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sep 26 contents PRESTON HOLLOW ADVOCATE VOL.26 NO.9
OPENING REMARKS 6 North Texas Giving Day CLICKWORTHY 12 Adoptable animals PROFILE 10 Warren Tranquada DINING 12 JJ’s Cafe FEATURES 10 Neighborhood chickens 16 Students serving in STEM 22 Community cats
The Hockaday School sophomore Harper Hills has built a strong bond with her backyard chickens, in addition to providing fresh eggs for her family. Read more on page 12. Photography by Lauren Allen.
D I ST R I B U T I O N / A D V E RT I S I N G 2 1 4 . 5 6 0 . 4 2 0 4 President/Editor-in-Chief: Jehadu Abshiro jabshiro@advocatemag.com Chief Operating Officer: Alessandra Quintero 786.838.5891 / aquintero@advocatemag.com ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS Frank McClendon 214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com Catherine Pate 214.560.4201 / cpate@advocatemag.com John Lynch jlynch@advocatemag.com Classified Manager: Prio Berger 214.292.0493 / pberger@advocatemag.com E D I TO R S : Alyssa High ahigh@advocatemag.com Madelyn Edwards medwards@advocatemag.com
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FOLLOW US: Talk to us: editor@advocatemag.com Newsletter: advocatemag.com/newsletter SEPTEMBER 2026 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com
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OPENING REMARKS
By ALI QUINTERO
Dear neighbor, For 35 years, the Advocate has been part of Dallas neighborhoods — telling the stories that matter most to the people who live here. And for much of that time, people like you have made that work possible. This year for North Texas Giving Day, we’re focusing our Giving Day campaign on something ver y tangible: getting the Advocate into more streets in your neighborhood. We want to make sure that more neighbors have the opportunity to find the Advocate on their street, at a local rack or at a local business. It costs approximately $15,000 e ver y month to distribute the Advocate throughout our communities. Our North Texas Giving Day goal is $20,000. Reaching that goal will help cover approximately one month of neighborhood distribution and about three months of rack deliver y. That’s more than a number. It’s more opportunities for a neighbor to pick up the Advocate. More people discovering a story about their community. More local businesses, schools, leaders and residents being seen and heard. Will you consider making a North Texas Giving Day gift to help us reach our $20,000 goal? Text ADVOCATE to 844-844-6844 to make a do nation today. Thank you for believing in local journalism and for being part of the Advocate’s stor y. After 35 years, we couldn’t be more grateful for the community that has helped us get here — and we hope you’ ll help us bring the Advocate to even more neighbors in the years ahead.
give local HELP US GET RELEVANT NEWS IN THE HANDS OF MORE OF OUR NEIGHBORS.
Early Giving Through Sept. 17
Text ADVOCATE to 844-844-6844 or donate online to Advocate Media
With gratitude,
Ali Quintero, Chief Operating Officer
9.17.26
6 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
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SEPTEMBER 2026 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com
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c l i c kwo rt h y
SHELTER ANIMALS The Dallas Animal Shelter is over capacity. As of Aug. 7, just over 24,000 animals have been admitted to the shelter for the fiscal year, according to the Dallas Animal Services dashboard.
Here are a few furry friends available to bring home:
MIKEY 4 years old, male
SHEN 4 years old, male
BOOMER, 10 years old, male
FRANK 8 years old, male
PRECIOUS 11 years old, female
SPRITE 4 months old, female
JELLY 6 years old, female
LITTLE RASCAL 3 months old, female
BONES 9 years old, male
LANA 9 years old, female
So far this fiscal year, there have been:
24,045 ANIMALS ADMITTED TO THE SHELTER
715 ANIMALS IN THE SHELTER 7.4 DAYS AVERAGE LENGTH OF STAY 83.5% LIVE RELEASE RATE
11.05% OF ANIMALS HAVE RETURNED TO THEIR OWNER OF ANIMALS HAVE BEEN TRAPNEUTER-RELEASE
3%
36.97% OF ANIMALS HAVE BEEN ADOPTED
1.97% OF ANIMALS HAVE DIED IN DAS
1.68%
0.79% OF ANIMALS HAVE BEEN SPAYED/ NEUTERED, RETURNED
OF ANIMALS ARE WILDLIFE 18.71% OF ANIMALS HAVE TRANSFERRED FACILITIES
25% OF ANIMALS HAVE BEEN EUTHANIZED *Statistics consist of data from Oct. 1, 2025, through Aug. 7, 2026, which is the most recent data available at the time of writing.
