San Antonio’s Animal Care Services Department has reached the nationally accepted “No Kill” standard. ACS achieved a 90 percent live release rate for all animals coming into the shelter last month, and January placement rates are on the same track.
The chief factor in helping them get to this historic mark has been their partnerships. “We have rescue partners like the Animal Defense League, San Antonio Human Society, San Antonio Pets Alive, and so many other rescue groups, over a hundred rescue groups in total that have really helped us level the playing field here,” said ACS Director Kathy Davis. “They’ve come when we needed them to pull pets from us and take them out and find them great homes.”
San Antonio is the largest city in the nation to achieve the “No Kill” standard. Keeping it will be a community effort.
“The public’s help in making sure that they get their pets spayed or neutered so that we don’t have more and more pets coming in,” said Davis. “It’ll take the help of people that want to adopt a pet and are willing to bring another pet into their home. It’ll take volunteers that are willing to talk to people about responsible pet ownership and come on our campus and help people find a great pet for them.”
Davis added that their rescue partners are doing a great job, but the public needs to step forward too, and continue what they’ve been doing to provide great care for the pets that they have and to keep them for their lifetime.
