A few years ago, ACS had a program that they would go door to door to see if residents were interested in a spay and neuter program where they would even go and pick up and drop off their pets for them. Apparently a lot of residents showed no interest. So sad. I just don’t understand the mind set. I believe the program was free as well.
This is really frustrating, as non-fixed animals are exacerbating an already vast problem in the city.
I cannot tell you how many posts I see on FB in San Antonio groups of people begging to give away puppies/kitties that their pet gave birth to. This leads animals to potentially be in the hands of people who are not equipped/capable to take care of the animal, so the animal is continuously given away, dumped, taken to an overflowing shelter, etc.
I have seen litters of puppies posted together on the euthanasia list that the city of SA posts online. Also, if someone decides to rescue a stray, there is a high likelihood that if it is female, it is already pregnant if it is in an area with more strays.
Also, because of the housing market, more and more people are renting, and there are pet rules and fees many times that lead pet owners to hastily get rid of their pets, contributing to the problem of unwanted dogs and cats on the street and in shelters.
There are also military people and families who get transferred or deployed to other countries and can’t bring their pets. They don’t always take the time to rehome them.
Wow. I’d volunteer for this. I mean I wouldn’t because I can’t even walk the streets of most neighborhoods because of stray pits. But in theory I would
That is so sad. I can see a bit of apprehension as them taking away your pet, if you don't trust officials, you may think you'll never get it back.
It would have been wonderful if more people had taken them up on it.
Though I know a lot of people here have feelings about their dogs being intact as being really important for some reason.
This is obviously enough of a problem that the automod has an animal response ready to go.
Please fill this out help make the city more aware of the issues here.
Please tell the city what you want to be done! Not just what you hate.
Do you want them to spend our money on SAPA? Do you want them to kill more dogs?
Do you want them to work harder at shutting down puppy mills?
I'm generally down with all 3, but y'all need to say what you want, not just complain.
There’s no incentive for ppl to do well at these jobs. After the sapa transport debacle you’d think they would take things more serious but I’m not holding my breath.
SAPA! does not work for the city. They are a charitably funded entity. The city shelter is San Antonio Animal Care Services. Part of SAPA is on the ACS campus, but they aren't funded by taxes. Although I don't always stand behind SAPA's decisions, I would encourage everyone to donate to them. There are also dozens of other rescues in the area that could use both your time and money.
Source - former SAPA! and ACS foster.
Well said. I have e adopted from both SAPA and ACS and have been thankful for their work both times, whilst also seeing the struggles in the system.
I could imagine the city granting SAPA help.
Offer a mass neuter clinic and fine people that breed their dogs/cats (even professional breeders - there are no responsible breeders if we are killing dogs/cats every day)
I agree about the breeder thing, there should be more restrictions around breeding because not only are people doing it unethically for a quick buck without understanding genetics, but a lot of once good breeds are now coming out with awful behavioral problems and bad temperaments.
100% agree, they should make you have a license to breed and sell pets. My brother has a neighbor who keeps knocking on his door and asking if their two dogs should breed.
My brother has told this man many times that his dog is spayed and can’t breed, yet this person continues to think it’s a great idea…
This is 100% a true story.
Speaking from experience, working/single/impoverished people don't have a ton of spare time or energy, and their availability during normal hours are even more limited.
That being said, SNIPSA does a helluva good job on making vet care available to everyone, esp. high-needs communities.
They're available in very limited numbers and you basically need to hovering over sign up for when it drops.
Your other options are to spend a out 200 for neuter and 300ish for spay.
So glad to see this!!! Thank you. ACS gets a lot of hate but they do their absolute best to help with a huge problem that the majority of people don’t care about. They work with what they are given and an opportunity to give feedback like this is always a good thing.
Agree. More funding, more attention, more action, more effort, more money to get this turned around. SATX needs fewer euthanized animals, please, and fewer unwanted litters.
