SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Animal Care Services is constantly dealing with an increase in roaming dogs and stray cats. Now one ranch in Bulverde is helping the city free up resources by taking in some pigs.
Yes, you read that right.
Animals Care Services Spokeswoman Lisa Norwood said the city actually also goes on calls where they collect pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, and even some exotic animals. In fact, ACS now has a dedicated livestock area as part of their facilities.
"We sometimes see up to 100 to 200 different animals, different hoof-stock, that we bring in each year. A lot of them are specialized and require specialized diets and specialized habitats," Norwood said.
Fortunately, the city is also able to partner with ranches to take some of these animals. Nonprofit Winding Branch Ranch just opened up in June and is already caring for horses, pigs, emus, goats, chicks and more. Founder and President Matthew Aversa said they have more space to work with as they try to find homes for the animals.
"We take in animals that are surrendered or have heath problems. We strive to get them to a place that can be adopted," Aversa said. "If we have the right fencing and we have the right feed, we can take any animal.
Aversa said Winding Branch Ranch sometimes relies on feed donations so they can help certain animals. He said there is a feed wish list on their website. The ranch just recently took in several pigs from ACS.
"They were on the euthanasia list and so we rushed to get as much done as we could to get them in here. You need to quarantine them, look at the genders, make sure they get along," Aversa said.
Norwood said the city's ranch partners are important because they can provide the additional feed for farm animals and space for large animals. The partnerships help ACS free up resources to continue to focus on more more typical roaming animals.
"It reduces the amount of care that our shelter staff, our veterinarian staff, even our enforcement staff have to spend addressing animals outside of our normal scope like dogs and cats." Norwood said. "There is that much more time we can devote to dogs and cats. There is an absolute benefit."
Winding Branch Ranch also provides free field trips and is holding a Friday Family Movie night on July 28 and showing Charlotte's Web. The ranch is located at 30640 Leroy Scheel Rd, Bulverde TX, 78163.
Adversa said the ranch always needs help with additional fencing as well and donations of fence materials are extremely welcome.