Blog note: this article references a 2014-15 grand jury report about county animal shelters.
The Huntington Beach City Council voted Monday to continue contracting the city's animal services out to the county, despite a petition with more than 2,000 signatures urging against the move.
The 5-2 decision, with Councilmen Erik Peterson and Billy O'Connell dissenting, approved the 10-year contract with OC Animal Care, the city's provider since 1975. The deal is expected to cost $1.2 million next fiscal year, an increase of about $170,000 from the year prior.
The contract provides services like picking up strays or dead animals, conducting animal-cruelty investigations and handling barking dog complaints. County officers responded to 7,600 incidents last year in Huntington Beach.
The council also agreed to chip in $1.83 million toward Animal Care's new $35-million shelter, expected to open in late 2017 in Tustin. City staff noted that all cities using the new facility are aiding in that effort.
The Tustin shelter will replace the county's 74-year-old facility in Orange, which a grand jury report last year called overcrowded and in "utter disrepair."
Councilman Michael Posey was among the council members who said the county contract was needed because Huntington Beach doesn't have sufficient funds to open its own facility.
"If the citizens want their own shelter, let's start with a committee, let's identify a site, let's find all the proper funding," he said. "I don't see where the money is there in the budget, except for what we have in the county."
O'Connell suggested that the animal activists help raise funds for a city shelter.
"I want to see what the citizens can present," he said. "I would like to see more outreach to the people in our community to see what they can bring to the table. We've had many speakers here tonight, so I would be for giving them the opportunity to present some viable options."
Huntington Beach resident Karen Chepeka, president of Save Our Strays, an animal activist group that has been trying to establish a no-kill shelter in Huntington Beach, said she was disappointed with the council's decision. She called the vote "17 years of work wasted."
In a follow-up interview with the Independent, she called the council decision "very short-sighted."
"They keep saying they don't have the money, but they can give the county $2 million toward building a new shelter, which could instead go a long way to getting a facility here," Chepeka said. "We're going to have to regroup to figure out what our next steps are."
Chepeka added that there are "philosophical differences" between OC Animal Care and the animal rescue community.
"When the dog is in the back of a kennel at the county shelter, the dog is scared," she said. "I don't consider that to be an unadoptable dog, but in the county's eyes, if they're not at the front of the cage wagging [their tails], it's classified as unadoptable."
Nearly 100 animals died under OC Animal Care's watch last year, according to a county report. Another 6,200 were euthanized. A county representative told the council on Monday that the agency has been working on arranging more animal adoptions and using euthanasia less often.
Chepeka suggested that the city find space for its own shelter in vacant buildings or industrial areas, or that the city buy the Orange County Human Society, based on Newland Street in Huntington Beach.
Some decried the county shelter, which contracts out with 18 cities, citing concerns for animal welfare and the animals' time in the facility before they are put down.
Police Chief Robert Handy said the city explored all its options, including contracting out with Long Beach or Westminster, which have their own shelters.
He concluded that the Animal Care contract was "the most cost-effective long-term option."
May 3, 2016
Huntington Beach Independent
By Brittany Woolsey
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