The Salinas and Monterey County animal shelters had similar rates of putting down dogs last year, but they varied substantially on the number of cats euthanized, a grand jury report has found.
Both shelters euthanized about a quarter of the dogs brought in, typically because they were too sick or too aggressive to adopt, according to the report by the Monterey County Grand Jury.
Salinas put down about half of the cats that came in, the report found. But 200 feet away at the Monterey County shelter, that number spiked to 67 percent.
On Tuesday, the Salinas City Council unanimously approved a response to the grand jury. That response largely agreed with the report, which also covered efforts to combine city and county animal services.
Because of a misunderstanding about county policy, staffers requested anyone dropping off feral cats to sign a form that waived the minimum length of stay. State law requires at least three days before a feral cat can be adopted, euthanized or transferred to a rescue agency, the grand jury wrote.
Those waivers led to euthanasia "immediately, or very nearly immediately" for those feral cats, the grand jury wrote. The issue has already been fixed, they wrote.
All cats were still evaluated to ensure they were indeed feral, said Ric Encarnacion, assistant director of the Environmental Health Bureau and Animal Services of Monterey County.
Putting animals to sleep is a hard decision, but necessary to prevent overcrowding that leads to health and safety issues, he said.
"Sometimes you have to make those hard decisions to ensure the health of the kennel area," he said.
The grand jury identified another possible explanation for the difference. Salinas has a program to spay or neuter any feral cats brought into the shelter, the report said.
Funding cuts led to the elimination of the county's spay/neuter program several years ago, Encarnacion said.
The report also examined proposals to combine both municipalities' services in various forms, which the jury supported.
In November 2017, the city and county agreed to explore merging the agencies, the report said.
Jurors identified four options ranging from having one overarching director to combining some field services to merging both as one agency under a joint powers agreement.
So far, the county has hired an administrative manager to examine where the shelters can combine or collaborate, Encarnacion said.
She's expected to file two reports, with the first due in October, he said.
"It makes sense to combine forces and go after low-hanging fruit, to gather scarce resources so we could provide better services," Encarnacion said.
Indeed, the county had been considering slashing its animal services payroll by half, citing a $36.5 million budget hole, in June. Ultimately, the county didn't lay off any animal control employees.
The grand jury found the shelters had just one position more than the minimum needed to maintain the shelter.
Salinas' shelter is understaffed but nonetheless well kept, the jurors wrote. But Salinas has a more robust volunteer program, they wrote.
"It is considered unlikely that animal care and maintenance could be maintained without the volunteer program," they said.
The county does have a volunteer program but does not have anyone to oversee outreach and coordination, Encarnacion said.
July 7, 2018
Salinas Californian
By Joe Szydiowski
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