Open up The OC Shelter

Open up The OC Shelter Viewing 1 dog or cat at a time with appointment at the 30 million dollar taxpayer funded shelter

Sharing “Today was the day. The Board voted on the proposal put forward by Supervisors Janet Nguyen and Vicente Sarmien...
03/12/2025

Sharing “Today was the day. The Board voted on the proposal put forward by Supervisors Janet Nguyen and Vicente Sarmiento.

I’ll start from the not-great news (but read through for the rest): There are still impediments to Trap-Neuter-Return for cats. The County Counsel is sticking to the notion that there are legal impediments. The County CEO’s office will do research for the Board. We’re not giving up, and people wiser than I are looking for a solution. I will report back when we have more developments.

On two issues, we scored victories with unanimous support from the Board.
- Over the next four months, the shelter will lay out its plans to fully open for visitors to see adoptable animals 11am-5pm daily. The county says they’ll probably need more staff. If so, we’ll press for these staff members to be ACAs, not office workers.
- The shelter will start reporting monthly statistics, which will give the public a clearer view of developments – good or worrisome.

Finally:
- The shelter will re-assign a staff member to be community liaison. I’m not sure how that will work in practice, but we’ll give it a try from our end.

Celebrate this forward step. Two plus years ago, the county bureaucracy was telling us we’re crazy to even ask. Even the Grand Jury got the dismissive treatment. Today, Dylan Wright, Cymantha Atkinson, and Monica Schmidt sat in a back row, observing. They were not called up to speak. After our public comment, the discussion was strictly among the Supervisors, with the County Counsel and the CEO on specific questions. If you look for the video, in a couple of days, remember it’s agenda item S33H.

Democracy works. Thanks to the persistence of all of all the people that wrote opinion pieces, posted on social media, and informed the public about the shelter’s problems, the elected officials listened and acted. There were several dozen e-Comments from many of you. (If you didn’t submit one, make a resolution to submit one next time we need you 😉

Please thank Supervisors Nguyen and Sarmiento, preferably on their social media. If you see other Supervisors posting about their vote, please thank them as well. Don’t dwell on the past. To get their vote next time, give them positive reinforcement on this one.

Please don’t lose heart on the TNR issue - or on other needed changes. Our work is not done.

Here’s Supervisor Nguyen’s facebook post. She’s doing an amazing job helping OC’s homeless animals!
https://www.facebook.com/SenJanetNguyen/posts/1078704224271645

SUCCESS!!!! My animal shelter revamp unanimously passed the Board today! We will now have expanded hours, a community liaison, monthly website data, and more information on the possibility of trap neuter and return. Thank you coauthor Vincent Sarmiento and Board 🩷

03/09/2025

Governors across the country are sharing the no-kill love. They’re working to embrace the no-kill philosophy in their states and, with time, turn loud ‘scary’ shelters into lifesaving community safety nets.

It all starts with a proclamation.

A proclamation, like a no-kill resolution, is an official declaration of importance. It brings awareness to an issue that can be used to build public support.

In the past year, since Governor Spencer Cox declared 2024 “No-Kill Shelter Year” in Utah, many other governors have signed proclamations calling for their own states to work toward no-kill:
Virginia declared November 2024 “Virginia Loves Shelter Animals Month”
Arizona declared January 2025 “Arizona No-Kill Shelter Month”
Mississippi declared January 2025 “Mississippi Loves Shelter Animals Month”
North Dakota declared January 2025 “No-Kill Animal Shelter Month”
Idaho declared February 5, 2025 “Idaho Loves Shelter Animals Day” (launching a longer commitment to reach no-kill in 2025)
And, just last week, the Georgia Senate approved April 30, 2025, to be “No-Kill Awareness Day.”

These proclamations won’t turn a state no-kill overnight, but they do build momentum toward saving every dog and cat that can be saved. After all, no-kill is a community effort and no matter where you live, there are ways to help the effort grow!

For example, you could ask local leaders to make their own commitment toward no-kill or join our brand-new Network Neighbor text line.

Text BRINGITHOME to (844) 422-0032 and you’ll receive bimonthly texts with simple actions to support no-kill in your community. NOTE: This is separate from the mobile action alert list you may already be a part of.

With both our neighbors and state leaders on board, we’re on our way to bringing no-kill home nationwide!

02/28/2025
This is what’s happened. The OC bureaucracy persisted with its RFP for a consultant to “update” the 2018 Strategic Plan...
02/23/2025

This is what’s happened. The OC bureaucracy persisted with its RFP for a consultant to “update” the 2018 Strategic Plan. We know that the Strategic Plan is fine as it is. We know that the problem is that OC is not implementing it. They just announced that they “selected” the winning bid… but there was only one bid, by a generic government consulting firm. (Way below the level of JVR, the nationally respected firm that developed the 2018 Strategic Plan.)