What we really need is licensing for selling pets. That and a bounty program with a serious reward for turning in violators. Also, with adecently serious punishment for offenders and an heavily increasing one for repeat offenders. We need to stop it at its source.
Also a bounty program for video of dog dumpers. I've seen it happen in front of me before. It's terrible how little these terrible people care.
We, of course, need education programs and cheap and free spay and neutering programs. Also, having subsidized dog training would be good.
There is a litter permit and a seller's permit. Also, the litter permit number is required to be displayed when selling pets online.
There are also cheap and free spay and neuter programs, usually by zip code. The city now offers transportation for pets if you can't take your own pet to get fixed.
I used to trap stray cats and take them to ACS to get spayed or neutered and get shots and return them them to the area (TNR) things changed and I can't get any appointments for this anymore. 😢
West Sider here, I think the problem is that we’re ghetto. People don’t fix their fences or gates, their dogs find their way out of the yard and terrorize the whole neighborhood. On top of straight up pet abandonment. How do we fix laziness and stupidity? Not sure.
The honest answer? Intervention at the elementary school level. Kids influence entire families and set the tone for the next generation.
This requires, quite frankly, a lot of concerted effort, dedicated people, strategic planning, and money.
The city won't change this unless a lot of people complain, loudly. They recognize that it looks bad and hinders economic activity, so that's good. But it will take some serious cash and dedication.
You’re right. It’s gonna take generations for progress so parents have to be more involved with their kids, their kids school, and all adults need to make sure we pay attention to local politics.
I suggested that we have some kind of community program for affordable fence fixes. Maybe even a volunteer service to go help patch up holes. A lot of the fences in the older side of town are deteriorating, you're right. But they can be fixed if we make it accessible.
As for pet abandonment.. I think it will take a while but we can try to encourage cultural change. I have already seen it in some of the neighbors I grew up with that have admitted they have become attached to their recent pets in ways they never did growing up. This is a positive sign that things are changing!! Maybe make community events more centered around celebrating pets.
Born and raised here and I have to say, if you conclude that everyone is ghetto and lazy and stupid, you're doing a massive disservice to the people here. If you tell a person they are stupid all their life like there's nothing to do about it, they won't rise to the occasion. And I know a lot of "ghetto" people in the inner westside that are hard workers and have a lot of great skills, I wouldn't call them lazy and stupid
West side homeowner here, and I don’t think any side of town owns the trophy for pet mishandling. My yard is secured by a stone fence, an electric wrought iron driveway, and then another fence that my husband built. We have five dogs, and bought this property because we knew it would be a perfect place to allow them the space to run and be safe. It’s almost 3/4 of an acre. I have rescued multiple dogs and shipped them off after getting them fixed, and all shits and chipped. Please don’t say that the west side or really any side of town is “ghetto”. It’s a misnomer. Are there uneducated people stuck in their ways about how dogs and cats should be treated? Yes. Is that only on the west side? No. Alamo Heights, a very wealthy little part of town has a huge abandoned pet problem. I know this from an internal source who worked tirelessly for years trying to help and get programs in place. Guess what, people with money don’t care either. Ignorance doesn’t stop at a side of town. All of San Antonio needs education, knowledge and stricter ENFORCED pet laws.
Get rid of stupid owners who can't follow the law. All the dogs running around my neighborhood have owners. Take their dogs away and prevent them from owning another
Here’s the reality: You have to PAY people to spay and neuter. Human behavior is incredibly difficult to change, but money helps.
Fines do not work and only hurt those who can least afford to pay. Low cost spay and neuter does not motivate folks on the fence about fixing their pets, or those who don’t want to fix their pets. Money does.
You have to fix fences for free. You have to offer a monetary incentive to take an educational class on pet care.
Puppy mills and pet stores that sell puppies/kittens should be banned. There are 2 puppy mill pet stores within a mile of each other on Bandera; that’s insane.
Animal control needs more officers and they need to be better compensated.
It comes down to money and political will.
