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 does not provide prospective adopters viewing access to all available adoptable animals. The shelter has opened to limited walk-ins on a stand-by basis when there are openings in the appointment schedule and when staff are available to assist. All potential adopters, appointments, and walk-ins are still required to use the shelter's website to pre -select potential adoptees prior to a one-on-one meeting. The kennels are still off-limits to all visitors. OCAC leadership expressed concern about bites to visitors as the primary reason for restricting kennel access. The shelter experienced a marked drop in bites coincidental with the closure of the facility to the public when COVID-19 restrictions were implemented: • 2019 — 23 bites • 2020 — 7 bites • 2021 — 3 bites • 2022 — 2 bites (as of December 23) However, not all dogs are bite risks and there is space throughout the kennel facilities to provide for public viewing. Public safety is important, however, dogs representing bite risks can be segregated, and supervised viewing is a viable option. Shelter leadership said that public viewing within the kennels stresses the animals and that restricting access keeps the animals calm. However, to address that concern, dogs prone to excitability and stress can be secluded, and supervised viewing is an option. Spay and Neuter Overview As mentioned earlier, the population of Orange County in 1950 was about 216,000. Today the contract cities and unincorporated county areas served by OCAC has a population of approximately 1,800,000. With the population increase comes an increase in the number of dogs, cats, and other pets. Euthanasia of animals at the shelter is a challenging problem confronting OCAC and pet -- - owners. In most cases, members of the public either bring lost animals to the shelter to be reunited with their owners.or bring their own animals to be adopted to new homes. - -Few people -bring animals to the shelter to be euthanized. One reason OCAC has so many animals and a high incidence of euthanasia is that many pet owners do not spay/neuter_their pets and thereby allow them to reproduce beyond the owner's ability to care for the offspring. Uncontrolled reproduction is a factor in the high population of dogs and especially cats. According to a 2011 report by the North Shore Animal League of America, each day over 70,000 puppies and kittens are born in the United States, and because of -== - - overpopulation, more than 3.7- million animals are still being euthanized each year across the country. The absence of TNR at the shelter has seriously increased the rate of euthanasia of cats, especially kittens, who are not old enough or healthy enough to adopt. ORANGE COUNTY GRAND JURY 2022 12023 PAGE 19 OF 51