Residents who walk this stretch regularly say they've been seeing more of this: encampments and corners where the usual mix of people and belongings now includes litters, sometimes multiple animals per person, sometimes animals that rotate week to week. The observation is concentrated in the Tenderloin but shows up along the Civic Center corridor and into SoMa.

What's driving it is harder to say. Animal welfare advocates who work in the neighborhood describe a few overlapping dynamics. Some unhoused people keep dogs for companionship and security — that part isn't new. What locals are flagging as different is the volume and the age of the animals, including dogs that appear to have been pulled from nursing too early. Whether that reflects a spike in informal breeding, opportunistic acquisition, or something else, no one this reporter spoke with could say with certainty. The SFSPCA did not respond to a request for comment by press time.