City animal services responds to tranquilizer questions

It's been three days since a bobcat was shot and killed by game wardens in the back yard of a central El Paso home. Now there are more questions about whether or not that bobcat could have been tranquilized instead of shot.

Earlier on Wednesday, there was some back and forth about who exactly is in charge when it comes to wild-animal calls in the city of El Paso. The game warden said El Paso Animal Services takes the lead when it comes to wild-animal calls. But initially the city said the game warden was the lead agency when it comes to wild animals. But the game warden also said they are only a law-enforcement agency and not in the business of animal control.

"When we get to wildlife, we have some blurred response issues that need to be cleaned up within the next couple of weeks," said Kurt Fenstermacher, deputy director of environmental services for the city of El Paso.  Fenstermacher also told us animal services is new to environmental services, so there are some issues that need to be worked out.

As it stands now, the animal services department will respond to all animal calls. When a wild animal is involved and there are public safety concerns, then the game wardens will be called in.

The game warden who responded to the home in central El Paso on Saturday has reason to believe the bobcat might have had rabies. They said they had to act quickly to protect people's lives. But many people and animal advocates have been asking if the bobcat could have been tranquilized. Game wardens do not have tranquilizer guns but city animal services do.

"Saturday's incident was a public safety issue so even if we had tranquilizers there, the public safety would have trumped the use of tranquilizers," said Fenstermacher.