Stray and roaming animals have long dogged local elected officials. After many new investments in the city’s animal care services department and private shelter expansions, Bexar County is expanding its efforts as well.
On Tuesday, the county christened a new animal care department — part of a growing focus on an issue that’s perplexed its city counterparts because of recent cases of dangerous dogs harming and killing residents. The county operates a single small shelter in Kirby, but is laying plans for a larger facility on the Southwest side and recently formed its own animal advisory board.
Under the new structure, the county’s animal facility team and animal control will be under the new Bexar County Animal Care Department, led by Jacy Elrod, the county’s animal facility manager for the past eight years.
The goal, officials said, is to unify services that were previously fragmented to help meet the rising demand for stray animal response in rural areas.
“Animal care officers that work in the field, that go and pick up stray dogs, do investigations and interact the most with the community, would become part of and create a cohesive team with the staff at the animal care facility,” said Andrea Guerrero-Guajardo, director of Bexar County Public Health, which continues to oversee animal related issues.
Guerrero-Guajardo says the new department would take a “fragmented team” and bring it under one umbrella for a more comprehensive approach.
The reorganization comes amid pushback from fiscal conservatives who say it’s a duplication of services.
The county already faces a potential “budget cliff” after adding many new services in recent years, including a health department, using one-time pandemic relief funds.
Nevertheless, Bexar County commissioners face pressure from residents who count animal issues among the top concerns they want addressed.
In 2022, commissioners approved plans for a new shelter with a $5.5 million budget, which would house 48 kennels in Southwest Bexar County — in addition to the Kirby shelter, which has 60 kennels.
After County Manager David Smith warned that the original shelter design would be over capacity “the day we open,” county leaders made a last-minute decision in April 2024 to double the number of kennels to 96 and raised the budget to $8.8 million.
It’s expected to open in the fall.
Within city limits, San Antonio has also struggled to build shelter space fast enough.
Even as the city massively expanded its Animal Care Services budget in recent years, it faces persistent challenges curbing the stray and roaming animal population, leading the city to start funding free spay/neuter services for pet owners and increasing the amount it pays rescue nonprofits to take animals off its hands.
As part of the same reorganization at the county, Environmental Services will return to the Public Works Department, reversing a 2022 decision that had placed the division under Public Health.
County officials said overlapping responsibilities — such as illegal dumping, air quality, on-site sewage facilities and bulk item collection — led to inefficiencies that the move aims to resolve.
A new Environmental Services division will be formed within Public Works, combining teams from Public Health and the Stormwater Quality division to better coordinate response and enforcement.
County officials said during a Tuesday meeting that the changes are intended to streamline operations, reduce confusion for residents and improve coordination across departments — particularly for those living in unincorporated areas who rely on the county for animal care and environmental services.