Animal Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden will update City Council on the myriad of issues raised before Labor Day weekend.
Roach infestation -- "Our pest control vendor has completed three treatments to the impacted area and continues to spot treat assessing progress."
Horrific hoarding conditions -- "Standards of care have improved greatly and will continue as we invest in staff training, maintenance and outreach."
Overcrowding due to puppies and strays-- "Management recently adapted the shelter capacity, further defining the maximum animals housed.
- No more than 180 dogs*
- Opportunity to house 20 additional dogs in exigent circumstances with an expiration of one week
- No more than 120 cats*
- Maximum length of stay will be determined by routine assessments of each animals' needs based on individual pets' temperament and demeanor
*Cats (kittens) and dogs (puppies) under four weeks of age are excluded from capacity as their mother cares for them. No additional staff time is needed to clean the kennel.
Statistics on puppies and kittens taken into the shelter for the last seven years is below. This does not show how many puppies or kittens were born in shelter care or the age of those infant pets.
Spay/Neuter Enforcement and Compliance -- "Our prior practice was to educate citizens on the requirement to spay/neuter and refer families to low-cost options, such as Concho Valley PAWS' SNIP voucher program.... After a 10 days’ grace period, we’d follow up with the citizen to collect proof of
compliance and write a citation if no progress was made.""Pet owners may visit conchovalleypaws.org/snip today to avoid costly fines and invest in the long term health of your pet. City Council may consider funding $10,000 annually for spay/neuter assistance for families in need."
Veterinary service provider PAWS and the shelter released nearly 1,500 unaltered pets in the last two years. That is over 62 unaltered animals per month. Most of those were returned to owner/guardian.
The average for the last two years was 3.76 citations per month. Shelter data does not support Morgan's assertion that citations were written for failure to spay/neuter those 62 unaltered pets released per month over the same period.
How does a city staffer get to characterize an unfilled responsibility as an operational practice? Five city leaders approved the content of the memo to Council.
There is at least one oddity in the update. It includes a recommended monthly amnesty day where citizens can claim their pet(s) at no expense. It lists an $86 revenue loss but does not detail the components of that revenue, boarding charges, citation/court fees... Staff recommend Council approve funding for three amnesty days but does not indicate the funding source for the other nine amnesty days in a calendar year.
The City continues its exclusive alliance with adoption coordinator/veterinary service provider Concho Valley PAWS. Morgan told SALive the shelter is "on fire" for spay/neuter, yet shelter statistics provided to the public and Animal Services Advisory Committee do not include shelter animal spay/neuter status.
Veterinary service provider PAWS had two months to address a pregnant Husky in the shelter. They did not and it gave birth to seven puppies in June.
City Council has ignored the city shutting off shelter services to taxpaying citizens facing a life event, illness, moving into assisted living/nursing home or death of pet owner.
Shelter overcrowding is not due to citizens surrendering their pet or returning an adoption. It remains at a fraction of prior year numbers.
City Manager Daniel Valenzuela asked Assistant City Manager Michael Dane to address the roach infestation/horrific hoarding conditions crisis. Neither of those gentleman are on the approval list or slated to speak to Council in the update.
The update does not directly address Valenzuela's statement about record numbers of stray pets in our community. It fails to respond to Concho Valley PAWS assertion that shelter workers are underpaid and overworked. Hopefully, those issues will be explored in City Council next week.
Update: The day after informing the public that the shelter is full and posting a PAWS image of large, long stay dogs the City announced the Animal Shelter will be closed Monday, October 31 for staff training. Concho Valley PAWS will also be closed. The closure announcement came at 2:14 pm on a Friday afternoon.
Update 11-1-22: Morgan informed City Council of changes to shelter worker pay. Changes in pay were not included under the financial impact section of the memo to Council in the background packet.
Council chose to restrict the number of animals taken into the Shelter. When the dog population hits 170 the shelter will not take in new dogs from San Angelo citizens who find a lost dog. Councilman Larry Miller asked what his options would be if he found a dog in his front yard in that situation. Morgan said he would need to knock on doors in his neighborhood. He said he would be put in a difficult situation with no service from the shelter and release the animal. That has been the case for many citizens since the shelter went to managed intake.
For years shelter staff regularly told citizens that they will not take their owner surrender. The practical impact of restricting intake means shelter staff will leave strays on the streets or good-hearted citizens will be forced to decide to release the stray they found.
The idea of spending more on spay/neuter was not addressed in the meeting.
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