This past Tuesday night Mayor Voigts cancelled the Lake Forest City Council meeting so I was able to attend the Council meeting at the City of Brea where they were discussing their response to the Grand Jury report on animal control at the County shelter. In recent weeks cities like San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Hills, and Rancho Santa Margarita told the Grand Jury that rather than tie themselves inextricably to the County, they would explore alternatives, including working with their neighbors. Here in Lake Forest we adopted a similar position. Hence, all the South Orange County cities served by the County are looking for a better way to provide services. The County shelter is a high kill shelter and provides limited service to South County – there are many complaints that dead animals lay around for days before being picked up. In addition to being high kill, the conditions at the shelter are Medieval, and for one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., disgraceful.
Brea, on the other hand, is in North Orange County, and closer to the existing shelter in Orange. They have a population of about 40,000, and their annual animal intake is 400. Compare that to Lake Forest that has twice the population but only 500 animals per year going to the shelter. Comparatively speaking, Brea is a heavier user of the shelter, and on a population basis they have more licensed dogs. They also have a higher kill rate, in excess of 40%.
The Brea Council voted unanimously to explore alternatives, and specifically mentioned that they were looking at partnering with Fullerton, Placentia, La Habra, and/or Yorba Linda.
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Apparently, whether you live in North or South County, people are fed up with the high kill rate, the abominable conditions, the poor service, and the decades of unfilled promises from the County to build a new shelter.
In a related matter, the County informed the Grand Jury that they would not be responding to the Grand Jury report within the time defined.
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COMMENTS
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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 Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on December 15 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.
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