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On June 9, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors authorized the release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) to privatize the animal shelter side of animal control. This is a progressive and welcome decision on the part of the county.
In California, all counties are required to provide animal control services that include the law enforcement side (protecting the public from a variety of animal-related problems) and the humane side (providing shelter and protection for disadvantaged animals).
In many counties, including ours, animal control is the responsibility of the sheriff's department. The animal control officers are primarily law enforcement (they carry a badge and a firearm) and patrol the county responding to calls about stray animals, barking dogs, undernourished livestock, mistreatment of animals and many other community complaints about animals.
Nevada County's animal control officers do a good job at this law enforcement activity. When they or others bring animals to the shelter, the other half of the animal control service kicks in and the animals are housed, fed and cared for until they are adopted, returned to their owners, or in some instances, euthanized.
In a perfect world, both activities of animal control would be carried out by staff who are trained and have a passion for these activities. The law enforcement side of county animal control performs its duties with officers being trained in dealing with community issues regarding animals. On the other side of the equation, however, more could be done to see that all animals arriving at the shelter leave in good health and better off than when they arrived.
Law enforcement is not charged with the rehabilitation and return to society of people they have apprehended. That is left up to others who have this activity as a priority and have the training and demeanor to deal with this issue. The same can be said of the animals at the animal shelter.
It makes sense to privatize the sheltering part of animal control and turn it over to a group that has as its priority seeing to it that the animals at the shelter receive the best care including medical treatment, spay-neuter services, socialization, rehabilitation and adoption services.
Nevada County has been very fortunate to have one of the lowest euthanasia rates of any publicly run shelter in the country (3 percent in 2008). An extremely dedicated volunteer program at the shelter achieved this low rate. This program was started in 2001 by Cheryl Wicks who led it until early 2007.
In that time, the euthanasia rate dropped from over 40 percent to under 2 percent in 2006. She recruited over 100 volunteers to walk the dogs and cuddle the cats twice a day, seven days a week, rain or shine. In addition, she and I founded Sammie's Friends in 2004 to pay for the medical care of sick or injured animals at the shelter (prior to 2004, we were paying these expenses ourselves).
The county is only required to pay the first $100 of medical care for the animals and this is not enough to pay for most veterinary services. In addition, in 2002, Dawn Allmandinger started posting all of the animals at the shelter on PetFinder, a worldwide Web site that lists animals available for adoption.
These three activities (volunteers, Sammie's Friends and Dawn's Web site) have been the primary reasons for reducing the euthanasia rate. Since she left the shelter, Cheryl and I have been working for more than two years to urge the county to privatize the shelter. We have done extensive research to know that this is a viable option and have prepared a detailed business plan to show how this is can be accomplished.
We are grateful that the county has made the decision to pursue this goal. Not only would the animals receive more consistent and improved care, the county would be able to save money.
Our analysis of shelter activities and expenses leads us to believe that there can be significant cost savings by privatizing the shelter. In addition, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit can solicit financial support from the community and through grants to provide services that the county is not required to provide.
You can be sure that Sammie's Friends will be submitting our proposal to privatize the shelter. We hope to have the support of the county and of the community.
In California, all counties are required to provide animal control services that include the law enforcement side (protecting the public from a variety of animal-related problems) and the humane side (providing shelter and protection for disadvantaged animals).
In many counties, including ours, animal control is the responsibility of the sheriff's department. The animal control officers are primarily law enforcement (they carry a badge and a firearm) and patrol the county responding to calls about stray animals, barking dogs, undernourished livestock, mistreatment of animals and many other community complaints about animals.
Nevada County's animal control officers do a good job at this law enforcement activity. When they or others bring animals to the shelter, the other half of the animal control service kicks in and the animals are housed, fed and cared for until they are adopted, returned to their owners, or in some instances, euthanized.
In a perfect world, both activities of animal control would be carried out by staff who are trained and have a passion for these activities. The law enforcement side of county animal control performs its duties with officers being trained in dealing with community issues regarding animals. On the other side of the equation, however, more could be done to see that all animals arriving at the shelter leave in good health and better off than when they arrived.
Law enforcement is not charged with the rehabilitation and return to society of people they have apprehended. That is left up to others who have this activity as a priority and have the training and demeanor to deal with this issue. The same can be said of the animals at the animal shelter.
It makes sense to privatize the sheltering part of animal control and turn it over to a group that has as its priority seeing to it that the animals at the shelter receive the best care including medical treatment, spay-neuter services, socialization, rehabilitation and adoption services.
Nevada County has been very fortunate to have one of the lowest euthanasia rates of any publicly run shelter in the country (3 percent in 2008). An extremely dedicated volunteer program at the shelter achieved this low rate. This program was started in 2001 by Cheryl Wicks who led it until early 2007.
In that time, the euthanasia rate dropped from over 40 percent to under 2 percent in 2006. She recruited over 100 volunteers to walk the dogs and cuddle the cats twice a day, seven days a week, rain or shine. In addition, she and I founded Sammie's Friends in 2004 to pay for the medical care of sick or injured animals at the shelter (prior to 2004, we were paying these expenses ourselves).
The county is only required to pay the first $100 of medical care for the animals and this is not enough to pay for most veterinary services. In addition, in 2002, Dawn Allmandinger started posting all of the animals at the shelter on PetFinder, a worldwide Web site that lists animals available for adoption.
These three activities (volunteers, Sammie's Friends and Dawn's Web site) have been the primary reasons for reducing the euthanasia rate. Since she left the shelter, Cheryl and I have been working for more than two years to urge the county to privatize the shelter. We have done extensive research to know that this is a viable option and have prepared a detailed business plan to show how this is can be accomplished.
We are grateful that the county has made the decision to pursue this goal. Not only would the animals receive more consistent and improved care, the county would be able to save money.
Our analysis of shelter activities and expenses leads us to believe that there can be significant cost savings by privatizing the shelter. In addition, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit can solicit financial support from the community and through grants to provide services that the county is not required to provide.
You can be sure that Sammie's Friends will be submitting our proposal to privatize the shelter. We hope to have the support of the county and of the community.
Curt Romander, a retired research engineer moved to Grass Valley in 2000. He co-founded Sammie’s Friends with Cheryl Wicks and has worked as a volunteer at the shelter for more than six years.
