El Paso Animal Services settles into new pet friendly partnership at city parks

EL PASO, Texas - As with so many other parts of society and business, the work of El Paso’s Animal Service providers has been made all the more difficult by Covid-19.

"We have turned to virtual adoptions, virtual fosters and other special projects," said director Paula Powell. "We have done some curbside things and we have also managed new ways to handle the strays."

Good Samaritan Julian Lopez learned about that new process for strays when he tried to dropping off a trio of dogs he had found.

“They’ve been roaming the block for a week," he said. "I was just trying to find shelter for them. They told me they can't take dogs so I have to call and create a report with them so they can come get the dogs later.”

Animal protection officers are certainly still responding to 311 calls, however animal services no longer allows for walk-ups.

Animal Services also recently began a partnership with the city's Parks and Recreation Department in which five parks will now be used as locations to help people who find a lost pet by scanning the animal for a microchip.

“Any pet you find, just go to one of those locations or any of the fire stations around town and we will go ahead and scan that for you," said animal services research and management assistant Adan Parra.

The parks that were selected for the partnership are Westside Natatorium, Officer David Ortiz Skate Park, Grandview Spray Park, Veterans Swimming Pool and Salvador Rivas Spray Park.

Microchip scanning will be available at those parks seven days a week from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.