Complied by Victoria Hernandez. Photos courtesy of Dallas Animal Services.
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p ro f i l e
CREATING AN ENGAGING EPICENTER AT&T Performing Arts Center President and CEO talks business Story by LISA PETTY | Photography by VICTORIA GOMEZ
A pending merger between the AT&T Performing Arts Center and the Dallas Theater Center aims to combine the entertainment venues’ operations.
10 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
I
t’s the world-class entertainment destination right in our own backyard. Founded in 2009, the AT&T Performing Arts Center comprises three distinct venues across a Downtown Dallas campus glittering with lights and polished glass. Through hundreds of events each year, which in turn draw hundreds of thousands of visitors, the programming showcased within the Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theatre and Strauss Square represents the full panorama of performance: theater, opera, ballet, modern dance, popular music and comedy. Nobody knows this better than Warren Tranquada. A longtime events industry veteran, he stepped into the role of president and CEO of Dallas’s epicenter for live performance in 2022 during the pivotal post-COVID pandemic period. As the years passed, the challenges and triumphs haven’t stopped coming. Fast-forward to the present, a pending merger between the AT&T Performing Arts Center and the Dallas Theater Center will result in these two historic organizations combining operations starting in 2027.
are traveling on the road. From a customer standpoint, the merger will create a more integrated customer experience for the produced theater that comes out of Dallas Theater Center, and the presented theater that AT&T Performing Arts Center has historically brought to the city. This will enable easier coordination of scheduling and the ability to build packages that make sense for individual customers. I don’t think that it always matters to the customer how something was created. I think what matters to the customer is whether it’s the type of show they want to see at the right place and at the right time. That’s really the power we can have from working together. For example, if it happens that you’ve got a conflict, it’ll be a little easier for you to swap your tickets for something else. It will also make it easier to put a package together that meets your specific needs.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR ROLE AT AT & T P E R FO R M I N G A RTS C E N T E R ?
You know, I love this work, but one of the highlights is that I see an awful lot of shows – and not just here at the Center. I really try H O W A R E YO U , A N D H O W I S T H E S U M M E R to spend time at all of the venues and see what’s happening in the GOING AT AT&T PERFORMING ARTS CENTER? arts community around the city. I love seeing the wide variety of Well, with the FIFA World Cup 2026 as the kick-off of the summer, art that we have here. I also love seeing how the customers interact it certainly was very busy in June and July. We experienced more in different ways at different venues. I am working when I’m doing activity than normal, and it was really exciting to see so many people that, but I’m also having a really good time doing so. on the streets of Downtown. It was inspiring as to what is possible in the future. Beyond the economic impact of the games themselves, W H AT A R E A F EW O F YOU R FAVO R I T E S H OWS my hope was that visitors would leave with an appreciation for T H AT YOU ’V E S E E N I N T H E PAST COU P L E O F what North Texas can offer in hospitality, in the arts, and in public Y E A RS ? infrastructure, and that we would earn a place on people’s list of That’s a tough one. One that really jumps to mind wasn’t in Dallas destinations they want to see when they’re visiting the United States. – it was Rage Against the Machine at Madison Square Garden in I think we were able to achieve that. 2022. It was an exuberant show, and for many people, it was their first time coming back into live experiences. There was just so much WHAT ARE A FEW CHANGES THAT YOU’VE SEEN emotion in the audience, and a lot of other middle-aged men like DU R I N G YOU R T I M