Changes coming to this Fresno County animal shelter. Could more dogs be killed?
Changes are coming to an animal shelter in Fresno County, and some fear it could result in more dogs being euthanized.
City officials in Orange Cove, a rural city southeast of Fresno, terminated their contract with Friends of Orange Cove Animal Shelter (FOCAS).
The animal rescue group was operating the city’s shelter for stray dogs. The shelter will now be run by the city.
FOCAS’ contract ended Sunday. The group has to be completely out of the shelter by early next month.
Andy Valencia, Orange Cove interim public works superintendent, said there have been issues in the past with the shelter being full. When that happened, he said his department picked up only vicious or nuisance dogs. Going forward, if the shelter is full, “we have to keep it flowing” – meaning some dogs will be removed to make room for other dogs.
Valencia said it hasn’t been determined where those dogs would be taken in this scenario, but that the city won’t be doing euthanizations.
The city previously required dogs be held at least four to five days. Valencia said dogs can stay longer if the shelter isn’t full.
Adriana Figueroa, president and lead director of FOCAS, said her group found homes for almost all of the dogs in the shelter over the years.
“We had a 99% release rate,” Figueroa said. “We can’t go back to killing dogs.”
Valencia and Rudy Hernandez, Orange Cove interim city manager, said the city’s goal is to find homes for dogs, not euthanize them. They said animal rescue volunteers are invited to come to the shelter to take dogs.
The shelter is for dogs only. FOCAS was receiving a $2,500 monthly payment to operate it. That money will now be used to pay a new animal control officer, a position Orange Cove hasn’t had for a number of years. The city is in the process of soliciting and interviewing applicants for that position.
The animal control officer will be under the umbrella of the Orange Cove Police Department. Dogs were previously picked up by public works department workers, who can still assist the animal control officer as needed.
“We will do a good job to make sure our animals are well taken care of,” Hernandez said, “well fed, receive medical attention when needed, and other nice things, like taken for walks.”
Dead dog found in city vehicle
FOCAS has been posting concerns about the future of dogs in Orange Cove on its Facebook page. One post, shared more than 2,500 times, shows a dead dog FOCAS found in a city public works vehicle in August, two days after the dog was badly burned in a fire.
“One can only imagine how horrifying the future stray dogs fate will be when City has removed FOCAS completely from witnessing such criminal injustice,” the post ends.
Figueroa said the dead dog was found by a FOCAS member after first noticing a distressed husky in the same vehicle.
Valencia said the burned dog was dead by the time the worker got to a city facility. The worker then got busy with other work and forgot about the dead dog, Valencia said.
Hernandez said he couldn’t comment about whether that worker was disciplined or fired because it’s a personnel issue, but that changes are being made to ensure nothing like that happens again.
Ended contract, future plans
Hernandez said Orange Cove’s contract with FOCAS was terminated because the group was negligent in providing monthly reports about shelter operations.
Figueroa doesn’t think that’s the real reason.
“They were tired of me reaching out to them, time and time again, about the treatment of the dogs while being captured or being held in the truck for hours in the heat, and being put on the catch pole and turning them over all bloody,” Figueroa said. “I was a voice that they want and need to keep quiet.”
She said dogs were often delivered to the shelter injured, some by city workers using catch poles, and that the city had a responsibility to first take them to a veterinarian. Valencia said veterinarian fees are not an issue, and that the city is willing to pay whatever is needed to save a dog.
Figueroa said some people also wrongly believed FOCAS was supposed to catch dogs when their contract was only for shelter services.
Their contract was also previously terminated last fall because the group was late filing tax returns, which meant it lost its nonprofit status and insurance – putting the city at greater liability, Hernandez said. The contract was reinstated in February after the group filed the paperwork it needed, he said.
Figueroa said when FOCAS got the contract back, the city had put more dogs in the shelter than the 50 maximum allowed by the contract, but that the group soon got half of them adopted.
She said Valencia’s claim that the shelter was otherwise full is untrue.
“We maintained our numbers always in the low 20s,” Figueroa said, “and other months, high 20s. … We have always had plenty of room.”
She said the city brought five to 10 dogs to the shelter a month, on average. Valencia said the numbers varied, but that he didn’t recall more than three dogs in one week being delivered to the shelter.
Figueroa said all of those dogs were brought to the shelter by the city, and that FOCAS wasn’t allowed to take dogs surrendered by their owners.
Some of the kennels at the shelter are the property of FOCAS, and others are owned by the city. Figueroa said 21 kennels are attached to the building, and that others owned by her group will be donated to another nonprofit.
It’s unclear what the final kennel number will be, and how many dogs the kennels will be able to hold.
Valencia said the city might expand the shelter, but estimates it isn’t likely to exceed 30 kennels.
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 11:21 AM.
