Beginning this Friday, May 19, the City of Texarkana, Texas will implement new fees for the repossession and surrender of animals at the Animal Care and Adoption Center.

Citizens of the Texas side, whose animals have been impounded at the Animal Care and Adoption Center will be required to pay a $150 fee and any additional fees as determined by the ACAC to reclaim their pets. Payments made by Texas residents will be made to the City of Texarkana, Texas. This is an increase from the previous fee of $90 plus additional fees determined by the ACAC.

Also, in addition to this increase, animal surrenders made to the ACAC will now cost Texas residents $150 per animal. There are currently no fees associated with animal surrenders.

According to the city press release, these fee changes are being passed on as a result of an increased cost incurred by the City of Texarkana, Texas.

On a personal note, as many of you know, my family's pet cat, Pepsi, was caught in a trap near our home last October and taken to the ACAC. My daughter and I went down to retrieve him on a Saturday. We found him there, but only to be told since we lived on the Texas side we would have to wait, pay the city of Texarkana, Texas on Monday and then come back to get our pet.

When Monday rolled around, I went back to Animal Shelter to check on Pepsi, but his cage was open and empty and he was no where to be found. We were told by the staff at the shelter that he must have pushed the cage door open and escaped over the weekend.

Unfortunately we have not been able to find him.

I did talk to the shelter director, and both city managers last fall, and asked them if there was not a remedy for Texas side residents, who show up on the weekend to retrieve animals.

Finally, there is one good thing to report from our unfortunate incident. The Public Information Officer for the City of Texarkana, Texas informed me that the Director of Code Enforcement says that Texas residents can now pay a reclaim fee at the Shelter over the weekend to retrieve their pets.

This came some 7 months too late for us. But I am pleased that something was changed to hopefully keep what happened to us from happening to another family, just because they live on the "wrong" side of the state line.

We understand after all this time, that we will likely never see Pepsi again, but we keep that glimmer of hope. Please check out his picture and let me know if you see a "new" cat in your neighborhood that could be Pepsi.

Thanks,

John Williams

 

 

 

 

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