E I N DA L L AS ? myself were just going crazy. More recently, I saw Rush at Dickies In the past few years, I think there has been increasing interest Arena this June, and it was a really glorious show. They hadn’t among the leadership of cultural institutions in finding ways to toured in quite some time, and fans were eager to see them back on productively collaborate with each other. I think we’ve all recognized the road and still at the top of their game. that attracting audiences is harder post-COVID, but I wouldn’t blame this entirely on the pandemic. I would actually point to YO U ’ R E O R I G I N A L LY F R O M TO R O N TO, A N D broader changes in audience habits, including the rise of streaming YOU RELOCATED TO DALLAS FROM YOUR PREservices and on-demand content, and a general comfort with making V I OUS RO L E I N N EW J E RS EY. W H AT AS P ECTS decisions at the last minute. O F DA L L AS L I F E H AV E YOU CO M E TO E N J OY Although people still very much value live experiences and going T H E M OST ? out, I think they are more selective about what they’re choosing. And We live in North Dallas, and we love that this city has been incredso, the opportunity for us as a sector has been in recognizing that ibly welcoming. It’s very easy to find community. For a large city, it’s we’re not really competing with each other – we’re competing with actually quite small, and I don’t mean that geographically. I mean other forms of entertainment. That has opened up the ability to be that it’s relatively easy, compared to a lot of other major cities, to much more collaborative about marketing and about coordinating make connections to leaders, to make friends, to show up places and schedules. Whether they come to my organization or a different see people you know. The restaurant scene here is also great. There’s organization, it’s all positive for our sector, for the neighborhood, just so much you can do to create a home here. and for our missions, so let’s work together to drive that up.
S P E A K I N G O F C O L L A B O R AT I O N , C A N YO U TA L K US T H RO U G H W H AT TO E X P ECT F RO M T H E U P CO M I N G M E RG E R W I T H DA L L AS T H EAT E R C E N T E R ?
F I N A L L Y, C A N YO U G I V E U S A H I N T A S T O W H AT YOU ’ R E LO O K I N G FO RWA R D TO I N T H E CO M I N G S E ASO N ? We are bringing Mystic Pizza: A New Musical to the city. This is a pre-Broadway show and something that very few people in Dallas will have seen before, so that’s exciting to me.
Dallas Theater Center produces content, which means they are reading scripts, hiring actors, hiring directors, building sets and so forth. At AT&T Performing Arts Center, we are typically booking shows that This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
SEPTEMBER 2026 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com
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HENS IN THE HOLLOW
These two neighbors’ backyard flocks serve as pets and purveyors Story by BELLA PORTERA Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
12 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
“ I T ’S H O M E T I M E , G I R LS ! ” The Hockaday School sophomore Harper Hill calls out as her Silkie, Cochin and Frizzle chickens run around the yard. Gathering at the door of their coop, Chickaletta, Eggo, Snow White, Sugar, Spice, Tweet, Fancy Nancy, Jean Gray and Banjo waddle inside, staring up at her as she makes her way back indoors. Hill first became interested in owning chickens while working on Jacuzzi Ranch in Arkansas from 2021 to 2022. Though she loved caring for the horses there, Hill found herself heading to her boss’s chicken coop nearly every day after putting the horses back in their stables, fascinated by the rare breeds she owned. “She had Polish, Silkie and Lavender Orpington chickens; it was one of her passion projects. I loved learning about them and catching them when they would run away from the coop,” Hill says. “When I got home, a 12-year-old me was like, ‘God, if I can’t get a horse, let me have chickens.’” Co nv i n c i n g h e r d a d t h ro u g h t h e promise of fresh eggs, Hill soon began the yearlong process of hand-building her ver y own chicken coop and run