South County Animal Shelter Coalition

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE for all people with Pets in Laguna Hills and Lake Forest re. the ORANGE COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER - PLEASE SEE BELOW: 

LAGUNA HILLS - Tomorrow night, at 7 p.m on Tuesday July 14 at the Laguna Hills City Council Meeting at city hall. - 24035 El Toro Rd. Laguna Hills, CA 92653
And
Tuesday night, 7 p.m. July 21 at the Lake Forest city council meeting at city hall.

Laguna Hills and Lake Forest, who currently contract with the Orange County Animal Shelter, and will decide how they will respond to the last Orange County Grand Jury report this year which has clearly and concisely exposed the horrible conditions at this 74 year county animal shelter.  Please see below for a summary of these reports and web addresses for viewing the entire reports. 

It is essential that pet owning residents either attend these meetings at City Hall at 7 PM on Tuesday 7/14/15 or send e-mails to their city council members: at ccouncil@ci.laguna-hills.ca.us 

Dore Gilbert, Mayor

Barbara Kogerman, Mayor Pro Tem

Andrew Blount, Council Member

Don Sedgwick, Council Member

Melody Carruth, Council Member

and County Supervisor  - Lisa Bartlett for South OC - lisa.bartlett@ocgov.info  to voice their concerns and opinions as these issues with the County Animal Shelter have persisted for more than 20 years with no significant changes and with a highly unlikely probability that the county will ever replace the current shelter.  Even if the County did decide to honor it's commitment to it's residents for this service, the rate of growth in the county would soon overwhelm one new shelter unless plans are made for multiple shelters located throughout the county. 

A big question for the 18 member cities of the County Animal Shelter is should we stop wasting any more energy on trying to get the county to replace the county shelter and form a South County Animal Shelter of our own.  The county has been telling the public for close to 20 years that they will replace the county shelter but have made NO PROGRESS, while every year they routinely continue to tell us this proces will only take another 2 to 5 years.  Despite all of this, one of our council members in Laguna Hills has  consistently continued to support the County's lack of effort claiming that concern for all animals in Orange County, not just ours in Laguna Hill.  One of the major flaws in this reasoning is that all animals at the Orange County Shelter would directly and immediately benefit from the So. County Cities breaking away from the county shelter related to an overall reduction in the numbers of animals admitted every year to the County Shelter.  

Another disappointment for Residents of Laguna Hills is that our Assist. City Manager, Don White, who is supposed to be serving our residents under the direction of City Manager Bruce Channing, has been a member of the Orange County Shelter's Financial and Operations Advisory Board for many years, including serving as the Chair of this board in 2013, but has never been forthcoming with residents of Laguna Hills regarding the severity of these problems that we are now having to hear from the OC Grand Jury. We thank the OC Grand Jury for these 2 thorough investigations and champion their honesty and courage. 

Facts about the County Shelter from the OC Grand Jury Reports this year. 

This crumbling 74 year old County Animal Shelter that was built in 1941 to serve about 200,000 residents has never been replaced or significantly updated and is now attempting to serve almost 3 million residents. 

If Animals Could Talk About the Orange County Animal Shelter 6/17/15
http://www.ocgrandjury.org/pdfs/2014_2015_GJreport/Shelter_Performance_V8R2_web.pdf
Brief Summary of text - 
The 2014 - 2015 Orange County Grand Jury (OCGJ) discovered that the OC Animal Care has been of countywide concern for several years, as indicated by three prior OCGJ reports. The reports focused on deficiencies in policies and procedures; inadequate staffing; poor employee attitudes; low morale; and lack of communication and cooperation among management, veterinary staff, and kennel staff. 

The County agreed with the previous OCGJ findings, but chose not to implement the Grand Jury recommendations.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The 2014-2015 Orange County Grand Jury found that the Orange County Animal Shelter has serious problems that have needed attention for many years. In addition to the desperate need for a new shelter facility, there have been complaints and allegations from a number of sources inside and outside the Animal Shelter that have focused on the lack of leadership throughout the Orange County Community Resources and Animal Care chain of command. This alleged void in leadership has resulted in either the inability of management to define the problems at hand or, if defined, an unwillingness to correct them. It has been alleged by many that the lack in leadership has led to a few mid-management personnel assuming control of the Animal Shelter daily operations with little or no oversight from upper management.

