AARC Urges Council to Improve Animal Control Facility Conditions and Address Stray Animal Population

AARC member, Caitlin Hurda voiced her concerns about the current conditions in the Animal Control Facility and urged council to do more.

Members of the Del Rio Animal Advocacy & Rescue Coalition took to the podium during the citizen’s comments portion of the November 19th City Council Meeting, to urge council members to take a look at the conditions at the city’s Animal Control Facility and consider passing ordinances to address the growing population of stray animals across the city. 

“Good evening, my name is Caitlin Hurda, I’m here with the Animal Advocacy & Rescue Coalition, the local rescue here in Del Rio, and I just came to speak to you regarding the new animal control facility,” Caitlin Hurda of the AARC began. “I’m here to speak in support of that, mainly because the current facility is failing inspections and has been for years at this point, there’s rarely working air conditioner units in the kennels, at one point there were no working heaters, hopefully that has been or will be remedied before the cold weather sets in.” 

“I just wanted to reach out and say, we support this, we hope that you guys can vote to update the facility at the least, get it up to code, and we hope that with that you guys will adopt ordinances that will get to the root problem here in Del Rio, there’s a massive overpopulation issue, in this year alone up to this point, we have taken in over 200 animals in our organization from the streets of Del Rio, and that’s just dogs.” 

“We desperately need help, we need the city to come on board and adopt ordinances that will get to the root of the problem and take it seriously, update your facility so that we can not only better Del Rio for the animals but for the people that live here.”

AARC member Tess O'Brien stressed the importance of action on the part of city leadership to address the animal overpopulation issue in Del Rio.

Tess O'Brien, another  AARC member, spoke as well, “I have seen this community grow in terms of animal welfare issues but we are not finished. I have the privilege to serve those who cannot serve themselves and I use that privilege. “How many times do you guys visit animal control a year?” “I’m guessing none.” “How many times have you met a friendly dog or cat only to return the next week and they are gone, they have been euthanized for space because we have an overpopulation issue in this city,” O'Brien started. “Other than occasionally assisting a certain volunteer that works her butt off at the facility, I had to take a step back from going to the facility because it is so depressing, it’s a mess over there and yes, some places are worse but why are we comparing ourselves to those who do less.” 

“This is not a blow to the ACS staff, this is to you city council and those that have the power to make the city better and who refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem to begin with. “There is a homeless animal problem here in Del Rio and it’s embarrassing that those in power do little to nothing to remedy this.” “The only answer is access to affordable spay and neuter services and ordinances that enforce responsible pet ownership, you can continue to feign ignorance or get on board and make a difference.”