that extended from the coop to the fence, allowing her chickens to move around without the imminent threat of predators. “ The first chickens I got were tiny bantam Silkies, which have feathers that feel more like fur. Since they were unsexed chicks, I kept them in a brooder box with food, water and a heat lamp to regulate their body heat,” Hill says. “We gave away all the roosters, but I kept the three hens. From there, I got all of my uncle’s hens and my friends’ surviving hens after hers got attacked by a bobcat. One of them is a one-legged chicken named Jean Gray.” According to Hill, looking after chickens can be a big responsibility considering how above and beyond she goes to
ensure they aren’t in danger or broody, which causes hens to hatch eggs, starve themselves, pull out their chest feathers and overheat. After one of her broody Silkies died of heat stroke in its broody-breaker cage, Hill and her dad installed misters inside their coop, one of many enhancements they’ve made throughout the years. “We have a drain under the coop, misters and a heater. We also have a backup water in a black cup connected to the spout that my dad can fill remotely,” Hill says. Although incredibly prepared, Hill has still run into some surprises with her hens over the years, including a spontaneous sex reversal, a rare scientific phenomenon that occurred to one of her hens while she was on vacation. “I went on a three-day trip to Galveston with my dad and my dog. My new chicken Pickle was sexed as a hen when I left. When I came back, it was a rooster and was ‘cock-a-doodle-doo-ing’ all the time. I still have no idea what happened. We had to give it to my dad’s friend who has a ranch out in the country. We could hear it from the house.” For Hill, caretaking involves daily egg retrieval, occasional baths with diatomaceous earth, and feed and shaving changes every couple of months. Though more labor is required long term, Hill finds the connections she has with them worth the work. “It’s really sweet to see them bond with me. When I pull my car into the driveway next to the backyard, they’ ll all come to the door of their coop to see me,” Hill says. “I enjoy sitting in the yard with them as they come up to my feet and jump up into the arm of the chair. They’re like my babies.” On the other hand, resident and former council member Jaynie Schultz primarily owns chickens for their eggs, raised in a household focused on self-sufficiency and the natural environment. In
addition to a flock of hens, she has her own beehive for honey and a garden for vegetables and herbs, demonstrating her dedication to sustainability. “It’s important for people to be connected to the food system in a personal and responsible way,” Schultz says. “It’s so much easier and so much cheaper to do things in a more natural way.” Adopting an eco-friendly approach to caretaking, Schultz recycles scraps to feed her chickens and maximize healthy egg production. “There’s food that we compost and food that we give to the chickens,” Schultz says. “Every once in a while, we’ll grind up the eggshells for calcium and give them to our chickens so they can have stronger shells. It’s been really rewarding to reduce our waste.” Schultz’s coop is what used to be her children’s playhouse. The wooden structure is a whopping two stories, with an enclosed outdoor run on the left side; her yard is even registered as a natural wildlife habitat. Though not appearing as close to her chickens as Hill, she loves observing their behavior, noting that their interactions are incredibly humanlike. “Watching the dynamic between the chickens is absolutely fascinating. You really do have the bossy ones and the timid ones, just like people,” Schultz says. “It’s really amazing how when you look and study any aspect of the natural world, you realize that we are just like them in so many ways.” Reflecting on the unique relationship she has with her chickens, Schultz encourages other neighbors to consider purchasing their own, believing ownership to be meaningful and simple. “It’s very rewarding because you’re tied into their lives through the eggs,” Schultz says. “It’s the easiest thing you can do and so much more fun than you can imagine.”
