mayor Brenda Gunter essentially said:
We can't keep throwing more dollars and more people after the problem.
We keep doing this and the problem isn't solved.
We'll spend nearly $2 million on the shelter in the next year and a half
The Mayor did press staff to communicate the responsibilities of pet ownerships to citizens.
Public Information dropped a new video, Concho Critter Show EP1.
Citizens can "access" Animal Services via phone or an online form. The graphic is confusing in several ways. Morgan asked citizens to call the shelter for "time sensitive" issues.
Her list of "call worthy" issues included many of the items physically listed underneath the online form.
Having issues considered "time sensitive" not under the online form may help citizens going forward.
I found it interesting that animal bite wasn't listed as those are up 56% according to city statistics. Morgan stated in the video there were over 260 "animal to person" bite cases in 2023, up from 150 in 2022. She said more dogs at large in the community is contributing to more bite cases.
Residents and San Angelo Police Department know that calls to Animal Services may not be answered, during the day or after hours. They know a "dog at large" may or may not get a physical visit from Animal Control Officer, especially if the shelter is at maximum capacity.
So it was surprising to hear the interviewer state "in every response Animal Services sends out an Animal Services Officer." Citizens have heard frequently that Animal Services is not coming for the very situations listed.
At the 12:10 mark of the video the issue of understaffing comes up. Animal Services Supervisor Carlos Carrillo said he believes Animal Control is understaffed.
Multiple times this council turned down setting aside funds for spay/neuter. The city likely earned interest on the $2 million borrowed for shelter renovations as it just sat in the bank. If the account paid 3% interest over six months, that's $30,000 that could be designated for spay/neuter support. It's not new money.
City Council could decide to dedicate interest earned on shelter renovation funds for spay/neuter. If so, the city should seek bids or approve qualified vendors, similar to its use of outside engineering firms.
The City of San Angelo gave citizens "let them (loose dogs) roam unaltered." Council's lack of response to this long building crisis is concerning. I hope it's not here to stay.
Update 3-1-24: Minutes from the City Council meeting on 2-20-24 state for this agenda item:
No action taken.
Council effectively endorsed "Let them roam unaltered."
....the bid phase is delayed to May 2024 with estimated construction completion in November 2024.
Update 3-19-24: The City could have shared the following document.
It did not share this with the public which might find fault with "deceased animal pickup" being a higher priority than "caught stray dog." That does not sound like life-saving programming.
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Council Hears PAWS Infomercial
Last month City Council asked city staff to bring back recommendations to deal with San Angelo's loose dog crisis.
Today that staff "stepped aside" so Council could hear from Concho Valley PAWS Executive Director Jenie Wilson. PAWS is contractually obligated to provide a number of services to the City Animal Shelter. It's provided adoption services since 2017 and veterinary medical care for shelter pets through several different arrangements.
Wilson offered up the sparest of data, most came from city budget documents.
One might expect to see more information given PAWS is seven years into a contract relationship with the Animal Shelter (with four years of veterinary medical care delivery). The city donated its veterinary surgical equipment to PAWS. It would be interesting to see statistics on its use, spay/neuter and otherwise, for shelter pets, PAWS non-shelter pets and the general public.
Early in her presentation Wilson referred to city euthanasia statistics, saying roughly 80% of animals were killed for space prior to 2016. City data does not support her assertion.
She stressed things had changed since COVID, yet produced no data showing those changes locally and over time. Jenie had the opportunity to talk about shelter adoptions in fiscal year 2023 and clarify things for Council and the public. That did not happen. City data showed adoptions down 49 percent.
Wilson threw up five strawmen that conflated PAWS with the Shelter, even though she stated earlier they are two different organizations:
Strawman #1: PAWS allows pets to leave the shelter unaltered.
Fact: The city allows pets to leave the shelter unaltered. The City Attorney talked about the process of issuing citations to pet owners who retrieved a shelter animal and failed later to have it spayed/neutered.
Strawman #2: Concho Valley PAWS puts pets at risk by offering free adoptions
Fact: People surrender their pet to the shelter because they can't afford it, then look to adopt a new one. Wilson cited this earlier in her presentation to Council
Strawman #3: PAWS doesn't allow other rescues to save shelter pets
Fact: The exclusive relationship between the Animal Shelter and PAWS has driven other rescues away from working with the shelter. Some helped in September 2022 during the roach infestation/horrific hoarding crisis, but that door is now closed.
Strawman #4: Donor dollars pay staff salaries
Fact: Money is fungible. A few sentences on a slide does not constitute a financial audit confirming such a statement. PAWS Executive Director is highly paid relative to other area rescues, some all volunteer.
Strawman #5: PAWS policies have led to closing shelter intake
Fact: PAWS supported Pets Alive and Best Friends Animal Society programming and completed RFP's specifying the implementation of such programming. PAWS representatives served on the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee which voted over time for managed intake to the point that neither "death and moving to assisted living" were valid reasons for an owner to surrender their pet.
At the end of her presentation Wilson made recommendations to address the loose dog crisis. Most were outside her contracted responsibility for adoptions and veterinary care, further confusing the public about roles and boundaries. They included:
- Educate pet owners
- Hiring another Animal Control Officer (specific position for enforcing spay/neuter)
- No breeders permits for dog breeds that dominate shelter population
- Join PAWS efforts to increase citizen access to affordable spay/neuter services
Sunday, February 18, 2024
PAWS Veterinary Services: Part of Contract?
San Angelo City Council will hear an update on the Animal Shelter partnership with Concho Valley PAWS in Tuesday's meeting. The background packet states:
Concho Valley PAWS provides additional services at no-cost to the city, such as medical care for pets arriving or residing at the shelter. All program funding outside the vendor contract is raised by Concho Valley PAWS via donations & grants.
The 2020 RFP specified the adoption contractor provide veterinary care, both routine medical care and emergency medical treatment for shelter animals.
PAWS 2020 RFP submission stated:
PAWS employs a licensed veterinarian to spay and neuter all shelter pets upon adoption.
The organization reminded the community that If pet owners would stop abandoning their pets and stop allowing indiscriminate breeding, there would no longer be an overcrowded shelter.
Friday, February 16, 2024
Old Fire Training Facility to Serve as Temporary Animal Shelter
....the bid phase is delayed to May 2024 with estimated construction completion in November 2024.