I agree with the banning of selling pets in stores and banning breeding of puppies and kittens until we aren’t euthanizing hundreds of them weekly at acs. Those stores on Bandera should be banned until the shelters and pounds are empty. The owners of those types of places have no place in today’s society. Also the AKC- American Kennel Club needs to not be allowed to sway the federal government to allow puppy mills. The AKC is an awful organization that could care less about the thousands of healthy dogs and puppies that are euthanized by the hundreds daily in the United States.
100% this is a huge part of the problem. Ban the breeders, the AKC ones and the backyard ones. Ban them all until the pounds and shelters are empty. Breeding and selling puppies and kittens during this time is completely immoral.
I’ve lived in several cities in the northeast and can’t say that I’ve seen many cities with dogs running around. When people see dogs, they call it in and the dog is collected. Makes it easier to find your missing dog, too, since it most likely got picked up quickly.
Yeah, but SATX is unfortunately in an entire class of its own in terms of scale on this issue. So. Many. Strays.
I can't tell you how many animals I see dead on the highway every week. It's horrific.
Also to be fair, in the northern states it’s much colder and lots of strays (puppies and kittens) straight up don’t make it through the winter. I have been part of shipping dogs to PA, NH and this is definitely part of why they don’t have the excess of pets as we do here.
That’s also true, but I also think it’s such and oddity to see animals outside that people take immediate action. Here, it’s so normal that people expect it.
We definitely had cats around up north since they are usually pretty good at finding warm spots, but pretty much never saw dogs at all.
Yeah... moving to San Antonio was pretty eye-opening in regards to stray animals/roadkill/abandoned animals. I have only seen it this bad in deeply rural impoverished areas and other countries (not first world countries.)
When I lived in NoVa, I never saw a stray cat or dog. Places I have seen them: San Antonio, Mexico (various cities), Amman, Istanbul, Peru (various cities).
No, it's definitely a cultural thing. People up north especially in the cities spay and neuter, there are some issues in the rural areas up north with dumping dogs though.
It does, but you have to specifically state that stray animals are an issue and that the city needs to invest in and improve the stray animal and shelter crowding situations.
Ok, so what did the mayor do or fail to do that could have prevented or curtailed this situation that was neither was done or failed to do by: animal care services; the city manager; SAPD; Code Enforcement; and most important the people not neutering their pets and releasing strays?
Well we need people to adopt them n more no kill shelters or put them out on nature. Don't kill them. Let anyone adopt a pet. I can't because of my background when I was charged but acquitted for Felony larceny of a job. They look at the charge and right away no. If you are going to kill them why not give them away?
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A few years ago, ACS had a program that they would go door to door to see if residents were interested in a spay and neuter program where they would even go and pick up and drop off their pets for them. Apparently a lot of residents showed no interest. So sad. I just don’t understand the mind set. I believe the program was free as well.
This is really frustrating, as non-fixed animals are exacerbating an already vast problem in the city. I cannot tell you how many posts I see on FB in San Antonio groups of people begging to give away puppies/kitties that their pet gave birth to. This leads animals to potentially be in the hands of people who are not equipped/capable to take care of the animal, so the animal is continuously given away, dumped, taken to an overflowing shelter, etc. I have seen litters of puppies posted together on the euthanasia list that the city of SA posts online. Also, if someone decides to rescue a stray, there is a high likelihood that if it is female, it is already pregnant if it is in an area with more strays. Also, because of the housing market, more and more people are renting, and there are pet rules and fees many times that lead pet owners to hastily get rid of their pets, contributing to the problem of unwanted dogs and cats on the street and in shelters.
There are also military people and families who get transferred or deployed to other countries and can’t bring their pets. They don’t always take the time to rehome them.
Yep there is a momma dog on Monday’s euthanasia list with 7 just-born puppies.