SEPTEMBER 2026 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com
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fofo od od
JJ ’ S BRUNCH E X PA N DS Family-owned breakfast spot coming to Medical District Story by SYRA CASTILLO Photography by AMANI SODIQ
F
or 15 years, JJ’s Cafe has been a neighborhood staple in Lake Highlands — built on regulars, familiar faces, and the support of the community surrounding it. Now, the cafe is taking its brunch to Preston Hollow. JJ’s recently opened its third location on July 1 at Cinco Cocinas Food Nation on Maple Avenue, a food hall bringing together several restaurant concepts under one roof. The new location serves breakfast, brunch and dinner from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. JJ’s Cafe owner and chef Jose Ramirez says the expansion is both a new opportunity and a chance to continue building on the work that began in Lake Highlands. “I’m very happy with all the support from Lake Highlands,” Ramirez says. “Through the years, you’ve always supported me, and I’m very thankful.” The new location occupies two full kitchens within the food hall. In addition to JJ’s Cafe’s signature items like huevos divorciados ($11), migas ($10), tres leches pancakes ($9) and smoked brisket omelette ($13), the new location features a coffee bar serving matchas, lattes, specialty drinks and other beverages. The space also includes a large patio, bar and event hall, with seating for roughly 200 people across the food hall. The opportunity to expand came after Mico Rodriguez and Ray Quintanilla, owners of the building, invited Ramirez to join them at Cinco Cocinas. Ramirez says he could not pass on the opportunity since Rodriguez was one of his inspirations when he first opened JJ’s Cafe. “He was one of the persons I looked up to,” Rodriguez says. “He’s iconic. Everyone knows about him.” Quintanilla says bringing JJ’s Cafe into Cinco Cocinas is part of a larger vision for the space. “We are expanding our community, bringing together food
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One of JJ’s Cafe signature items is the chilaquiles rojos served with O’Brien potatoes and refried beans ($11+).
From left to right: Ray Quintanilla, Jose Ramirez, Mico Rodriguez and Jaxson Ramirez. Ramirez says he enjoys spending time with his son, Jaxson who is 9 years old.
operations from across the city to connect and share the experience of our city’s best comfort foods,” he says. JJ’s Cafe joins a growing lineup of food concepts at Cinco Cocinas, including Picazo, Otra Vez, Wing City and an upcoming pizza concept. “With this addition, JJ’s attention to detail and diverse menu will offer a wide variety of options for everyone,” Quintanilla says. The food hall, previously known as Maple Food Hall, was launched in 2022 by Quintanilla and was rebranded and renovated in March 2025 when Rodriguez and Quintanilla became partners in the space. The new JJ’s Cafe location also helped create approximately 20 new jobs. A few of JJ’s Cafe’s current employees and leads helped with the opening, while the restaurant hired additional staff. Ramirez says finding the right people has been one of the biggest challenges of the expansion. He is looking for employees who understand his vision for customer service and the restaurant’s culture. This vision began years before JJ’s Cafe opened. Ramirez, who grew up in Simi Valley, California, began his first culinary experience when he worked as a chef at a restaurant. He started in the kitchen and eventually worked his way into food expediting and other restaurant roles. He later moved to Dallas, eventually finding a home in Lake Highlands. Now, as JJ’s Cafe enters its next chapter, Ramirez says the restaurant’s growth is a reflection of the community that helped it get there. “This is what I envisioned,” he says. “I feel great because of all my hard work here in Lake Highlands and all their support, and now I’m able to create more jobs and keep growing.” JJ’s Cafe, 4711 Maple Ave., 214.812.9311 SEPTEMBER 2026 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com
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S 16 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
STEM
SCRIBES Preston Hollow high schoolers launch their own online publication Story by PALOMA RUDNICK | Photography by AMANI SODIQ
T
he Hockaday School students Aravli Paliwal, Ariel Yuan, Katherine Mao, and their Greenhill School friend Ronak Ramni, the founders of Youth STEMline, sit in a circle of large, brown chairs, with computers in their laps and Starbucks drinks in their hands, eager to speak. Last summer, after their freshman year of high school, Aravli pitched her idea for an online, youth-led Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) publication to her friends. “We went to this Panda Express, and at the time, it felt very Social Network-esque. We were like, ‘There are all these things that we want to do!’ and we got the website up the next week,” Aravli says. “We realized there are a lot of structured methods of being interested in science, but there’s nothing you can really do on your own time. I wanted members to actually produce something. I was going through different methods, and I think writing is one that a lot of people are interested in, or rather, a lot of people are pretty good at, and they don’t realize it.” Youth STEMline began as an online publication dedicated to publishing STEM-related articles written by
