The Animal Shelter Advisory Committee (ASAC) met last Thursday and members learned 64 cats died or were euthanized in May due to an illness outbreak at the city shelter. 85 more cats died in June, some from the same Feline Panleukopenia outbreak. Panleukopenia is a preventable illness if cats are vaccinated. No one asked about if the shelter provides such vaccinations through their agreement with Concho Valley PAWS.
Dog intake is up by 200 and puppy intake is up 30% from last year. "We are so overrun with puppies," stated Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden. She noted puppies and unwanted litters are a major factor contributing to the Shelter's current and ongoing space crisis. This occurred even with PAWS housing 128 pets in their building next to the shelter.
The City enacted a mandatory spay-neuter ordinance in October 2015. It rarely enforced the ordinance over the last four years.
The Shelter's inaction on enforcing the city's mandatory spay-neuter ordinance helped create today's overcrowding situation. In 2022 the shelter has averaged one citation per animal services officer per month for citizen noncompliance. That's four per month.
Pets Alive and the City want to provide even less service by asking residents who find a lost pet to hold on to that animal for 48 hours before contacting the shelter. This places the citizen in a precarious position as shelter staff use the "72 hour possession" as an excuse to not help, saying the animal is "now your pet." It matters not whether the shelter was open or closed during that 72 hour period.
Most citizens do not have a microchip scanner or the ability to get information from the microchip company. Animal Services Officers staff have the ability to can scan for a chip and call the chip company for owner contact information. The only veterinarian who assisted the community with micro-chipping information ceased that service earlier this year.
Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden told the ASAC they "respond to a loose, stray dog every time." That is false. There are numerous instances where the shelter did not respond to a request from area employers or SAPD dealing with loose dogs. In Spring 2021 I wrote Mayor Gunter:
This month one of San Angelo's longtime, major employers tried to get assistance from the Animal Shelter for loose dogs on their property and was refused twice. City contractor PAWS refused to help as well.
Pets Alive model works when citizens and the shelter do the upstream work to prevent unwanted litters of puppies and kittens. It does not work when it is used to artificially choke off intake. It fails miserably when unaltered animals repeatedly cycle through the shelter until they become pregnant and deliver in the shelter after being there two months.
Morgan spoke of their robust community cat program but a friend in Santa Rita called for help regarding a feral cat in their backyard and was told the shelter did not provide that service. As of June the shelter had not spent any of the $5,000 City Council gave for addressing problem cats.
The August Animal Services Advisory Committee meeting had its usual surprises and service promises not backed up by citizen experience. Four years of choked off intake resulted in many citizens abandoning unwanted dogs in the community. The local employer and SAPD cases mentioned earlier ended with those dogs continuing to roam unsupervised. Citizen failure to fix their pets and the city's to enforce its spay-neuter ordinance resulted in many unwanted puppies and kittens. Unaltered, abandoned pets is not the goal of Pets Alive but it is their product in our community.
Update 8-26-22: The Shelter will close soon to address a roach infestation and is asking for assistance from the public in sheltering the occupants while the treatment occurs. Why was this concern not mentioned at the ASAC meeting last week?
Update 8-30-22: "The City will update the public once dates have been finalized for the temporary closure of the shelter." No word yet on those dates.
Update 9-23-22: San Angelo Live reported the impact of Pets Alive choking off shelter intake and not prioritizing spay/neuter services:
Valenzuela said the number of pets abandoned inside the city limits has greatly increased over the past year.
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