Orange County grand jurors have issued a stinging report on the Orange County Animal Shelter, claiming it is poorly managed and plagued by slumping morale among employees exposed to animal-related diseases, but county officials are saying the report is flawed.
In a report issued Wednesday, the grand jury declared the shelter “has serious problems that have needed attention for many years.”
The grand jury recommended a change of leadership and better training of management.
The panel went on to say in the report, “There have been complaints and allegations from a number of sources inside and outside the animal shelter that have focused on the lack of leadership throughout the Orange County Community Resources and Animal Care chan of command.
“This alleged void in leadership has resulted in either the inability of management to define the problems at hand or, if defined, an unwillingness to correct them.”
The grand jury said some observers have speculated the vacuum of leadership has prompted some mid-management employees to take charge with “little or no oversight from upper management.”
The grand jury also claimed “there are potential problems with preventing zoonotic diseases that can be passed between animals and humans.”
Zoonotic diseases include rabies and endemic typhus. The grand jury said a sheriff’s employee who worked near the animal shelter was diagnosed in June of 2012 with endemic typhus and required hospitalization.
The grand jury also raised concerns about the shelter’s Feral Free Program, claiming county officials have ignored warnings from Orange County Vector Control about housing the wild cats.
“It should be noted that OC Animal Care receives at least two grants to continue the Feral Free Program,” according to the grand jury.
One of the grants is $100,000 annually, and another brings in $50,000 a year.
Grand jury officials say spaying and neutering and other emergency treatment of domesticated dogs and cats awaiting adoption take a back seat sometimes to treating and micro-chipping feral cats.
The grand jury also claimed they witnessed dogs being hosed down in their kennels, a “common, everyday practice” that they say experts believe make the animals more susceptible to disease. The panel also claimed employees waste water at the shelter.
“During the inspection of the animal shelter, grand jury members entered one of the cat trailers and were overwhelmed by the strong order of cat urine,” according to the report.
“In the two main trailers that house cats, there was limited air flow and no air conditioning.”
The grand jury — in an example of what they claim was a lack of training and equipment — cited an incident in which animal control officers decided to slit the throat of a deer impaled on a fence in Anaheim Hills rather than accept drugs from a veterinarian to euthanize the animal.
The shelter also suffers from a dearth of personnel and morale problems among staff, the grand jury claimed.
County officials say there have been multiple improvements at OC Animal Care and that the grand jury report is based on “unsubstantiated allegations.”
“It is our believe that the report in its totality does not accurately reflect the current OC Animal Care program or the commitment of all county staff and our volunteers to the humane treatment of animals, County CEO Frank Kim said.
Recent improvements at the agency include the appointment of new director Jennifer Hawkins, a “respected veterinarian,” according to county officials.
The county also said euthanasia rates for dogs have been reduced by more than one-half, and by one-third last year.
Also, county officials have recommended budgeting $454,000 in the next fiscal-year budget to fill nine vacant jobs, and another $150,000 is planned for repairs and replacement of a cat trailer.
“As a practicing veterinarian, I have dedicated my life to caring for companion animals,” Hawkins said. “As the director of OC Animal Care I have and will continue to promote conditions at OC Animal Care that benefit the animals in our care, acknowledge the work of our dedicated staff and serve the community.”
The county has 90 days to issue a formal response to the grand jury report.
— City News Service