The City of San Antonio's Comprehensive Neighborhood Sweeps Initiative continues this weekend to deliver responsible pet ownership info and resources directly to residents.
City Council District 1 is being targeted for the initiative this weekend.
Records kept by Animal Care Services of the high-risk neighborhoods pinpoint those with the most bite reports and the most stray animal calls. They deploy staff and volunteers to the targeted area to go door-to-door with education, awareness, and enforcement.
Lisa Norwood of ACS said some of the families may not be able to afford what it takes to become a responsible pet owner on their own, so animal owners are given plenty of opportunities to take advantage of free and low-cost services.
“We bring the resource clinics right into the neighborhood, so there’s not really any excuse," Norwood said. "We’ll have two resource clinics. One, actually at the street level, in the neighborhood and then we’ll have another one to follow at Animal Care Services. Following that, we’ll spend the rest of the month doing enforcement action."
The city uses staff and volunteers to make the sweeps, knocking on the doors of several thousand homes per block walk. Norwood said the efficacy of the program is difficult to analyze.
Last year teams deployed responsible pet owner information to 27,000 homes. This year, more than two dozen zip codes have been identified as high-risk areas where residents will see block walkers and can qualify for free spay-neuter services.