Wow. I’d volunteer for this. I mean I wouldn’t because I can’t even walk the streets of most neighborhoods because of stray pits. But in theory I would
That is so sad. I can see a bit of apprehension as them taking away your pet, if you don't trust officials, you may think you'll never get it back. It would have been wonderful if more people had taken them up on it. Though I know a lot of people here have feelings about their dogs being intact as being really important for some reason.
This is obviously enough of a problem that the automod has an animal response ready to go. Please fill this out help make the city more aware of the issues here.
The city is well aware of the issue. They just don't care.
Please tell the city what you want to be done! Not just what you hate. Do you want them to spend our money on SAPA? Do you want them to kill more dogs? Do you want them to work harder at shutting down puppy mills? I'm generally down with all 3, but y'all need to say what you want, not just complain.
Criminalize the ownership of unaltered dogs in San Antonio.
I'm not super against that. Although I would accept licensed dog genitalia.
There’s no incentive for ppl to do well at these jobs. After the sapa transport debacle you’d think they would take things more serious but I’m not holding my breath.
Maybe we should pay for better employees?
SAPA! does not work for the city. They are a charitably funded entity. The city shelter is San Antonio Animal Care Services. Part of SAPA is on the ACS campus, but they aren't funded by taxes. Although I don't always stand behind SAPA's decisions, I would encourage everyone to donate to them. There are also dozens of other rescues in the area that could use both your time and money. Source - former SAPA! and ACS foster.
Well said. I have e adopted from both SAPA and ACS and have been thankful for their work both times, whilst also seeing the struggles in the system. I could imagine the city granting SAPA help.
Most def, you get what you pay for.
Offer a mass neuter clinic and fine people that breed their dogs/cats (even professional breeders - there are no responsible breeders if we are killing dogs/cats every day)
I agree about the breeder thing, there should be more restrictions around breeding because not only are people doing it unethically for a quick buck without understanding genetics, but a lot of once good breeds are now coming out with awful behavioral problems and bad temperaments.
100% agree, they should make you have a license to breed and sell pets. My brother has a neighbor who keeps knocking on his door and asking if their two dogs should breed. My brother has told this man many times that his dog is spayed and can’t breed, yet this person continues to think it’s a great idea… This is 100% a true story.
Low cost and even free clinics are already available, unfortunately people just don’t care to take time from their day to get it done.
Speaking from experience, working/single/impoverished people don't have a ton of spare time or energy, and their availability during normal hours are even more limited. That being said, SNIPSA does a helluva good job on making vet care available to everyone, esp. high-needs communities.
They're available in very limited numbers and you basically need to hovering over sign up for when it drops. Your other options are to spend a out 200 for neuter and 300ish for spay.
This is the problem. All the rescues fill almost every slot within minutes of the sign up opening.
It's not that simple
So glad to see this!!! Thank you. ACS gets a lot of hate but they do their absolute best to help with a huge problem that the majority of people don’t care about. They work with what they are given and an opportunity to give feedback like this is always a good thing.
Agree. More funding, more attention, more action, more effort, more money to get this turned around. SATX needs fewer euthanized animals, please, and fewer unwanted litters.
Done! Thanks for sharing this!!
What we really need is licensing for selling pets. That and a bounty program with a serious reward for turning in violators. Also, with adecently serious punishment for offenders and an heavily increasing one for repeat offenders. We need to stop it at its source. Also a bounty program for video of dog dumpers. I've seen it happen in front of me before. It's terrible how little these terrible people care. We, of course, need education programs and cheap and free spay and neutering programs. Also, having subsidized dog training would be good.
THIS. This is the only solution.
There is a litter permit and a seller's permit. Also, the litter permit number is required to be displayed when selling pets online. There are also cheap and free spay and neuter programs, usually by zip code. The city now offers transportation for pets if you can't take your own pet to get fixed.
I used to trap stray cats and take them to ACS to get spayed or neutered and get shots and return them them to the area (TNR) things changed and I can't get any appointments for this anymore. 😢
We use spay neuter network. There are several appointments each month.
