Animal Care on Tonight's Agenda

The discussion on the table for the City Council tonight ostensibly is about possible locations for an animal shelter. But I want to remind everyone what this discussion is really about -

• · Needless killing of puppies and kittens on a daily basis
• · Concentration camp environments in which tens of thousands of animals are forced to live, and die.
• · Poor service our residents receive from a County agency that is overwhelmed and under-funded.

In the past City Council members not only allowed these conditions to exist, they contributed to them, for example, by putting the County in one of those no-bid categories so that the contract is renewed year after year with no attempt to get competitive bids – something my “fiscally conservative” colleagues I know are opposed to, at least in principle.

But this Council, more than any other, has started a dialogue about what kind of service we want for our residents, and how humane we are prepared to be in the face of the horrors identified by successive Grand Juries.

• · Imagine a kill rate of 40% when right next to us, on either side, the kill rate is closer to 6%.
• · Imagine such callousness that your agency is sued, successfully, for your violation of the euthanasia practices and within months violates the practices again.
• · Imagine doing business with an agency that falsifies their euthanasia rate and inflates their compliance rate.

We are all diminished by our association with the County’s program.

The County will say “We’re sorry” and “We’re going to do better”. They’ve said that for decades and for decades they’ve promised to open a new shelter, just as they promise now. Yet with all the research that has been brought to bear on the issue, the sad fact is that most of the problems with the County service are not related to the dilapidated building.

• · Will a new shelter reduce the euthanasia rate?
• · Will a new shelter solve the manpower and training problems identified by the Grand Juries?
• · With a new shelter, will the missing leadership problem suddenly be solved?

So while we seek a location for a new shelter, among the other alternatives to continuing with the County, let’s not forget that the goal here is to improve conditions for the people and their pets.

Looking at tonight’s staff report and speaking at length with the City’s Attorney, it doesn’t look like any of the 3 sites examined will be likely candidates given the time constraints imposed by the County. If City-owned properties are not appropriate, we need to double down and see what else can be done.

I raise this issue because in government, as well as everywhere else, there is what you can do and what you CAN do. Star Trek fans know that whenever Scotty told Captain Kirk that a task was impossible, Kirk told him to make it happen anyway, and he did.

Not so long ago, Lake Forest’s first dog park was stripped from the drawing boards when the developers decided it wouldn’t make a good addition to their pricey new homes. Bob Holzclaw found out about this and alerted me (before I was on Council), and I inquired at the City only to find out that it was true – the dog park was no longer going to happen. I searched through the Developer Agreement and found the part where Baker Ranch promised a dog park, and went to see then Deputy City Manager Dave Belmer, who was surprised with my find. I asked whether or not they could do this by decree, or whether it had to be passed through the Planning Commission or the Council. Dave confirmed that there looked like a breach of protocol, and promised to look into it. I said, in my usual gracious way, that a lawsuit would probably follow if we didn’t get the dog park as promised, although personally I didn’t care where they put it.

Miracles do happen and government can find solutions when they want to. In less than a month Baker Ranch and the City were busy negotiating a complicated agreement in which a third party, a city street, the City and the developers all worked together to make it happen. Only a week ago we celebrated the opening of the Baffin Bay dog park, and it’s a testament not to the largesse of the developer (who was required by law to do it) but to the ability of the City to get something accomplished when they wanted to see it happen (i.e., avoid being sued)

Does the City want to see a better life for our residents and their pets?

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 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on Dec 12 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.