Animal Shelter Services — What’s Going On?

Recommendations 5

• R1
  Animal neglect, lack of medical treatment for animals and inhumane treatment of animals. - Many of the volunteers and some staff interviewed reported observing the following: • Cats often had no food or water • Cats were often dehydrated • Litter pans were piled, there was urine in the cage and blankets were dirty • Cats were found dead in their cages • Cats were not receiving proper medical care These conditions were reported to kennel workers, the Shelter Coordinator or the Shelter Manager. Corrective action was taken in some cases; however, the interviewees did not know the status of the corrective action in all cases. 2007-2008 San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury Report
• R2
  Honor Farm Inmates used at the shelter - Inmates are used at the shelter to clean cages and perform maintenance. The inmate program has been a long term problem at the shelter. The Jury was told that inmates are a challenge because many of them assigned to work at the shelter are not motivated and don’t want to be there. Most of the Honor Farm inmates have short sentences and are just serving out their time. However, replacing the work the inmates do at the shelter with paid shelter personnel would have a significant impact on the shelter budget. The Shelter Manager has made recommendations in the past to replace inmate labor with paid shelter staff; however, funds were never made available. Based on the information gathered in the interviews (volunteers and staff), there were two specific areas of concern about inmates: • Inmates are not adequately supervised while at the shelter • Inmates are not adequately trained to perform their cleaning duties Other problems with the inmates were also identified, but they were not observed on a frequent basis. Volunteers did make their concerns known to kennel staff. In most cases, corrective actions were not observed by the volunteers.
• R3
  Hayden Law infractions (not following state mandated euthanizing procedures) - The Hayden Law was passed in 1988. The purpose of the law was to make animal shelters in California more accountable for humane treatment of animals. The law gives the public a longer time to find lost pets; established more convenient hours to visit the shelter; and provides that animals surrendered by their owners have four to six days to remain alive before being euthanized. Based on information from the interviews, all volunteers said they did not believe that the staff had a sufficient understanding of The Hayden Law and, in their opinion, the requirements under Hayden Law were not followed when euthanizing animals. Half of those interviewed said that they had sent letters or emails to shelter staff, the Undersheriff 2007-2008 San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury Report and to the Board of Supervisors regarding potential violations of The Hayden Law. In most cases, they received no response. The Shelter Manager responded by saying: • that he knew the requirements under the Hayden Law and adhered to them. • that it is not within the job function of line staff (kennel workers) to be familiar with all of the regulations related to the operation of a public shelter. • that volunteers may have incomplete knowledge of the specific situations regarding animals being euthanized. Two other questions directed to volunteers concerning euthanizing animals included: • Are animals killed that should not be killed? • Are cats killed when kennel space is available? All the volunteers questioned said they had observed animals killed, some as many as 30- 50 while others observed just a few. October, 2007 seemed to have been a particularly bad month for cats being killed. Of those volunteers interviewed, most said animals were being killed unnecessarily. For the period 2004-2006, the number of animals euthanized at the shelter has increased somewhat: 380 in 2004, 452 in 2005, and 499 in 2006. In 2007, the number of animals euthanized decreased to 476. While the actual numbers of animals euthanized have increased for the period 2004-2006, so has the number of animals coming into the shelter. However, the number of animals euthanized at the shelter is down substantially from a high of 3,000 in 1998 to 900 in 2002. Data provided to the Grand Jury by the Sheriff’s Department show the annual percentage of animals euthanized in 2006 at the Animal Service Division (12.9%) was lower than that of twelve comparable counties in the state. The ratio of animals euthanized compared to the number of intakes has remained relatively constant for the period 2005-2007- (an average of 13%)
• R4
  Personnel issues - Animal Services created a new Animal Shelter Coordinator position in August, 2007 to help meet the need of increasing numbers of animals admitted to the 2007-2008 San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury Report shelter. The Jury reviewed the Shelter Coordinator’s job description which included a long list of responsibilities and duties. Interviewees (volunteers and staff) expressed concerns about the Shelter Coordinator’s work ethic and job knowledge. Specifically, they raised questions about the Shelter Coordinator’s job skills, organization skills, management skills and people skills. Based on the interview results, volunteers gave the Shelter Coordinator very low marks for these skills. They also attributed some of the shelter problems (animal neglect, inhumane treatment of animals, inmate issues and euthanizing animals) directly to the Shelter Coordinator. Others interviewed (staff) rated the Shelter Coordinator’s job knowledge and skills as well below average or did not answer these questions. Those interviewed did say that the Shelter Coordinator’s job responsibilities and duties were overwhelming for one person. The Animal Services Manager was accused of:
• R5
  Lack of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) - There were no formal standard operating procedures in force at the Division of Animal Services at the start of the Jury’s review. The SOP’s are currently under development and review. The Jury was provided with a draft shelter policy and protocol manual index. The proposed policy manual will include the following five general areas: • General Provisions • General Operations • Administrative Services • Field Operations • Kennel Operations 2007-2008 San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury Report The draft policy and protocol manual appeared to include the necessary policies to address most of the problem areas discussed in