Evacuations and spay-neuter programs discussed
LAKE COUNTY — Lake Evacuation & Animal Protection, the program that orchestrates the transport, care and sheltering of animals during emergency evacuations in Lake County, would benefit from more grant funding, more telephones, and a stronger online presence, argues the 2018-2019 Lake County Civil Grand Jury in a recent report.
LEAP, a program overseen by the County of Lake’s Animal Care & Control department, is activated by the sheriff when a mandatory evacuation order is put in place anywhere in the county. The group, partially based in the LCACC office, handles calls from pet owners and also responds to those calls in the field, transporting animals to the two public shelters that exist in Lake County as well as other, overflow shelters.
The grand jury lauds LEAP for its dedication, noting that the group’s “policies and procedures have been continuously refined” since their inception in 2012.
In its report, the grand jury argues that not enough telephone lines are set up at the LCACC office to effectively handle the high volume of calls that come in from animal owners during an evacuation.
“Five or six phone lines are still not enough to prevent wait times,” the grand jury writes. “Close to 1,000 calls were documented during the Mendo Complex fires in 2018.”
The grand jury’s report also urges individual pet owners to prepare themselves for disasters. “Each disaster is different—each wildfire is different—but advance planning is essential,” the jury writes.
Along the same lines, the grand jury recommends that LEAP increase its online presence by adding a Facebook page that would allow animal owners to coordinate ad-hoc animal transports via that platform, reducing the load on LEAP.
Another benefit of increased online presence, the jury notes, would be the attraction of more volunteers to the program.
The grand jury also recommends that LEAP be included in sheriff’s office, fire department and Cal Fire meetings regarding planned PG&E power shutoffs. With the information from such meetings, argues the grand jury, LEAP could then “help the public appreciate the consequences” of a shutoff “so that they can plan realistically for their animals.”
To further improve the LEAP program, the grand jury proposes that amateur radio operators who volunteer with LEAP already be utilized for their powerful radios.
Pet overpopulation
In another section of its report focused on animals, the 2018-2019 grand jury investigates Lake County’s two public animal shelters—one in Lakeport, operated by the county, and one in Clearlake, operated by the city—and discusses what it calls a pet “overpopulation” in Lake County.
Claiming both public shelters are “usually filled to capacity, if not over-crowded,” the grand jury makes a series of recommendations aimed at upping spay-and-neutering as well as adoption.
The grand jury notes that neither shelter employs a full-time veterinarian, and suggests that “if the cost of a full-time veterinarian exceeds the County and Clearlake budgets, the two shelters should consider sharing a veterinarian to provide spay-neuter surgeries, for the public as well as for the shelter animals.”
Last week, the Clearlake City Council approved a proposal for an expansion of the Clearlake animal shelter. The new facilities, expected to cost about $376,000, would increase kennel space.
The grand jury points to “backyard breeders” as well as “puppy mills” and “irresponsible or careless pet owners” as sharing the responsibility for dog overpopulation, and argues that the identical spay-neuter ordinances adopted by Lakeport, Clearlake and the County of Lake are difficult to enforce.
August 16, 2019
Lake County Record-Bee
By Aidan Freeman
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