WINDCREST, Texas – The director of San Antonio Animal Care Services confirms a Northeast Side pet boarding facility and operator are under investigation for possibly artificially inseminating French bulldogs.
Confirmation of the investigation into Corey Jones, owner of Texas Canine Boarding & Pet Services, comes amid ongoing scrutiny of the City of Windcrest’s decision to pay Jones more than $195,000 to care for the city’s stray cats and dogs in 2023 and 2024.
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The business relationship, which Jones described as a handshake agreement between him and the city’s then-police chief, played out without a formal contract in place, Windcrest city records confirm.
KSAT Investigates revealed Monday that payments to Jones for boarding services continued even after he was charged in two felony assault cases.
One of the assault incidents, which occurred in November 2023, took place within Windcrest city limits, charging records show.
Additionally, sworn ethics complaints filed by Jones last summer against two Windcrest residents included the handwriting of Windcrest City Councilman Greg Turner, even though both Turner and Jones have said publicly that they do not know one another.
TVMA: Only licensed veterinarians may perform artificial insemination procedures on dogs
In January 2024, Windcrest resident Rainbeau Presti filed an open records request with San Antonio ACS for a copy of permits and past inspections for Texas Canine Boarding & Pet Services.
What Presti thought was a straightforward public records request ended with her receiving a letter the following month from a San Antonio assistant city attorney asking the Texas Attorney General to allow ACS to withhold the records.
The letter stated, in part, that the requested files include records from an ongoing animal cruelty investigation.
The portion of the Texas Penal Code cited in the letter pertains to state law covering the crime of bestiality.
ACS Director Jonathan Gary, in a phone interview with KSAT, provided limited details on the probe.
Gary, who was hired by the city after the investigation was first opened, confirmed investigators are looking into whether artificial insemination was performed on French bulldogs.
Gary told KSAT the original case was closed but then reopened after new information came to light during a recent inspection of Texas Canine Boarding & Pet Services.
He said ACS will consult with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, since it is not the typical type of animal cruelty case handled by his investigators.
Gary declined to provide specific details of the investigation, so as not to jeopardize it. A city spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up email from KSAT asking for the current status of the case.
French bulldogs, recently voted the most popular dog breed in America for the third year in a row, are also known for having back and hip issues.
A licensed San Antonio veterinarian told KSAT Frenchies’ hereditary spinal problems make it difficult to breed and birth them.
“I’ve not once said I’m a vet,” Jones told KSAT outside of his business last month.
“Everybody in the world does that,” said Jones, when KSAT asked about the ACS investigation.
Jones, during the same conversation, told KSAT that a person does not have to be a veterinarian to perform artificial insemination on the dog breed.
A spokesperson for the Texas Veterinary Medical Association provided a much different response.
The spokesperson told KSAT via email that artificial insemination is one of the procedures defined by state law as the practice of veterinary medicine, which only licensed vets may perform.
While Texas law allows artificial insemination for livestock, the spokesperson clarified that this exception does not apply to dogs.
The spokesperson also provided clarity on why artificial insemination of dogs would be covered under the bestiality section of the Texas Penal Code.
While bestiality is generally described as sex between humans and animals, the list of prohibited acts includes if a person: inserts any part of a person’s body or any object into the anus or genitals of an animal in a manner that is not a generally accepted and otherwise lawful animal husbandry or veterinary practice.
Jones has not been criminally charged in connection with the animal cruelty probe.
He is awaiting indictment in both felony assault cases, Bexar County court records show.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
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