The city's stray dogs may need our protection

"We were completely crunched for space," says Rebecca Katz, the director of ACC, who put out a request that residents wait a week to surrender their dogs to alleviate the immediate overflow. The city's Animal Care and Control Department was facing a population problem—it has about 100 kennel spaces, but was taking in some 300 dogs a month from people who abandoned or turned in their pets.

Among them: financial aid for pet owners who can't handle vet bills; collaboration with private businesses; and specialized placement programs for hard-to-adopt dogs. Some of the programs are among the first solutions of their type in the U.S. to help keep challenging dogs with families—and away from euthanasia.Overcrowding at the public pound is afflicting cities across the U.S. amid a weak economy. But in San Francisco, a contingent of animal activists is developing solutions they hope might relieve the pressure.

By some measures, San Francisco remains one of the best places in the country for pets. The city has one of the lowest stray and surrendered animal intake rates in the country, at 8.8 animals per 1,000 people, according to the San Francisco SPCA. In Yolo County, the rate is three times higher; in Merced, the rate is 9.2 times higher, according to the SPCA.


Since 1994, the ACC has had an agreement with the local chapter of the SPCA to take all adoptable pets in its facilities that the city wants to surrender instead of euthanizing them.Behind the problem, officials say, is a tough economy that has made pet care more expensive. At the same time, killing unwanted dogs to alleviate overcrowding, common in many places, isn't on the table as a solution, say city officials and local animal activists.  But in recent years, the numbers of dogs taken in by San Francisco's ACC has grown by leaps, from 1,939 in the 2007-08 fiscal year to 2,424 in the 2010-11.