Animal Shelter Opens Intake After Five Years

Nearly six years ago the City of San Angelo Animal Shelter implemented managed intake for owned pets.  Months later they added strays or unowned pets.  Both of these changes made it harder for citizens to surrender their pet or a found stray to the shelter.  

In November 2022 that became near impossible, after Council put a hard cap on shelter capacity.  

For fiscal year ended 2024 the Shelter accepted 22 dogs for owner surrender, less than two per month.  

San Angelo's street dog population exploded due to the cumulative impact of these changes combined with irresponsible pet owners.  Dog on dog attacks rose.  Dog and dog pack attacks increased, harming children, the disabled and elderly on city streets.  

Note the city's press release on the change starts with:

To improve public safety and address the number of stray dogs....

Concho Valley PAWS mobilized their PR machine, expressing concern over the euthanasia of dogs for space.  

Five years of the City's "let them roam unaltered" means San Angelo has a surplus of loose animals.  CVPAWS has been a close partner of the shelter that whole period.  

It took years of inattention to the public's needs for the problem to grow so severe and for residents to be attacked by dogs with increasing frequency.  Protecting human life is more important, especially those most vulnerable.   

PAWS has ready access to the media and a history of political influence.  Citizens attacked by a roaming dog(s) rarely wish to share that story.  Council members know because concerned parents, employers and neighbors contact them, frequently sharing their outrage.

In November 2024 a City Animal Control Officer was brutally attacked and mauled.  Thank God, he survived.  That event got Council's attention.  If it could happen to a professional what chance would a child or elderly person have?  

The owner of the dogs that attacked the Officer had been cited for having too many pets.  Social media reports indicate the owner tried to surrender dogs to the shelter but were refused.

Leaving loose, unaltered dogs on the streets has not worked for San Angelo.  There's a way to get to "No Kill" and its not through slick fundraising, slogans or exhortations. It would have been wonderful if every dog that entered the shelter in the last five years left spayed/neutered, went to the home of a responsible pet owner with a well fenced yard, and never got out of their enclosure or off their leash while on a walk.  That did not happen. 

San Angelo's Animal Shelter has to deal with the bad hand it helped create.  Having its adoption/veterinary service partner adhere to an unsuccessful "No Kill" strategy that harms vulnerable citizens should tell City Council something.  They get to decide what that is.

Update 3-1-25:  PAWS PR arm is going into overdrive with a protest planning meeting scheduled for Monday evening.  Supporters will plan their messages for public comment at Tuesday's Council meeting.  I haven't seen where dog bite victims and their families are getting together to coordinate testimony.  Children, the disabled and the elderly aren't quite as politically nimble as PAWS.

Update 3-4-25:  PAWS supporters took up most of the seats at City Council's meeting this morning.  City Manager Daniel Valenzuela was clear that he opened intake for public safety purposes and to address San Angelo's loose dog problem.  PAWS Director Jenie Wilson and PAWS supporters did not agree with Valenzuela's assessment or action.  Wilson characterized the situation as "stirred up by several people."  However, Animal Services data on "animal to people bites" indicates otherwise.  Council members know full well the complaints they regularly receive from citizens regarding dog packs and dangerous dogs in their neighborhoods.

Update 3-5-25:  PAWS calls the shelter actually serving citizens vs. large, long stay, difficult to adopt shelter dogs "catch and kill."  Concho Valley Homepage ran a story on the campaign, while San Angelo Live published PAWS Director Jenie Wilson's letter.

Update 3-13-25:  Best Friends Animal Society's Senior Director of National Programs Brent Toellner attended the contentious City Council meeting and met with City Manager Daniel Valenzuela later that week.

No Sign of Shelter Renovation Bidding

Two years ago San Angelo City Council approved borrowing $2 million to fund two capital projects. Animal Shelter renovation and street light installation.  

The street light went in but shelter renovations are yet to even go out for bid.  City staff missed date after date after date it represented to Council.  

Mayor Brenda Gunter asked staff for an update at a recent Council meeting.  So far there is no sign of a public response.

Update 3-16-25:  The current Capital Improvement Plan has a 4-2-24 start date for Animal Shelter Rehabilitation.

It's One of Many

The City of San Angelo has designed and implemented Animal Services policies and practices that are maddening.  Responsible people are treated like criminals and irresponsible pet owners have a perpetual free pass.

This sleight of hand is accomplished with a cadre of partners.

The failure to accept loose dogs has had significant public health impact with large increases in "animal to people" bites and "dog on dog" attacks.  Those attacks severely harmed children, the disabled and even a trained Animal Control Officer.  

This is why there is an Animal Services & Control Taskforce.  Six years of "managed intake" turned into "no intake."  The shelter accepted 22 dogs via owner surrender in FY 24.  In 2016 the Animal Shelter accepted 2,920 owner surrenders of all types.  The difference (over eight years) did not all end up on city streets, but many did.  

You couldn't design a better system to "not serve" citizens.  And the Shelter Chief and City Council state otherwise.

Update 2-24-25:  Most members of City Council have been highly complimentary of shelter management and staff, ignoring the many voices that have expressed concerns over the years.  Most, but not all....

Update 2-26-25:  San Angelo is not the only community to be hoodwinked by BFAS, American Pets Alive and their local partner CVPAWS.  We do have six years of data, much of that in various posts on this blog.

El Paso saw a significant rise in stray animals, which caused public safety risks, health concerns, and stretched local animal services thin. As Ron Comeau, director of Lucy’s Dream Rescue, put it, “It’s going to take El Paso years to recover from Best Friends’ programs.”

Ditto for San Angelo... 

Tom Thompson's Two Goals in May Election

San Angelo City Councilman Tom Thompson said at the last Council meeting in regard to a $41.7 million Coliseum bond project that will go before voters in May.

Justin, I think there's some key things here that are in the elements of the presentation that the Association does, and I have institutional knowledge working with y'all for ten years, taking this position in 2017 to be on Council, a lot of the goal of that was just for this one decision today.

Thompson went on to ask about skyboxes, suites and meeting rooms.  He talked about the foundation which provides scholarships to rodeo/stock show related youth.

There are many positives about the planned Coliseum improvements and voters will decide on the proposed bond.  

Voters will also decide on Thompson's replacement and San Angelo's next mayor.  Hopefully, Mr. Thompson will highlight any similar goals for his Mayoral candidacy.

As for Thompson's replacement it's John Bariou, once the face of San Angelo economic development, vs. Joe Self, Jr.  Thompson took over Marty Self's seat in 2017.  Both Marty and Joe Jr. work for Automatic Fire Protection.  The amount of business the city did with AFP became an issue for Marty during his time on Council.  I imagine there will be significant fire suppression work in the Coliseum renovation, but that will be dealt with at the appropriate time, hopefully.

There's a lot of chess pieces on the move given how hot West Texas is for economic development.  San Angelo is in the sweet spot for oil/gas, renewable energy (wind/solar/battery storage) and not far from major crypto/data center activity.  

Bariou has a history of doing economic development work on the up and up.  That may or may not be wanted by our local powers that be.  

Voters will decide many things come May.  Although I live in a neighboring county, I look forward to learning more about the candidates and the two bond issues, SAISD and Coliseum expansion/renovation.  Twenty five years of living there leaves a mark, mostly the good kind.

Shelter-PAWS-Best Friends Alliance Latest Move

The San Angelo Animal Shelter partners with Concho Valley PAWS but has "no official relationship" with Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS).  So why then would BFAS pay other local animal rescues to take dogs from the city's perennially overcrowded Animal Shelter?

Concho Valley Homepage reported:

San Angelo Animal Shelter is full and offering incentives through the Best Friends Animal Society Network of animal welfare organizations for rescue agencies who help rehome dogs. 

According to a press release from Concho Valley PAWS, this is an effort to avoid euthanasia.  

“Best Friends Animal Society is offering a $150 stipend per dog or $300 per litter of puppies to 501(c)3 organizations that transfer dogs from the San Angelo Animal Shelter for adoption,” said Concho Valley PAWS.   

The offer is valid until 40 animals are transferred out or until Feb. 28.

This offer comes as City Council seeks advice from an Animal Crisis Task Force, formed in the aftermath of the horrific mauling of a city Animal Control Officer.  The official name of the advisory group is Animal Services & Control Task Force.  Several area rescues have representatives on that task force.  Concho Valley PAWS and BFAS do not have representatives and both are highly skilled in managing the media and public opinion.

My guess is this "offer" is part of a sophisticated media strategy hatched by leaders of the three organizations, Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden, PAWS Executive Director Jenie Wilson and BFAS.  Stay tuned for their media rollout intended to coincide with the release of the Task Force recommendations.

It took over seven years for the City's lack of ordinance enforcement, inattention to spay/neuter shelter compliance and choking off pet intake for San Angelo streets to reach its current loose dog crisis.  The groups that gave us "let them roam unaltered" are the three in the press release.   Keep that in the forefront of your mind as City Council considers a new path forward. 

Update 2-8-25:  The City of San Angelo is not alone as other cities experienced similar outcomes under the tutelage of BFAS.