SAN ANTONIO – You call 911 when you need emergency help, you call 311 when you need city help, and now, one state lawmaker wants a new number to call for issues with dangerous dogs.
State Rep. Liz Campos has been working on measures related to the issue for years.
She says residents continue calling her saying there isn’t enough being done to deal with stray, aggressive, and dangerous dogs. She’s now calling on city leaders to create a hotline just for these animal issues, and says she could include this in a future bill too.
Residents we spoke to Monday agree that a resource to help deploy quicker help for animal issues would be helpful in both the city and in Bexar County.
One homeowner on the West side tells us a dog has been terrorizing their street, dislodging the bumper from her husband’s car and killing several animals in the area.
She asked that we not include her name for fear of retaliation.
We looked at the car with her. Above the tire, you see countless indentations that she identifies as teeth marks from the dog.
“We can’t even come outside because we’re afraid of these dogs running loose,” she told us, adding that the children who usually stand at the bus stop are now being driven by their parents because of the dog.
Her husband was fixing up the car to sell, but he was told it’ll be about a thousand dollars to fix the damage.
She says her neighbor’s kitten was also attacked. The dog got into the garage through an outside vent, dragged the cat out to the yard, and eventually killed it.
You can still see the hole in the vent now.
But when they called the sheriff, Bexar County Animal Control, and Animal Care Services…
“They said they weren’t able to do much because it wasn’t a person, and that’s what got me most, because I mean, what if it was a person? Does it have to be dead for them to come over here and help us?” she asked.
Campos says that’s why she’s calling for a new resource like a hotline to get quicker help to residents.
“We’ve got to do something, because 311 is not working,” Campos said. “I continuously hear from constituents telling me that they call 311 and they’re not responding.”
During the last budget cycle, leaders revealed that ACS wasn’t physically responding to more than half of their critical calls.
The goal is to get the rate to 64 percent by the end of this fiscal year.
But Campos says, people and animals are still getting attacked, and officers still aren’t making it to those neighborhoods.
“This is urgent, we need to do something now,” Campos said.
We asked ACS about this proposal.
A spokesperson says that the agency works with 311 and an in house dispatch team on the nearly 100,000 calls they get every year.
We’re excited to hear the details of Representative [Campos’] proposal and are always exploring best practices to increase efficiency and service.
The proposal is still in its early stages, and questions remain about the funding, staff, and training for an ACS hotline.
Campos says she’s discussing the idea with city leaders, and could include this in a bill in the next legislative session.
