Lawsuit will fade away

Jeff Horwitz, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 03/03/2007 12:00:00 AM PST

 

More staff and better facilities are high on the wish list of San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control officials.

But at least one concern appears headed for an amicable resolution: A lawsuit against the agency alleging improperly hurried euthanasia appeared ready to be withdrawn by the filing attorney. Both sides Friday seemed ready to chalk the conflict up to flawed data entry.

Both the attorney who filed the suit and the animal control program director say, however, that even if the county currently meets its legal obligations, more resources for pet overpopulation prevention and facilities improvements would help the county improve its 67 percent euthanizing rate.

"The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of pets coming into the shelter," Animal Control Director Brian Corning said Thursday. "No one wants to see animals put to sleep."

The suit began after Pasadena attorney Okorie Okorocha requested animal disposition records from the county's Devore Animal Shelter. In dozens of instances over a period of several months last summer, the documents showed that animals found to be "nursing" or in "normal" condition were euthanized the same day they were picked up.

"On their face, the records said that what they're doing is illegal," Okorocha said Friday.

He filed a suit in January alleging violations of the Hayden Act, a state law requiring that companion animals that are not aggressive or irremediably suffering be kept alive for at least four days.

But secondary documentation justified the county's speed, Cronin said.

In a charcoal-gray suit flecked with hair from a terrier/Chihuahua mix he brought to work, Cronin pointed out nursing litters of kittens and puppies among the pens and cages of the more than 150 animals currently at Devore.

Additional records showed that most of the animals the facility had immediately put down had been sick or injured, yet inadvertently marked "normal" in computer files.

Informed of the additional information, Okorocha told county attorneys Friday he intended to drop his suit in favor of continued monitoring of the facility.

The shelter has not always dodged controversy so easily. In late 2005, Rancho Cucamonga severed its contract with the agency because of the city's concerns that its county-run shelter was euthanizing adoptable pets too quickly. While costs at the facility have increased, it now boasts that it no longer puts down adoptable animals.

In many instances, the Devore shelter puts down animals shortly after the mandatory four-day holding period. And compared with neighboring Riverside County, San Bernardino County's shelters appear to be significantly less well funded.

The Riverside County Animal Services Department will handle around 30,000 animals on a budget of $21million this year, said its director, Robert Miller.

While it handled fewer animals, San Bernardino County's animal-control program operated on a budget of less than $5.2million.

Funding from the Riverside County Board of Supervisors has allowed Miller's department to invest in pet foster-care programs and increased anti-overpopulation initiatives, and supported a policy of not euthanizing adoptable animals.

"Brian really does know his stuff, and he's trying to make changes," Miller said of his San Bernardino County counterpart. "But where our board has been very supportive, I tend to think that San Bernardino County has not given Brian or his predecessors enough support on these issues."

But with support from the county's board, Cronin said, his division may be able to improve its statistics. Some plans, such as striking cooperation agreements with city animal-control agencies, can be achieved without extra funding, he said.

But in the county's next budget, the Department of Public Health has requested 14 new staff members and $5.3million for repairs and construction at the Devore shelter.

The improved facility would be equipped with both a visitation area for the public to meet its residents and an intake quarantine area to prevent new arrivals from introducing illness.

Enid Richey, whose Labrador Rescue resettles about 30 dogs a year from the Devore shelter, said its staff could use the help.

"Some adoptable animals don't have much chance," she said. "There are so many animals getting brought into the shelter that highly adoptable animals have to die faster than they could."

San Bernardino County runs two animal-control shelters. For hours, adoption and volunteer information, contact the Devore shelter at (909) 887-8055 and the Big Bear City shelter at (909) 866-4943.

 

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WHAT CAN YOU DO?

San Bernardino County runs two animal-control shelters. For hours, adoption and volunteer information, contact the Devore shelter at

(909) 887-8055 and the Big Bear City shelter at (909) 866-4943.