On Saturday, August 2, Dallas Animal Services announced that it would no longer accept dogs from the public due to an outbreak at the shelter of Canine Distemper Virus, a contagious and often fatal viral disease that affects dogs.

The shelter said that it would accept only sick, injured, or dangerous dogs. Currently, anyone who needs to surrender a dog — for whatever reason such as finding a lost dog on the street and wanting to get it out of harm's way — is turned away and being advised to "exhaust other outlets."

The shelter stated that "We have no set timeframe for when we will reopen intakes. We will reopen intake once we know it is safe for our current dog population."

It's not unusual for a shelter to close temporarily to prevent the spread of a contagious disease. But having the shelter closed indefinitely puts people and animals at risk.

A few examples:

• On Sunday, August 3, a stray dog was found at Klyde Warren Park. Finders gave him food and water, and park security called DAS to pick him up. According to DAS records, DAS never picked up the dog from Klyde Warren Park that night.
• On Monday, August 4, a dog was found tethered to an entrance ramp of Woodall Rodgers Freeway. Motorists contacted DAS and were instructed to leave the dog because "intake was closed." The Dallas Police Department rushed to the scene, since having the dog on the freeway is a public safety issue. The DPD took the dog to DAS, but according to DAS records, DAS director Paul Ramon would not accept the dog. Concerned citizens who called to find the status of the dog were told that DAS was unable to locate it.
• On Wednesday, August 5, a resident found a dog tied to a fence post in her alley. The dog was microchipped but the owner did not respond. The resident couldn’t keep the dog and the shelter would not accept it.

Open intake
Dallas Animal Services is a municipal animal shelter with a responsibility to provide housing, care, and adoption services for stray, lost, and surrendered animals. Shelters play a crucial role in animal welfare, controlling the local animal population, and promoting responsible pet ownership.

A key part of the formula is that they must be "open intake," meaning that they cannot turn away pets. This keeps animals off the street where they could be hit by a car or attack a human.

Not accepting animals results in more loose animals on the streets of Dallas.

DAS previously limited intake in March, blaming it on an outbreak of another illness, Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (CIRD-C). In the ensuing months, confusion reigned about the shelter's status. According to DAS figures, the number of dogs coming into the shelter has dropped while the number of loose dogs on the streets has increased.

According to Dallas Animal Services Field Fact Sheet:

• April 2025: 238 more loose stray dogs and 102 more aggressive dog packs than in April 2024
• May 2025: 162 more loose stray dogs and 124 more aggressive dog packs than in May 2024
• June 2025: 164 more loose stray dogs and 73 more aggressive dogs packs than in June 2024

Distemper
The current distemper outbreak was preventable.

To ward off distemper, dogs should receive a series of vaccinations, starting with a first round, followed by a booster. Unfortunately, DAS changed this procedure and stopped giving booster shots in 2024, with the reasoning being to save money. Not following up with a booster increases the odds of distemper.

Concerned about a possible outbreak, I spoke to the Dallas City Council on June 25, urging a return to the previous vaccine procedure, using designated funds from Operation Kindness, the large animal nonprofit that has been partnered with DAS for a number of years, to cover the cost.

Since the beginning of August, 38 dogs have been euthanized, ostensibly due to distemper.

Interim solution
Dallas Animal Services currently vaccinates all dogs on intake for distemper. The challenge is that it takes 72 hours for those vaccines to take effect.

What DAS needs are locations for dogs to be housed for those 72 hours. There are boarding facilities such as Better Days Project, a boarding facility that DAS uses; Dawg Life, a facility in Fair Park; and Operation Kindness' Lifesaving Partnerships Hub, next door to Dallas Animal Services, which has capacity for 40 dogs that could be quarantined while their vaccines take effect.

DAS needs to return to intaking loose and stray dogs. We can’t wait until a dog is run over by a car or worse, bites a stranger, to bring it to the shelter.
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Karen Brophy is a long-time animal welfare advocate and foster for Dallas Animal Services.