San Antonio Animal Care Services (ACS) Director Jon Gary has had the job since Dec. 30. He comes from Oklahoma City’s Animal Welfare Division, where he worked for 25 years and served as its director for eight.
Gary spoke with the media on Wednesday before his first meeting with the ACS Advisory Board, laying out his priorities for the department and pushing back on criticisms ACS has received in the last several years.
“Those things that happen are not the fault of ACS, right?” he said about the recent spate of dog maulings. “I mean, our job is to respond to those incidents, but that’s the owner that didn’t do the right thing; that’s the owner that didn’t take care of the pet, that didn’t keep the pet confined. And I think it’s important that our community understands that. Nothing that happens here is the fault of our staff.”
Gary said solving the public safety and animal welfare problems the city faces will require a team effort…