CONVERSE, Texas – Dolores Zarate remembers her heart dropped when her sister called, telling her that her house was on fire.
Her first thought was of her three dogs. An Animal Care Services investigator told her that firefighters had rescued two of the dogs.
“I said there were three dogs,” Zarate said.
Her third dog was found after nearly an hour and revived. Months after the fire, the dogs are doing well, and the family is almost ready to go back home.
The October rescue made Converse Fire Chief Luis Valdez realize that he could do something to help reduce confusion in future rescues.
The city is distributing front-window decals that alert first responders to the number of cats, dogs, and other animals in a home.
“That incident kind of opened our eyes; we needed to do a better job of having that accountability for pets,” Valdez said.
The city has already given out 200 free stickers; it’s a low-cost but strong influence program, he said.
“A simple program that we started has already, you know, been a big hit in our community,” Valdez said. “And so everybody’s like sending us pictures with their sticker on their window.”
Decals are free to Converse residents on the city’s animal care services website.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is also offering free stickers to those who sign up for their alerts. They can also be purchased on Amazon.