Michael Karlis
An Animal Care Services response vehicle parks outside the department's West Side headquarters.
The 44-year-old woman was walking along West Southcross Boulevard near the intersection of Priscilla Street when “several dogs” broke from the yard of a home and bit her leg, according a preliminary report from the San Antonio Police Department.
The pack also attacked an Animal Care Services vehicle and ripped the strobe light off of an SAPD cruiser after city personnel responded to the incident, according to KSAT.
City personnel took five dogs into custody. However, not all the animals were involved in the attack, ACS spokeswoman Lisa Norwood told the Current.
ACS issued citations, but Norwood was unable to immediately say how many its employees wrote over the attack.
A local business owner told KSAT the dogs have been a problem in the neighborhood “for some time.” Even so, Norwood was unable to immediately confirm whether residents had filed previous complaints with ACS.
Officials with both SAPD and ACS said their investigations are ongoing.
The attack comes a week after ACS interim director Michael Shannon asked City Council to approve a 13.6% budget increase for the beleaguered department in the upcoming budget cycle.
ACS landed a 33% budget increase last year — the largest of any city department. However, Shannon revealed during the budget meeting that ACS failed to meet key self-imposed goals and still is only responding to 59% of critical calls.
The department was unsuccessful in meeting its spay and neuter quota along with its goals for number of animals impounded, number of rescues and number of adoptions, according to Shannon's presentation.
This is a developing story.
Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed
