SAN ANGELO, Texas — PETA recently sent a letter, on Nov. 4, to Mayor Brenda Gunter and members of the San Angelo City Council, calling on them to allow the shelter to accept all animals and ban all breeding and selling of animals. This letter came after the City Council decided to close public intake once the capacity hits 170 dogs on Nov. 2.

In a release from the City of San Angelo, residents were encouraged to house homeless animals for at least 48 hours through the Good Samaritan program or let the animal continue to roam as long as they are not in traffic.

IIn the letter to the City, PETA noted several instances where people had taken in a stray but then resulted in severe injury & death to individuals in the house

Although it is under city ordinance to spay and neuter animals, PETA shares that citizens can pay a nominal fee to avoid the ordinance and breed their animals, thus adding to the population of homeless animals.

PETA further explains that leaving these animals abandoned in the streets could, in turn, cause them to get infected by diseases, get hit by a car or be hurt by cruel people. Animals that are left to breed will also increase the burden on the taxpayer-funded shelter, according to the organization.

“Closing a shelter’s doors during a homeless-animal crisis is like shutting down a fire station during wildfire season, and churning out more litters of animals is throwing gasoline on the fire,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on San Angelo’s leaders to keep the shelter open and stop the breeders and pet store sales that are fueling this crisis.”

The organization ended the letter by offering to provide draft legislation and professional animal shelter policies or assistance in order to help the animals and the city during this time.

The City of San Angelo told Concho Valley Homepage staff that they are still reviewing all the information that was in the letter sent by PETA. During this time animal services are still responding to calls for service and are impounding injured and aggressive dogs.