San Antonio — A Good Samaritan is questioning why the city keeps asking people to chip their pets after an experience he says simply left him speechless. That man Joe Henry Campos tells Fox SA that he was told by and was told today by a City of San Antonio Animal Control Services supervisor to leave the dog he rescued where he found him.
Joe Henry Campos says he was washing his car on a Sunday, which is nothing out of the ordinary, except for the black Labrador that jumped in his truck at the car wash on Ada and New Braunfels.
Campos thought he would be a good Samaritan and take the dog directly to Animal Care Services, or ACS, on the west side. Once there, employees found a chip on the dog.
“They called the number twice and said nobody answered and they told me to take him back to where I found him,” said Campos.
According to ACS, they told Campos that they had no room for the dog and gave him a list of other nonprofits where he could leave him. But Campos claims he has done this so many times that he figured ACS has the most resources to find the owners.
Campos says he is frustrated, “What do I do with this dog? I asked what if I leave him here. I was told I would be fined 2 thousand dollars.”
Not knowing what to do, Campos drove around the facility and found another employee.
“I’m glad I didn’t take the dog and dump him off. I saw someone in the back of the facility, and they were able to hold on to the dog,” said the Good Samaritan.
He now wants to know what the purpose of asking San Antonians to chip their animals is if ACS won’t hold on to them when they are found.
In a statement, ACS tells us:
“Animal Care Services appreciates our community’s Good Samaritans who are willing to assist animals in need, especially when our shelter is at full capacity in the kennels like today.”
“They are the ones we are supposed to go to? They got the computers, they got the chip information, and then they say take him back where you found him.”
In June, Animal Care Services chipped more than 1200 animals, down slightly from their average. That same month, they also returned 470 animals to their owners.
As for the black Labrador that found Campos and he helped, ACS says: “One of our officers did determine this was an owned, microchipped dog who had been lost earlier today. He was reunited with his grateful family at ACS this afternoon.”
FOX SA will be filing open records requests to get a clearer picture of what happened today and why.
