SAN ANTONIO – Animal Care Services wants to have less bark and more bite when it comes to tackling San Antonio’s loose and dangerous dog problem.
ACS Interim Director Mike Shannon laid out several ways to crackdown on dog owners during a Tuesday presentation to the city council’s Public Safety Committee. The five-member committee gave its blessing to allow the use of anonymous complaints to prompt dangerous dog investigations, and a full council vote is expected in December on changes to allow the forced sterilization of some loose dogs and bigger fines for owners whose dogs repeatedly roam or bite people.
The three possible changes were prompted by a request from District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, but ACS is planning to do more. Shannon said the department is already proactively inspecting “repeat offenders,” and the city also plans to push for stronger dangerous dog laws during the upcoming state legislative session.
In general, Shannon said ACS also plans to give fewer warnings and more citations.
“When we do get out there and we do talk to the pet owners that are being irresponsible, we can’t give them the benefit of the doubt anymore,” Shannon told committee members.
Alderete Gavito, who is also a member of the Public Safety Committee, thinks harsher penalties are needed. The freshman councilwoman says she has heard from residents who are can’t walk in their neighborhood or are afraid to let their children walk to school.
“This is not a dog problem. This is a people problem,” she said.
Here’s a rundown of the various changes.
HIGHER FINES FOR REPEAT OFFENDERS
The city’s minimum recommended fines for ACS violations are currently $100 for the first violation, $200 for the second, and $300 for the third or more.
Shannon said many of the violations are for loose dogs, and he recommended raising the fines for the second and third violations to $500 and $750, respectively.
He also suggested the fines for owners who fail to prevent their dogs from biting be raised to a minimum of $1,000. A second violation would be $1,500, and a third or higher would be $2,000.
“I understand that the fines are harsh, but so are the consequences of not doing anything,” Alderete Gavito said. “So we have to go all in. We cannot be soft on this issue.”
The changes require a city council vote.
ANONYMOUS DANGEROUS DOG REPORTS
Dogs that attack people can be labeled as “dangerous,” and their owners have to follow tight requirements on fencing, signage, the use of muzzles, and insurance. The city allows similar restrictions for “aggressive” dogs that attack other animals.
But getting that designation requires someone to first submit an affidavit detailing an attack they witnessed. Though the city receives about 300 such affidavits each year, Shannon said some people are still reluctant to submit one.
“We’ve heard feedback from some residents that just do not come down and fill out the information because they’re fearful of retaliation,” he said. “Maybe the neighbor is going to suspect that they’re the ones who called their animals in and started the investigation.”
ACS plans to now accept affidavits under a pseudonym, like “John Doe.” Though it would be enough to prompt an investigation, Shannon said the person’s real name would have to become public if the dog’s owner were to appeal the designation in court.
Some council members raised concern about false complaints being filed as a way to advance a neighbor dispute, but Shannon said ACS investigates each complaint. If there’s no evidence, it gets closed out as “unfounded.”
Shannon said ACS would begin working with the City Attorney’s Office to roll out the pseudonym complaint process “very quickly.”
FORCED STERILIZATIONS
Nearly two of every five loose dogs returned to their owners in the city’s last fiscal year were still unsterilized when they were handed over.
But even though their owners are ordered to get their pet spayed or neutered within 30 days, ACS has been lax about ensuring they actually did it.
In the past three years, ACS followed up on as few as 26% of its sterilization orders, though that jumped to 69% last year.
With council approval, Shannon said ACS would begin sterilizing some dogs before they’re returned to the owners — specifically, the ones that are picked up from the ACS campus.
It would take too much time for ACS officers to bring every loose dog back to the campus, he said. Many loose dogs are returned directly to their nearby homes if officers can determine who their owner is.
However, Shannon said the “we absolutely have to ensure 100% issuance and follow up of those sterilization orders now and in the future.”
Owners who don’t follow through on the sterilization order can be cited.
PROACTIVE INSPECTIONS
Beginning in October, Shannon said ACS officers began paying proactive visits to “repeat offenders”
There are 252 addresses in the city with multiple bite incidents in the past three years, he said, and another 126 addresses with a bite incident and at least one successive ACS citation.
“We need to go knock on those doors before we get the next three on one call. And there’s an incident,” he said.
ACS had been to about 85 homes so far to check if they are in current compliance and asking if they need anything to ensure they can be.
“But the most important thing is that they know...we’re watching them because we can’t have this habitual repeat instances of dangerous conditions,” Shannon said.
STRONGER STATE LAWS
The Texas Legislature convenes in January, and the city plans to work with the local delegation to push for
The city wants its animal care officers to be able to file a dangerous dog affidavit in place of a complaint by a resident. Though they can already file an affidavit, it’s only allowed if the officer actually saw the attack themselves. The city wants the officer to be able to file it after collecting evidence.
The city also wants higher penalties for owners of dangerous dogs and to ban repeat dangerous dog owners from owning pets in the future, too.