Holding placards urging the San Antonio City Council make spaying and neutering pets mandatory, a group of people gathered outside of City Hall on Tuesday afternoon.

The protest comes in the wake of the city leaders backing off an earlier goal to make San Antonio a no-kill city by next year.

"We've got to get to the source of the problem which is the over-population of stray animals," said Joel Hailey, founder of the Hailey Foundation, which serves to educate the public about animal issues.

Currently, he said, only outdoor cats must be spayed or neutered, but pet owners who do not have the city's $50 yearly fee for intact dogs do not have to sterilize them.

Despite the city's allocation of millions of dollars toward free or low-cost spay neuter services through its SPAYSA program, and community efforts like SNIPSA, Hailey said the number of animals euthanized by the city continues to rise.

"The kill rate increased from 15,000 to 17,000 last year and now this year, it's on par to be around 20,000," Hailey said.

However, Gary Hendel, the director of Animal Care Services, said it is due to more stray animals are being brought into the city's facilities.

He also said mandatory spay-neuter laws do not work in other cities, primarily because they're difficult and costly to enforce.

"Educating works. Offering free services, incentivized services works," Hendel said. "But we have to find a better way to get into homes and encourage people to spay and neuter as opposed to legislating it."

He said in the next year and a half at Brackenridge Park, the city will have an adoption center capable of adopting out up to 4,000 dogs and cats -- a clinic that could sterilize up to 15,000 yearly and an education center.

Still, the protestors at City Hall said mandatory spay-neuter would be the best option.

Hailey said, "I don't know if they can still reach no-kill by 2012 but they could still be heading on the right track."