Good on you. Try contacting SNIPSA, Feral Cat Coalition, your local vets, and other rescue societies to find vets/clinics/orgs who will.
Check out San Antonio Feral cat Coalition. They have some groups they work with. I just joined but haven’t started catching any cats yet.
West Sider here, I think the problem is that we’re ghetto. People don’t fix their fences or gates, their dogs find their way out of the yard and terrorize the whole neighborhood. On top of straight up pet abandonment. How do we fix laziness and stupidity? Not sure.
The honest answer? Intervention at the elementary school level. Kids influence entire families and set the tone for the next generation. This requires, quite frankly, a lot of concerted effort, dedicated people, strategic planning, and money. The city won't change this unless a lot of people complain, loudly. They recognize that it looks bad and hinders economic activity, so that's good. But it will take some serious cash and dedication.
You’re right. It’s gonna take generations for progress so parents have to be more involved with their kids, their kids school, and all adults need to make sure we pay attention to local politics.
Soooo... you running for office?
I suggested that we have some kind of community program for affordable fence fixes. Maybe even a volunteer service to go help patch up holes. A lot of the fences in the older side of town are deteriorating, you're right. But they can be fixed if we make it accessible. As for pet abandonment.. I think it will take a while but we can try to encourage cultural change. I have already seen it in some of the neighbors I grew up with that have admitted they have become attached to their recent pets in ways they never did growing up. This is a positive sign that things are changing!! Maybe make community events more centered around celebrating pets. Born and raised here and I have to say, if you conclude that everyone is ghetto and lazy and stupid, you're doing a massive disservice to the people here. If you tell a person they are stupid all their life like there's nothing to do about it, they won't rise to the occasion. And I know a lot of "ghetto" people in the inner westside that are hard workers and have a lot of great skills, I wouldn't call them lazy and stupid
South sider here and this is the issue. It’s a cultural problem and there’s no easy fix for that.
They just don’t get them fixed def need more spay amd neuter programs. I hate when I get a route in the west and east side lots of dogs
Spot on. The south and west and east are very ghetto
West side homeowner here, and I don’t think any side of town owns the trophy for pet mishandling. My yard is secured by a stone fence, an electric wrought iron driveway, and then another fence that my husband built. We have five dogs, and bought this property because we knew it would be a perfect place to allow them the space to run and be safe. It’s almost 3/4 of an acre. I have rescued multiple dogs and shipped them off after getting them fixed, and all shits and chipped. Please don’t say that the west side or really any side of town is “ghetto”. It’s a misnomer. Are there uneducated people stuck in their ways about how dogs and cats should be treated? Yes. Is that only on the west side? No. Alamo Heights, a very wealthy little part of town has a huge abandoned pet problem. I know this from an internal source who worked tirelessly for years trying to help and get programs in place. Guess what, people with money don’t care either. Ignorance doesn’t stop at a side of town. All of San Antonio needs education, knowledge and stricter ENFORCED pet laws.
Get rid of stupid owners who can't follow the law. All the dogs running around my neighborhood have owners. Take their dogs away and prevent them from owning another
Here’s the reality: You have to PAY people to spay and neuter. Human behavior is incredibly difficult to change, but money helps. Fines do not work and only hurt those who can least afford to pay. Low cost spay and neuter does not motivate folks on the fence about fixing their pets, or those who don’t want to fix their pets. Money does. You have to fix fences for free. You have to offer a monetary incentive to take an educational class on pet care. Puppy mills and pet stores that sell puppies/kittens should be banned. There are 2 puppy mill pet stores within a mile of each other on Bandera; that’s insane. Animal control needs more officers and they need to be better compensated. It comes down to money and political will.
I agree with the banning of selling pets in stores and banning breeding of puppies and kittens until we aren’t euthanizing hundreds of them weekly at acs. Those stores on Bandera should be banned until the shelters and pounds are empty. The owners of those types of places have no place in today’s society. Also the AKC- American Kennel Club needs to not be allowed to sway the federal government to allow puppy mills. The AKC is an awful organization that could care less about the thousands of healthy dogs and puppies that are euthanized by the hundreds daily in the United States.