students, and has expanded into a community service role this year. Their mission statement describes their initiative as serving “youth in the community through the publication of detailed, well-researched articles that increase access to STEM information.” They use a “youth-serving-youth model” to create a platform of discussion, engagement, and service. They are also dedicated to combating misinformation. “Our goal is for everyone to stay informed while remaining cognizant of what we can be doing to contribute to a brighter, healthier future,” Ariel says. “I know we’re a youth-led organization, but we do try to follow a pretty strict policy when it comes to citing sources. We require all of our writers to have a reference section, and we go through that pretty rigorously. We also have an editing process where there are at least two pairs of eyes looking at each article before it’s published.” Some topics are so niche that it can be hard for someone to know what’s false, which is why section editors are assigned to STEM topics they are more well-versed in. SEPTEMBER 2026 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com
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“Writers are happy to write. We don’t find a problem with them not having things to publish. When you set a deadline, people kind of get burnt out. They’re like, ‘Do I really want to be in this? Is it really worth it?’” 18 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
Three of Youth STEMline’s founders are Hockaday students, including Aravli Paliwal, Ariel Yuan and Katherine Mao. What started as an online publication with STEM-related articles has led to several service opportunities for the four.
“There is a form of trust that you kind of have to have with your writers,” Aravli says. Over the past year, their publication has expanded to include 36 more of these writers, or STEM Scribes. While most are from The Hockaday School, there are also students from Greenhill, Allen High School, Plano ISD’s Jasper High School, the Harmony School of Innovation, and even the Sevenoaks School in England. STEM Scribes show their passion for the subject in very different ways. There are articles delving into mathematical theorems, showing the chemistry in baking, examining the science behind online trends, and exposing the detrimental effects of EV creation, all of which reflect each student’s perspective. The group publishes about two or three articles a month. They expect to be releasing more in the next school year, but there are no publication deadlines for STEM Scribes. “Writers are happy to write. We don’t find a problem with them not
having things to publish. When you set a deadline, people kind of get burnt out. They’re like, ‘Do I really want to be in this? Is it really worth it?’ You’d actually be surprised how much people would be able to do on their own,” Aravli says. Aravli’s favorite is an article she published this January that examined Peter Thiel’s rhetoric and compared it to her school reading, Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Thiel, the cofounder of both PayPal and Palantir, expressed views on transhumanism, government control, and the Antichrist. “I was seeing similarities between him and Victor Frankenstein in terms of … really wanting to control everything around them.” “I think our writers write a lot more interesting articles, because most of our time is spent editing. My favorite one is from Aashritha [Shankar]. She writes a bunch of really complicated math articles that no one really understands, but they’re really cool to read,” Katherine says.
According to Ronak’s Youth STEMline Wrapped (modeled after Spotify’s end-of-year recap), Shankar was the busiest writer during the last year with four articles published, including a three-part series on the history of space-time. One moment that made the founders feel like they had “made it” was when their publication began to appear on the Google search results page. “When you search up Youth STEMline, we show up,” says Ronak, who is in charge of their website and Instagram. “Even ChatGPT and Gemini know about us.” In just one month this summer, they already had 3,000 views. “I think we’re growing exponentially,” Aravli adds. However, looking at the data took their focus away from their mission. “We all just weren’t satisfied with what the articles were producing in terms of engagement,” Aravli says. “We wanted to see the kids; we want to see them laugh, have them actually find something interesting. And you can do that with the workshops.” Enter TomorrowMakers, a subsection of Youth STEMline dedicated to direct community outreach, bringing STEM to children through open workshops in Dallas. “Our workshops started with the idea of, ‘I wish we could have kids directly read something that they wouldn’t find otherwise,’” Ariel says. “And it’s worked out a lot better than we ever anticipated. Because they’re already interested in the topics, then they want to go and read the article as well.” By early July, the group had already hosted two workshops in partnership with the Dallas Police Association. “It worked out really well for us because [the DPA] turned out to be the kind of people who really cared about bringing the accessibility of STEM to these kids,” Ariel says. “I really love working with the kids. And I really love how the kids are coming back each week to learn more.” Their workshops are meant to be engaging and teach the kids to really interact with the materials, through experiments like “cloud-in-a-jar,” led by Katherine, or through topics such as weather and space. “Most kids are used to adults teaching them. And I know they don’t view us as adults really, and I think that because we’re a bit closer to their age, it feels more personal. There’s more connection there,” Aravli says. TomorrowMakers is only just picking up steam. “Now that we have these systems in place, we’re bringing this into the school year as well. We have a lot of events going through August, September, and November right now,” Aravli says. They have connected with various libraries to host open events where any child is welcome to come and learn. “We have these spaces, and if people want to come, it’s not a registration type of system,” Ronak says. “But it’s kind of a free-for-all.”
