The city is planning to pour more money into the department, which still has no leader and is struggling to meet demands for better service.
San Antonio’s Animal Care Services Department still is not responding to roughly 40% of the critical calls it receives, is not on track to reclaim its “no kill” status and is falling well short of its spay/neuter goals one year after a deadly dog maulingThis year, ACS is set to receive a 13.6% budget increase, up from $28.5 million in 2024 to $32.3 million in 2025. That’s on the heels of a 33% budget increase in 2024 — a massive change compared to most other departments.
Despite falling short of some of last year’s goals, Shannon said the department is still making progress on some of its most critical challenges, like improving its response rate to calls about aggressive animals, animal neglect and cruelty, which was at a staggering 44% last year., but this year, it’s projected to respond to about 59% of such calls this year.
In light of the major investments, Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran , who has long pushed for better funding for Animal Care Services, said the city needs to ensure the agency is using the money effectively. San Antonio has been on a long journey to increase the number of animals it finds homes for, after a series ofThe cityfor the first time in 2016, meaning that at least 90% of healthy, adoptable animals were adopted, transferred or returned to owners.
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