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 a Volunteer and Rescue Relations Most animal shelters rely on a host of shelter volunteers to help with the care and enrichment of the animals under supervision, and they also rely on private rescue organizations (rescues) to help with the adoption process and fostering. OCAC is no exception. Shelter volunteers help by assisting shelter staff with animal care, socialization, and enrichment; community outreach and events; conducting tours; greeting shelter visitors; and assisting with shelter adoptions. Volunteers are often the ones who walk the dogs, work with their socialization, and foster kittens without mothers. The volunteer program is vital. Rescue organizations help by accepting animals from the shelter and facilitating adoptions or placing animals in foster care for eventual adoption. Rescues help relieve the shelter of overcrowding. These organizations benefit animals by facilitating adoptions or placing them in -foster homes with enriched social environments greater than the shelter can reasonably provide. The coordinated efforts of shelter staff, volunteers, and rescue organizations are vital to OCAC's success and the welfare of animals under its care. OCAC has been challenged by both inadequate staffing and strained collaboration between the shelter, volunteers, and rescues; Some challenges are the result of the recent COVID-19 crisis, when the volunteer program was shut down in response to County health mandates. Other challenges are due to some rescue organizations' responses to changes in shelter organization, operation; and procedures within the last 2 to 3 years. Moreover, some organizations report recent funding challenges that limit their ability to fully assist the shelter with its animal welfare mandate. Funding has been especially challenging for. rescues since COVID-19. The shelter's volunteer program was not restarted until late 2022, although state COVID- 19 restrictions were lifted June 15, 2021. Unfortunately, restarting the program required - - more than calling all volunteers back from COVID-19 isolation. Some former volunteers have not returned because they have moved on with their lives. Some volunteers have -- not returned because of their dissatisfaction with recent changes in organization, operation, and procedures at the shelter. However, some volunteers have returned, and ----- - more are being recruited to form the foundation for a re -energized volunteer program. -Relationships between the shelter and some rescues remain strained. Leadership changes within the past three years, changes in circumstances at the shelter, and the shelter's response to COVID-19 resulted in changes to shelter priorities and practices to which some rescues object. Some changes were precipitated by differences in priorities and concerns that came with the change in shelter leadership, some changes were in response to COVID-19 restrictions and concerns, and one change came as the result of the shelter's response to a threat of litigation by a lone animal activist from outside Orange County challenging the shelter's TNR program. Strained relations between OCAC and rescue organizations are detrimental to the operations of the shelter and ultimately to the welfare of animals under the shelter's care. ORANGE COUNTY GRAND JURY 2022 12023 PAGE 12 OF 51