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WHO CARES FOR THESE CATS?
Not enough active hands to help community cats
Story by S MADELYN EDWARD
Dallas Animal Services is proposing updates to the City Code regarding community cats, but this would not add a trap, neuter, return program. Photos courtesy of Dallas Animal Services.
LOSS OF FUNDING. A deficit in the ability to provide shelter animal surgeries. A full-time veterinarian position that remained unfilled. A short-handed staff accruing overtime from working hard in stressful jobs. About 2,600 animals in foster homes and 600 in the shelter. All this was discussed in a well-attended public meeting last June in Lakewood with Dallas Animal Services (DAS) answering questions, mainly from those practicing Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). Frustrated neighbors talked about being overrun by outdoor cats, trouble accessing TNR resources and feeling like they weren’t being listened to. DAS officials explained they are doing the best they can while managing their resources. Rock meets hard place. “I need a place to go,” East Dallas neighbor Jennifer Woulfe said during the meeting. “I love (Texas Coalition for Animal Protection). I do most of my stuff at TCAP, but there have been times that I have to get there at 3 or 4
o’clock in the morning. I have to wait, and I can’t easily do that. So, for me, I need a place that’s an easier option to go. I’m willing to do it. You have free help right here, free. I’m doing it for free because I know it’s important for the cats. I know it’s important to my community.” Any animal reproducing quickly and unfettered leads to a bigger population with higher risks for “disease transmission, parasites, sanitation concerns, nuisance behaviors,” says Amanda Earl, DAS assistant director of operations. “One of the primary benefits of TNR is that participating cats are vaccinated against rabies,” Earl says. “They’ve been sterilized. They’ve at least been looked at by a veterinarian. They have an ear tip so that we can identify those animals. It does help stabilize colony size. It does help reduce nuisance behaviors, but there are only so many resources.” Almost 8,500 service requests regarding stray cats were placed between August 2023 and September 2025 throughout Dallas but
22 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
especially in East Dallas, Oak Cliff and southern Dallas, according to a City report. TCAP doesn’t have an affordable spay and neuter clinic in Dallas. The closest locations for our neighbors are in Garland, Allen or Arlington. To participate in TCAP’s Feral Fix Program for specifically wild and unsocialized cats, it is recommended to arrive “well before 8 a.m.” to secure one or more of the 12 slots available (limited to four cats per person or organization). If you miss your chance, you have to try again or schedule an appointment and pay $20, according to TCAP’s website. And not all of these clinics perform feral cat surgeries every weekday. At Spay Neuter Network on South Buckner Boulevard, cats are accepted first-come, firstserved on open surgery days until capacity is reached (limit two cats per person). This service costs the same as for owned cats, unless a Dallas resident has a service request number, in which case the spay or neuter is free and
funded by DAS, according to the clinic’s website. TNRers can get a service request number through 311, but some said at the Lakewood meeting that the process to receive that is inefficient. (Woulfe says TCAP also offers free services for Dallas residents with a service request number.) And no, the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) of Texas, headquartered in Dallas, is currently not accepting trap, neuter, return surgeries, according to its website. Woulfe says SPCA had a TNR program but stopped after the pandemic. Some advocates think Dallas Animal Services should actively participate in TNR. The department calls the practice “the only proven, humane method to control outdoor cat populations” on the City’s website but currently isn’t proposing a City-run TNR program. “We would need the staff support. We would need the funding