Additional information has led the Orange County Grand Jury to investigate concerns regarding employee morale, human and animal health issues, feral cat policies, and allegations of criminal behavior. Also, there have been indications of conflict between veterinarians and management staff with regard to medical decisions.  The Orange County Grand Jury investigation found substantial factual support for all these allegations. In 2014, a workplace investigation report of the Animal Shelter was ordered by the Board of Supervisors and conducted by an outside firm whose findings revealed that there is significant evidence to support the complaints and allegations.

REASON FOR STUDY
The 2014-2015 OCGJ received written and verbal complaints from current and former employees, including veterinarians, and from various humane organizations.  Many of these alleged problems were the same as those discussed in the 1999-2000, 2003-2004, and 2007-2008 OCGJ reports: organizational malfunctions relative to poor morale, unfair hiring and promotion practices; and, mistreatment and mishandling of the animals. As a result of these complaints and allegations, the 2014-2015 OCGJ launched an investigation to determine whether the various claims were valid and whether prior OCGJ recommendations had been implemented.

During an initial visit, the 2014-2015 OCGJ immediately noted that the Animal Shelter was rundown and in dire need of major repair or replacement. During the ensuing investigation, the OCGJ looked into several areas of concern. Among these were the following: health risks, environmental concerns, inhumane treatment of animals, staff training, alleged criminal behavior, and personnel issues. 

Soaking the Dogs
During the Animal Shelter inspection, the OCGJ observed that the kennels were hosed down while dogs were in the kennels. The OCGJ has confirmed during various interviews that this was a common, everyday practice. The OCGJ could find no justification to support the practice of soaking the dogs. The accepted standard for cleaning kennels is the “move-one-down” method to avoid soaking the animals. This is accomplished by moving the dog from an adjacent kennel down one kennel into an empty clean kennel. The “move-one-down” method for cleaning kennels is considered one of the best methods in the industry as it helps to lower the dogs’ susceptibility to disease (JVR Shelter Strategies, 2014, p. 15; UC Davis, 2007).

The OCGJ learned during an interview with OC Animal Care management that OC Animal Care was understaffed by approximately 20%. The loss of ACOs has caused significant delays in field services.  There have been times when there was only one ACO available to respond to service calls throughout the entire County.  On November 4, 2014, the Grand Jury learned that there were 29 vacant Animal Shelter positions that would be filled as soon as possible. As of February 2015, eight of those 29 positions had been filled.

Cat Trailers
During the inspection of the Animal Shelter, Grand Jury members entered one of the cat trailers and were overwhelmed by the strong odor of cat urine. In the two main trailers that house cats, there was limited air flow and no air conditioning. There was also a small cat isolation structure that was in total disrepair. These cat structures had environments that increased the vulnerability and exposure to disease.

The Orange County Animal Shelter: the Facility, the Function, the Future 5/21/15
http://www.ocgrandjury.org/pdfs/2014_2015_GJreport/OC_animal_shelter.pdf 
“Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Because animals do not vote.”    Paul Harvey

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Orange County Animal Care (OCAC) is charged with caring for lost and abandoned animals from the unincorporated areas of Orange County (County) as well as from the 18 cities that contract with the County for animal shelter services. The Orange County Animal Shelter (Animal Shelter) was built seven decades ago. Today, the 74-year-old facility is rundown, overcrowded, and unable to sustain the primary responsibility of OCAC: compassionate care of the County’s companion animals. The old, dilapidated, inadequate facility fails to provide a safe, clean environment for staff, volunteers, and the public, and it is unable to provide adequate care of the animals. 

For more than 20 years, the Orange County Board of Supervisors (BOS) has been keenly aware of the real and immediate need for a new shelter facility. In fact, in 1995 the BOS set aside seed money ($5 million) for the construction of a new animal shelter and directed County executives to move forward with the project. To date, nothing substantive has been accomplished toward achievement of this task. In 1999, when the United States Marine Corps closed the Tustin Air Station, the County agreed to accept from the Department of the Navy (DoN) a five-acre site at the Marine base for a future animal shelter facility. However, long-lingering environmental clean-up issues still need to be addressed by the DoN before conveyance of the property can take place. 

Environmental mitigation of contaminated ground water at the site has been underway for 15 years, and the DoN cannot even predict a completion date. Meanwhile, the County has deferred any action with regard to the new shelter, preferring to wait for completion of the DoN’s clean-up of the Tustin site. The County has no backup plan or secondary site selected despite possible locations such as County-owned property at the James A. Musick Facility, County-owned property at the Irvine Great Park, or sites in unincorporated Ladera Ranch.

