SAN ANTONIO - No-Kill by 2012. That was the goal. But 2012 is here and the city is still being forced to euthanize animals.
That said, Animal Care Services says they are one step closer to reaching the city's goal of becoming a No-Kill community. But this one step is going to cost tax payers $350,000; which means ACS will now be paying two local non-profit agencies to take in thousands of our unwanted animals.
The good news? Over the last few years adoption rates for Animal Care Services have increased. But last year 28,401 animals came into ACS and they only had 4,337 adoptions; leaving 18,955 to be put down. The agency knows if they wanted to reach that No-Kill goal, they have to make a big change.
Animal Care Services on the West Side is always full of cats and dogs needing a good home. Unfortunately, for some of the animals the shelter may be their last stop. The number of animals ACS takes in has gone up and so has their euthanization rate. Since 2009 they've increased from about 15,559 to nearly 18,955 in 2011.
ACS works with 77 rescue groups across the country. Combine those rescue groups with the 4,300 local adoptions and you still don't even make a dent in the number of animals ACS takes in every year.
"The challenge in the animal welfare community is there often is a deficit of seed money, seed capital, to get the organizations going,” Joe Angelo, ACS Director, explained. “Because if you rescue an animal, you have to feed it, take care of it, shelter it. And it's always been a barrier. We've always heard if I just had some support, I could rescue more animals."
So that's exactly what ACS did; they took a proposal to city council Thursday that allows them to pay non-profits to help rescue San Antonio animals. It's a plan that will cost $350,000.
"We realize there was a deficit here. And at the end of the day the goal of the city is to increase our live release rate, to get to No-Kill. And the only way to get there is through a partnership,” Angelo told us.
For the next year San Antonio Pets Alive will take 4,000 cats and dogs and get paid $200,000. The San Antonio Humane Society will take in 2,000 animals and bring in $100,000. And an extra $50,000 will be available for smaller rescue groups.
"We think it's a wise investment to the extent that, from our research, it is a viable solution to a challenge that we now face,” Angelo added.
