Item 13 - OC Grand Jury's Investigative Report, Findings, and Recommendations Regarding Group Homes and the Orange County Animal Care Shelter

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Gimme Shelter and a Pound of Advice million residents requires a substantial investment in facilities, infrastructure, personnel, organization, customer service, and public outreach. OCAC provides temporary shelter and medical care for "lost" owned or stray animals and opportunities for adoption of these animals. OCAC houses and provides medical care for impounded dogs, cats, and exotic animals. OCAC also provides animal control services that include removing dangerous non -domesticated animals where they pose a hazard to humans or other animals. OCAC is not a No -Kill shelter. OCAC euthanizes animals for several different and sometimes compelling reasons, including animals injured beyond redemptive medical care, behavior, species and breed, and age. The size and complexity of the shelter leads to numerous managerial and operational challenges. The shelter has space capacity to care for up to 600 animals; however, at times, the number of animals at the shelter exceeds shelter capacity. When capacity is - exceeded, temporary capacity -is created by moving cat cages into administrative areas such as the facility's training and conference room. On the day the Grand Jury toured the shelter, there were 450 animals. The Grand Jury was unable to obtain a full accounting of the average number of animals per day at the facility since OCAC only began keeping daily animal census records in December 2022. However, the Grand Jury was able to estimate average daily cat and dog count from the shelter's Asilomar reports. Average daily cat and dog count based on quarterly Asilomar data for the years 2021 and 2022 was between 350 and 400 cats and dogs. Actual daily counts will vary from the average and counts vary with the seasons. The Grand Jury surveyed the cities being served by OCAC. Most cities expressed satisfaction with the services provided by the shelter. During interviews with the Grand Jury, shelter management voiced the challenge of expanding and enhancing services versus the Willingness of contract cities to pay for additional services. Shelter management expressed the need to balance services with the cost consciousness of their contract cities and the county budget, while also providing a level of service expected by the public. Shelter management expressed awareness that contract cities have alternative service options if the prices charged by OCAC for its service are beyond city expectations or budget. - From 1995 through 2016, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) collected and published data from California's animal shelters. Currently, CDPH does not keep or compile comprehensive data on animal shelters operating within the State. Out of concern for crowding and high euthanasia rates, animal welfare groups within the State have pressed for legislative action in Sacramento. In January of 2023, Assembly Bill 332, _- - called the "Shelter Animal Collection Data Act," was introduced by Assemblyman Alex _-_Lee -(D-San-Jose) and coauthored by Assemblywoman Marie Waldron (R-Valley Center). - -Assembly Bill 332, if adopted, would require shelter data collection and reporting that - - - piggybacks onto current rabies reporting mandates. The bill would further require CDPH to collect and publish animal shelter intake and outcome data, including adoption, redemption, euthanasia, and other categories. ORANGE COUNTY GRAND JURY 2022 12023 PAGE 11 OF 51