Animal Care in Lake Forest - The County Shelter

Yesterday we looked at the prospects of exploring a multi-city animal care service with our neighbors as an alternative to the County shelter. Today I want to share pictures I took on a recent tour, along with Councilman Adam Nick, Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Kogerman (Laguna Hills) and Rose Tingle (Citizens for Animal Shelter Orange County).

In 2014, 486 live animals from Lake Forest went into the County shelter – 197 dogs, 122 cats, 13 rabbits, and 154 “other” (e.g., birds, pigs, turtles, rabbits). Nearly 50% of the cats died or were killed during their brief stay at the shelter, and only 20% were adopted. Dogs did somewhat better – 25% died or were killed and 28% were adopted. “Other” animals fared the worse – 41% died or were killed and only 3% were adopted.

So many died! This is how they lived during their brief time at the “shelter”-

Picture 1 shows a small animal in a barren cage. The outsides of the cage are rusting away. Notice that there is no blanket, no toys, no nothing. It is as stark an environment as one could imagine, and looks like something out of the 18th century. Because the animal does not have a sleeping and a living area (as most modern facilities provide), cleaning of the cage has to occur with the animal inside.

Picture 2 shows row after row of cages facing each other, separated by a few feet. In such an arrangement, dogs howl at each other all day long. This isn’t good for the dogs and it means that when someone comes by looking to adopt a dog, the dog is likely to be agitated.

Picture 3 shows remnants of feces lying in a trench outside one of the cages. This was an exception. Most of the trenches were clean. But the smell or urine and feces were sickening, and we were there in the morning on a cool day. Imagine what it smells like at 3 pm on a hot day.

Picture 4 shows a cage for cats. It is almost as stark as the cages for dogs. This is not care. Even convicted felons have better facilities than these.

Picture 5 shows the small visiting area. It also is stark. Really not a nice place to go to familiarize yourself with the pet.

Picture 6 shows a small but nice play area. There is a slightly larger area right next to this one. While we were there (over an hour), I only saw one volunteer take one dog into this area.

Pictures 7 and 8 show the just a few of the many cages that need repair.

Picture 9 is the wall that separates the ”shelter” from the County jail. The barbed wire is there to keep the prisoners out, but the conditions on the jail side are far better than the conditions on the “shelter” side.

While we were there we saw direct care staff and volunteers who are working hard to make this as comfortable a place as possible, given the lack of maintenance, the poor facilities, the sparse environment, the lack of supplies, the overcrowded area, the outdated equipment, etc.

All told it is a grim picture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 3 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on August 15 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.

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