OC Animal Care will have expanded public visiting hours — back to pre-pandemic levels — and will publish data online monthly, as well as review legal considerations for trap, neuter and release programs, the OC Board of Supervisors directed on Tuesday.
Supervisors Vicente Sarmiento and Janet Nguyen asked the board on Tuesday to consider directing that several operational changes be made at the shelter to improve transparency and potentially increase pet adoptions.
At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the shelter closed to the public, but it did not resume open access to the kennels as COVID precautions were lifted elsewhere. Potential adopters, instead, scrolled through available pets online and set up an appointment for meet-and-greets. For years, animal advocates have argued this system limited potential adoptions; shelter officials said it helped limit the stressing of the kenneled animals and made for more meaningful matches.
The shelter has added more open-access hours and events. Most recently, the public has been able to access the kennels without an appointment from 2 to 5 p.m. weekdays and noon to 5 p.m. weekends.
Supervisors directed shelter staff to allow full public access to view adoptable animals daily between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. within the next four months. Nguyen and Sarmiento’s agenda item also included the possibility of including one day with evening hours until 7 p.m., however, the board will consider the extension at a later time.
“It’s no secret that I’m a huge animal lover, and I want the shelter to do better,” Nguyen said. “The public continues to complain about our shelter, and there are good reasons for it. We need to just go back to pre-COVID services.”
Nguyen said she wants OC Animal Care to be successful.
“I know the shelter is trying to do better,” Nguyen said. “There are areas where they’re doing phenomenal, but there are areas where we can do more.”
OC Animal Care is one of several shelters that ceased previous trap, neuter and release programs for cats because of concerns it could be argued as abandonment and put the agency at risk of lawsuits. Animal advocates have argued that the TNR program is essential for animal care.
Sarmiento and Nguyen want county counsel to look into how and why neighboring counties, including Los Angeles and San Diego are running TNR programs.
“Maybe they’re less risk-averse than we are,” Sarmiento said. “But I do want to understand a little bit better from San Diego Humane (Society) to see what was the distinction that the court made there between feral and domestic, so whether or not we can tailor some program here where we’re in compliance with that case law and the mandates that prevail in that area.”
County Counsel Leon Page said the willful abandonment of any animal is a misdemeanor, and because of this, a TNR program would be ripe for litigation.
“Any taxpayer can sue a public entity to enjoin the legal expenditure of public funds. They can get attorney’s fees and an injunction,” Page said. “I’m aware that advocates would make a distinction between feral cats and friendly cats … but until the legislators addresses this, I don’t know how I can help this board get around the plain (legal) language.”
Nguyen said the definition of community cats versus feral cats had previously stalled legislation she was proposing as a state senator.
“We are more interested in talking about the feral cats that are out there, that don’t belong to anybody, that show up in this neighborhood and that neighborhood,” Nguyen said. “I don’t want to jeopardize staff to be penalized for a misdemeanor, I just want to make sure that we have an answer. If it comes down to all the counties are doing it, they’re interpreting it this way. Well, then maybe we should re-look at it.”
County staff is expected to bring back to the board information on TNR programs in other counties within 30 to 60 days.
Another recommendation approved on Tuesday included appointing a current shelter staff member as a community liaison to connect with residents and local animal rescue organizations. OCAC will also have to publish intake, outtake, adoption and euthanasia statistics online monthly. Since 2021, the shelter has been publishing quarterly data that advocates have argued is misleading or incorrect.
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