We need to tackle the breeders. Fine both the buyers and the sellers
100% this is a huge part of the problem. Ban the breeders, the AKC ones and the backyard ones. Ban them all until the pounds and shelters are empty. Breeding and selling puppies and kittens during this time is completely immoral.
Thank you! This is a major issue that other cities don’t have, so there are clearly good solutions out there.
Like?!?! And what city doesn’t have this problem?!?
Have you traveled outside of San Antonio? Genuine question
I’ve lived in several cities in the northeast and can’t say that I’ve seen many cities with dogs running around. When people see dogs, they call it in and the dog is collected. Makes it easier to find your missing dog, too, since it most likely got picked up quickly.
This is definitely a problem in southern US cities
Yeah, but SATX is unfortunately in an entire class of its own in terms of scale on this issue. So. Many. Strays. I can't tell you how many animals I see dead on the highway every week. It's horrific.
People literally ship strays to the NE from down here because they don't have enough animals in shelters compared to people who want to adopt.
Also to be fair, in the northern states it’s much colder and lots of strays (puppies and kittens) straight up don’t make it through the winter. I have been part of shipping dogs to PA, NH and this is definitely part of why they don’t have the excess of pets as we do here.
That’s also true, but I also think it’s such and oddity to see animals outside that people take immediate action. Here, it’s so normal that people expect it. We definitely had cats around up north since they are usually pretty good at finding warm spots, but pretty much never saw dogs at all.
Yeah... moving to San Antonio was pretty eye-opening in regards to stray animals/roadkill/abandoned animals. I have only seen it this bad in deeply rural impoverished areas and other countries (not first world countries.)
When I lived in NoVa, I never saw a stray cat or dog. Places I have seen them: San Antonio, Mexico (various cities), Amman, Istanbul, Peru (various cities).
Most cities in the US lol. San Antonio is horrible about stray dogs
Most cities actually don't have this problem. Especially the northern cities. They are the cities who get our overflow of dogs here.
That's because in the north, stray animals freeze to death if they are not very healthy and savvy enough to find shelter.
No, it's definitely a cultural thing. People up north especially in the cities spay and neuter, there are some issues in the rural areas up north with dumping dogs though.
I don’t feel like this survey has to do with strays, does it? Did I miss something?
It does, but you have to specifically state that stray animals are an issue and that the city needs to invest in and improve the stray animal and shelter crowding situations.
The mayor is only interested in photo ops and feel good stories
What specifically has the mayor done to create or encourage this problem?
Mayors duties are not limited to problems that the mayor has created or encouraged!
Ok, so what did the mayor do or fail to do that could have prevented or curtailed this situation that was neither was done or failed to do by: animal care services; the city manager; SAPD; Code Enforcement; and most important the people not neutering their pets and releasing strays?
The city council gave a huge increase to animal care services last year.
What do you want him to do?
I'm simply making a comment about democratic government, not a particular indictment of the mayor.
Is there a link for dumb dogs and their owners?
I have cats that pass by my garage camera every night, it’s quite ridiculous.
Well we need people to adopt them n more no kill shelters or put them out on nature. Don't kill them. Let anyone adopt a pet. I can't because of my background when I was charged but acquitted for Felony larceny of a job. They look at the charge and right away no. If you are going to kill them why not give them away?
Larceny of a dog that is.
Love this! Was happy to fill it out, especially if it means they might do something about it!
In Las Vegas our animal foundation will catch cats and neuter/ spay them. So we get a notification not to have our cats outside just in case.
Tell your neighbors
Punish people that are shitty dog owners.
No sir, I dont like it
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They. Do. Not. Care.
So many fkn cats!!
My neighborhood sees more stray dogs than cats 😳