Animal Shelter Planning for One Day of Service in November

The City of San Angelo announced:

As of Wednesday, Nov. 2, the shelter has 181 dogs. Due to this, intake is closed today and any additional days the population remains in excess of 170 dogs until the end of November.

Ways citizens can help reduce shelter population:

• Ask us about the Good Samaritan program – hold the pet for a few days while locating owner.
• If staying out of traffic, leave pet in home neighborhood. 70% of dogs stay within one mile of home.
• Reach out to local rescues.
• If a danger to itself or others, call us at 325-657-4224 to dispatch an Animal Services office

The city plans for the shelter to be open one day in November.  It was November 1, the day City Council approved a hard limit on shelter population.  City leadership ran to the press to put out an 8:16 am release.

The shelter did not offer to scan the stray for the city mandated microchip, a tool for reuniting lost pets quickly with their owner.  It did not refer citizens to HelpMeGetHome.com, a website that posts lost and found pets.

It did steer citizens to local rescue organizations, just as it did when it instituted managed intake in 2019.  That referral overwhelmed rescues.

The press release did not address ways the shelter can deal with overcrowding.  It did not mention the numerous large dogs that have spent years in the shelter.  It did not state that pregnant pets in shelter care would be spayed before giving birth in an environment with endemic parvo and paneleukepenia, diseases deadly for puppies and kittens.  It did not change practices to make the shelter "bad citizen" proof regarding spay/neuter (as it once did).  

Shelter services to the public have been reduced year after year.  Closing the shelter to the public in November occurred in 2021.  The current plan endorsed by Council is for it to be open one day in November 2022.  

That's thirty days for problematic strays to increase in the streets of San Angelo.  New employers might not appreciate San Angelo's third world approach to pets.

Update 11-11-22:  PAWS announced a twenty pound bag of dog food alongside a free dog adoption for November.

Update 12-13-22:   A dog attacked a neighbor on Oxford Avenue and the dog was shot with a gun during the attack.  Someone in local rescue posted:. 

Please let’s do something to open the city shelter back up at least for aggressive dogs. Citizens of this city should not have to deal with this

....this is what happens when animal control doesn’t take action for stray dogs.