SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Animal Care Services (ACS) is asking the community to adopt or foster after the facility reached capacity. The shelter told KSAT it now has more than 550 animals filling every available kennel.
Krystine Chaffin from ACS spoke with KSAT on Friday about the overcrowding. She said it’s the result of several factors, including the annual summer increase in stray animals, flood-related rescue calls following last week’s storms and recent animal cruelty investigations.
She said there are animals for everyone.
“We have puppies, kittens, cats, dogs, all breeds,” Chaffin said.
She said the shelter is not housing pets displaced by the flood that swept the area last week. Instead, officers responded to several technical rescues involving animals trapped in flooded drainage ditches and rising water, adding to an already crowded shelter.
The shelter’s population also increased after recent animal cruelty investigations. One of those cases occurred Thursday, when authorities seized 30 dogs from a home on La Charca Drive near Cerro Vista. Chaffin said those dogs were brought to Animal Care Services and are filling up a lot of space.
“We did everything we possibly could to make sure we reduced euthanasia,” Chaffin said.
Because the dogs are part of an active cruelty investigation, they must remain at the shelter while the legal process plays out, occupying valuable kennel space that cannot immediately be used for incoming animals.
Chaffin said that is why they are asking the community to help create space through adoptions and fostering.
“Essentially, we are desperate for our community to step forward,” Chaffin said. “If a pet has been here over 24 hours longer than it needed to, that’s still critical for us.”
Animal Care Services is waiving all adoption fees through Sunday. Adopted pets will be spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped at no charge. However, you must go through the full pet screening and adoption or foster application process.
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