The Animal Shelter facility is 74 years old and is in utter disrepair. Over time, the shelter’s expansion has been limited to the piecemeal placement of sheds, gazebos, lean-tos, trailers, and miscellaneous pre-fabricated units. Structural integrity, cleanliness, and sanitation continue to be compromised and pose serious risks to human as well as animal health (JVR Shelter Strategies,2014; UC Davis Report, 2008). 

The 2014/15 budget for OCAC is $17,862,307. OCAC is virtually self-supporting through fees generated from the 18 contract cities and the unincorporated areas with occasional contributions from the County’s general fund.. The contract cities pay the County for services provided, primarily picking up of dead or injured animals and animal licensing services. The contracting city also pays the County for its stray animals that are impounded at the Animal Shelter. The cities are billed by the County in arrears for these services on a quarterly basis. These fees do not cover the costs of any capital outlay. Thus, the contracting cities do not contribute toward the costs of animal shelter structures, buildings, kennels, or the veterinarian medical clinic. When contacted by the Grand Jury in connection with this report, several of the contract cities explained that they had explored the feasibility of establishing their own animal shelter facility but had found this alternative to be more costly than continuing to contract with the County.

In 1995, the BOS set aside $5 million in seed money for the design and construction of a new animal shelter. There were a series of debits to this fund at a time when the animal care function was a division of the OC Health Care Agency. These debits were for preliminary consultant studies regarding possible facility designs, an environmental study, and architectural designs: all of which were ultimately abandoned. The remaining balance in the set-aside fund is now $4.4 million

The 74-year-old main structure is built of unreinforced brick, and it seems doubtful the structure would survive any seismic event. One member of the BOS has explained to the Grand Jury that the County is unable to inspect the roof of the main structure for fear of its collapse. There are no standard or regularly scheduled inspections of the Animal Shelter. The Grand Jury has found evidence of only one inspection ever conducted at the shelter: in December 2008, the California State Board of Veterinary Examiners inspected the veterinary clinic only, but not the entire facility. 

FINDINGS
The Grand Jury has concluded that the County’s lack of leadership, lack of commitment to animal care, and the prioritization of other Orange County Community Resources Department functions ahead of Orange County Animal Care are the primary reasons for failure to address the need of new Animal Shelter facilities.

The 18 cities that contract with Orange County Animal Care for shelter services have not had an opportunity to contribute to capital costs for a new Animal Shelter facility, or facilities, because they have not been shown any conceptual plans or drawings of planned projects with cost estimates.

The County has not developed any viable conceptual plan for a new animal shelter facility at the Marine Corps Air Station-Tustin, or at any other location, for presentation to the 18 contracting cities despite the cities’ need to see plans before committing to support the project.

Multiple county animal shelters are the standard throughout California counties of similar geographic size and population. In the event of a shutdown at the Orange County Animal Shelter because of quarantine, earthquake, or other disaster, animal-care services in the unincorporated areas of Orange County and the contract cities would cease.

Previous Grand Jury Reports on Deficiencies of the Orange county Animal Shelter.

1. 1999-2000, We Can Do Better…Improving Animal Care in Orange County
2. 2003-2004, The Orange County Animal Shelter – Are Improvements
Needed?
3. 2007-2008, Is Orange County Going to the Dogs?

http://patch.com/california/lakeforest-ca/animal-care-lake-forest-next-step by Lake Forest resident and council member - Dr. Jim Gardner.  

http://voiceofoc.org/2015/07/tingle-cities-arent-waiting-for-county-anymore-to-build-animal-shelter/  by Laguna Woods Resident - Rose Tingle. 

Citizens for Animal Shelter, Orange County  - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Citizens-for-Animal-Shelter-Orange-County/1488250344739258

South County Animal Shelter Coalition - http://scasc1.blogspot.com/

LAST BUT VERY IMPORTANT!!! - These cats do need to get out of this County Animal Shelter !!!   
CATOPIA EVENT at the OC ANIMAL SHELTER on SATURDAY JULY 25 - 10 AM to 2 PM.  
561 The City Drive, Orange, CA 
FREE CAT ADOPTIONS - does not include the cost of microchip and limit of 2 cats per household. 
For more information call 714-935-6848
or go to  www.ocpetinfo.com