support. We would need community support. We’d need those partnerships,” Earl says. “We’re constantly leaning on our partners and establishing those partnerships as we can to supplement the resources that we have right now, but the community has to participate.” Put plainly, the department doesn’t have the medical staff to manage those surgeries, she says. Recruiting veterinarians tends to be a challenge since there are less than 40 American Veterinary Medical Association-accredited colleges in the U.S. On top of that, shelter medicine tends to be a niche study, and filling those roles is difficult. Not every vet can manage 30 or more surgeries in a day. Case in point, Dallas Animal Services has had a full-time veterinarian vacancy since last fall. “We can’t compete with private enterprise,” Earl says. “We can’t pay off their student tuition costs that they’ve incurred. We can’t offer them the same salaries and benefits as others because we are a municipal organization.” As of writing this, the department has veterinarians for treatment (one full-time and one temporary part-time), telehealth, and forensics, plus two surgeons, one full-time and one temporary part-time. Compared to the almost 29,000 animals DAS takes in per year, this is a small team, Earl says. They have specialized roles that
include providing intake exams, emergency care, illness and injury treatment, surgeries, and medical support for fosters. Dallas Animal Services also partners with organizations to expand their staff ’s bandwidth just to care for shelter animals, but that’s still not enough to do TNR surgeries. “It’s just not a reality,” Earl says. “It’s not through lack of desire.” In our neighborhoods, feline con-
included the so-called Team Tabby, in which 1,451 cats were fixed, preventing thousands of kitten births and newborn intakes, according to a City report. TNRers interviewed by the Advocate are mostly sympathetic to DAS’s position and would like to see the department get the resources needed. “Apparently, we need to star t att e n d i n g c i ty c o u n c i l m e e t i n g s a n d being a voice for DAS and for these animals because a lot of people aren’t speaking up,” Woulfe says. Dallas County’s veterinary care accessibility score is 66 out of 100, and, while not the worst, well below that of neighboring counties. DAS is working to help identify where those deser ts are and rebuilding infrastructure to better manage animals in the shelter and outside of it, Earl says. Far Northeast Dallas neighbor Mary German started TNRing on her street before connecting with other neighborhoods, including Oak C liff, Arlington and Grand Prairie. She manages colonies in D a l l a s , G a rl a n d a n d Me s q u i t e , feeding the cats even on special occasions and despite challenges brought on by apartment complex rules. She noticed Hispanic communi ti e s te nde d to re qui re the most help. “There’s a lot of need, not only with the trapping but also getting medical,” German says. Earl says Dallas leadership has been supportive, but even in a perfect world, she imagines that e ver yone would s tep up for DAS, including businesses and neighbors. “We can’t do it by ourselves,” she s a y s . “ We c a n k e e p s p i n n i n g o u r wheels, we can keep doing sterilizations, we can keep taking the owners’ surrenders, but our most impor tant thing should be to help keep animals in their homes and help provide those resources. But we can’t be the one that’s providing all the resources. We’re not that big. Our community is huge.” On that point, Earl’s message to those practicing TNR is “keep doing what you do. If we can help, we will.”
“There’s a lot of need, not only with the trapping but also getting medical.”
cerns are handled by the community engagement team. Among other tasks, these staffers respond to cat-related calls and e valuate situations, point locals toward resources and aim to educate the public. The City used to have a specific program for unowned cats, but that was discontinued because of budget cuts, Earl says. In t h e 2 0 2 4 - 2 5 fi s c a l y e a r, t h e Community Cat Pilot TNR Program
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