By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Commissioners court members have agreed to set aside funding so two animal rescue groups can offer local pet owners free or low-cost spay and neuter clinics.
The court voted unanimously during its Wednesday, Sept. 9, meeting to budget $6,000 for the Animal Advocacy & Rescue Coalition (AARC) and $6,500 for Border Animal Mission (BAM) in the 2026-2027 Fiscal Year.
The decision to provide funds to the two animal rescue groups came after a discussion during a workshop on the county budget.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. initiated the discussion by telling the court he had received a request from AARC for $6,000 to be included in the county budget to help fund the group’s spay and neuter clinics in the coming year. He added BAM has received funds for similar clinics from the county, but BAM asked for those funds on an as-needed basis.
Owens invited AARC representative Ronda Hargrove to address the court.
Hargrove told the court, “The reason that we are requesting this is because we’ve been working on Dr. Rathke’s old vet building since 2018, along with rescuing and sending out dogs.”
Hargrove said AARC has hosted three clinics to offer low-cost spay and neuter surgeries to local pet owners.
Hargrove said, “We had a husband-and-wife (vet) team come in last weekend. They did 76 animals in a day-and-a-half, and we have 76 more on a waiting list that we will try to get them done before our next spay and neuter clinic in November. We (will) do that in Mexico at Dr. Chavarria’s office.”
Hargrove said it costs AARC $1,000 a day to pay a veterinarian to come to Del Rio to perform the spay and neuter surgeries. She added AARC operates entirely on donations, and the group’s goal is to offer spay and neuter clinics every other month.
Hargrove said AARC is asking $6,000 so it can set up those clinics every other month next year, adding AARC representatives will also seek funding from the city.
She told the court, “We have someone who donates a house for the vets. We have people who donate food for them. All of the other expenses are on us, the medications that it takes, everything. There’s a list of stuff that our donations get used up on. So it’s $1,000 a day to bring the vet in, and we bring them in generally for two days.”
Hargrove invited Owens and the commissioners to come and observe AARC’s clinics.
After Hargrove finished, Owens responded the court has given BAM $3,198, and 965 dogs and cats have been spayed and neutered through their clinics. Based on those numbers, Owens said he figured the “cost per animal” at $3.31.
Owens told Hargrove, “If it cost you all $1,000, plus you had a bunch of other donations, and you did 76 (animals), it was $13.15. . . it would be up to the court to decide, but it’s really difficult for me – and I’m not throwing rocks here – to go from $3.31 to $13.15 per animal.”
Hargrove said the woman who runs BAM, who was never mentioned by name, pays out of her own pocket for the vets that organization brings in.
“No, no, no. I’m saying what it costs the county,” Owens replied.
Hargrove said, “I understand, but you’re not paying for their vets. She is. Thousands of dollars.”
Owens replied, “I get it, but again, I’m concerned about what I’m spending here at the county, not what they’re spending, and when I look at the $3.31, and don’t get me wrong, I think we need to help you, we just need to come up with a number.”
When Commissioner Pct. 1 Kerr Wardlaw said the vets are volunteering their services, Hargrove corrected him, saying the vets are paid and that BAM’s leader paid $16,000 out of her own pocket to bring in the vets for BAM’s first spay and neuter clinic.
Hargrove said, “It’s free to the citizens, but it’s not free to BAM. The vets are not free. We have to pay for them. That’s what we want help doing. We want to know that we have money to say, ‘Hey, are you available next month? Let’s do it this weekend, because we’ve got the money set aside.’ We’re going to cover everything else, the housing, the food and all of the medication and all the instruments and everything that’s required for doing a spay and neuter clinic. We just need help to know that we have the money in place to pay a vet.”
After some additional discussion, with Owens repeatedly coming back to what he called the “cost per animal,” Vazquez made a motion the county set aside $6,000 for AARC. Wardlaw gave the second.
As part of his motion, Vazquez said he would like to hear quarterly updates from AARC on the work they are doing, and Hargrove agreed to do so.
The court then voted unanimously to approve the request, and Owens commented, “That will probably be the best $6,000 we ever spent.”
Later in the meeting, County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez was on the agenda to give the court an update “on services provided to Val Verde County by Border Animal Mission (and) discussion and possible action on providing meals and lodging for spay, neuter and vaccine clinics.”
Martinez told the court, “There have been 394 animals from this community taken into the BAM foster program. (The animals) been fully vetted, spayed, neutered and sent to adoption centers out of state, so they’ve left this community.
“Three hundred and fifty-five of those were taken out of the two animal control facilities in the county, one being the city’s, the other being ours. There’s been 952 sterilized community animals that they’ve been brought in by their owners, and they’re looking to complete another 500 sterilizations,” Martinez added.
He said BAM has also offered free microchipping services to pet owners, and 398 animals have been “chipped.” BAM has also scheduled several dedicated flights to take dozens of fostered animals out of the community.
Martinez said, “They have another free spay and neuter clinic scheduled here for the week of October 16 through October 20, and then on Oct. 31, there’s another rescue flight out of the Del Rio airport. The last time they did that, they took something like 63 animals out of this community that went to Maine and Michigan and other places away from here.”
Martinez said BAM is requesting housing and meals for 20 volunteers for the October spay and neuter clinic, at a cost of about $6,500.
Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores made the motion to approve the $6,500 request, with Vazquez giving the second.
Before the vote, Owens told the sheriff, “You heard my speech a little while ago with Ms. Hargrove. When this gets done, we need to be able to back up how come this court is spending so much money. So you’re going to add the $3,198, then the $6,500. . . I personally need an account of how many animals were serviced, how many animals were taken out of our community, so we can come up with a cost per animal type deal.”
Martinez said, “We’ll get that done.”
Owens said, “I’m not throwing rocks at anybody, because these are worthwhile organizations, but the amount of money that we’re spending, we need to be able to justify it.”
The court then voted unanimously to approve the request.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
