SAN ANTONIO — Two dogs at the City of San Antonio Animal Care Services (ACS) shelter were accidentally euthanized, and now the organization will make some changes.
Bandito and Babe were both euthanized recently, even though foster organizations had placed a hold on them indicating they would come get them. Because of this mistake, ACS announced they will be making some changes to their policies.
"As an organization, we are committed to learning from these unfortunate incidents," said ACS.
Staci Walker, CO-Director with Hunter’s Hope Dog Rescue, says they submitted a tag and received a confirmation the dog was on hold but later received a phone call stating their dog was euthanized by accident.
The organization says ACS will investigate what happened, and will get back with her once they figure it out.
Walker says she understands mistakes can happen, especially when there are humans involved, but wants to use this incident as a learning lesson.
ACS had recently introduced an updated procedure to not medically reverse already sedated animals who have received "post-deadline holds. In order to euthanize an animal, ACS would first sedate them, then a few minutes later given the fatal medication.
They believe this policy may have led to these two dogs being killed.
"These losses weigh heavily on our hearts, and we want to extend our sincerest apologies to the community to all those who share our passion for animal welfare," said ACS in Facebook post. "As an organization, we are committed to learning from these unfortunate incidents."
ACS has now decided to revoke that recent change to not reverse sedated animals during what they call "capacity euthanasia," which is done when the shelter has too many animals in their care.
"Animal Care Services strongly urges all approved fosters and rescues committed to taking an animal into their care to make timely decisions and avoid past-deadline holds," ACS said. "This allows for proper processing to give pets the best chance for placement."
ACS is one of the largest open admission shelters in the country, taking in more than 25,000 animals annually.
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