We can assume that the bureaucrats signaled which bidder they wanted, and the rest stayed away. We can assume that they hand-picked the consultants that are willing to lower the shelter’s standards.

Perhaps this contract will show up on the Board’s agenda in the near future.

But there’s an alternative: A proposal by Best Friends Animal Society, a nationally respected non-profit, to assist the shelter at no cost. Best Friends has vast experience doing just that.

When either item is on the Board’s agenda, we need to make our voices heard. In person (if you can) and by email. I will keep you posted. We may not have much lead time (but the Board dates are the ones I gave above). Please look for my email updates!

If you’d like to help right away, email the board, and particularly Doug Chaffee and Don Wagner, the likely swing votes. If your city is served by OCAC, contact your city council as well. See email addresses here and at the end of this message. You can use (and edit) this message:

OC Animal Care already has a Strategic Plan. It cost over $400,000. The county just needs to implement it. Best Friends Animal Society has offered to help for free. Accept their offer!

The county does not need to spend an extra $90,000 to cover up its failure. The county arranged things so that there was ONLY ONE bid. The county signaled whom they wanted – a consultant that will lower the standards. Respectable firms stayed away because they didn’t want to sully their reputation by lowering the shelter’s standards.

The constructive way forward is to put the 2018 Strategic Plan back on track, with the help of Best Friends

Please reject the contract from RFP-012-2672301 and accept the offer from Best Friends.

OC Board of Supervisors

You can submit public comment to the entire board here: [email protected]

If you want to contact your County Supervisor, you can find your district here: https://board.ocgov.com/about-board

For some Supervisors, when you click on their name you get information about how to contact them. Here are their email addresses:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]



Cities

OC Animal Care covers the cities of Anaheim, Orange, Brea, Placentia, Cypress, San Juan Capistrano, Fountain Valley, Tustin, Fullerton, Villa Park, Huntington Beach, Yorba Linda, Lake Forest, and Unincorporated County Areas.

Email with "Public Comment for City Council" in your subject line. Please be firm but polite. These are the email addresses for public comment:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

The cities and unincorporated areas in Orange County are divided into five Supervisorial Districts. Although the districts vary in physical size, their populations are approximately the same, and each district elects a Supervisor to a four-year term. Each Supervisor can serve two four-year terms.Ter...

Ocac constantly failing
02/23/2025

Ocac constantly failing

Why is ocac collecting all this tax payer and Cory money while failingn to do their job? Forew the managementnt and get...
02/19/2025

Why is ocac collecting all this tax payer and Cory money while failingn to do their job? Forew the managementnt and get comptent people in asap! https://voiceofoc.org/2025/02/lamirande-oc-cities-are-badly-served-by-the-county-animal-shelter-is-reform-possible/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR10vKPbxwY0cJTvtGV2iUSAhl283Acc47lOA8Qt0MSkCHc8O3hCiPrE78Y_aem_QNRh1h6IwIv0QYWLzu1iiA

Residents paid OC Animal Care $5.8 million in license fees. On top of that, OC cities paid $15.7 million out of their budgets. The county bureaucracy collected $8.4 million in admin costs. Supervisors Nguyen and Sarmiento, representing high-paying cities, are pushing for a better shelter. Supervisor...

02/16/2025

sharing so true - shame on Katrina Foley the do nothing gal - “Everyone should pay attention to how this process plays out. Glad the auditors were on top of this. Do not believe some comments that the shelter is doing great - it is not!!!young dogs are killed without cause it is out of control. When you drag a dog in with a catch pole, keep him locked up without exercise or interaction of course he is frightened! THEY KILL dogs as young a 9 months. Disgusting. Some Boatd of Supervisors think this is fine-it is not. Ms Foley ignores the truth

Teri Sforza did a great job at the OC Register today! See below. It looks like the county halfway backed down and will ...
02/16/2025

Teri Sforza did a great job at the OC Register today! See below. It looks like the county halfway backed down and will bring the contract to the Board of Supervisors after all. But Katrina Foley is continuing her obsequious service to the corrupt bureaucracy. She said:
“The same people who are complaining we’re not implementing that plan have said we need to update and implement the plan […] So that’s what we’re doing.”
But all of you know that we’ve been asking for the plan TO BE APPLIED, not revised. Feel free to flag this on social media.

OC Register, February 16, 2025
New plan for OC Animal Care: To boost survival, or dampen expectations?

Columnist Teri Sforza writes that a county supervisor asks critics to hold their fire until the process plays out. That’s unlikely.

“ …there are clear links between herbicide exposure and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and bladder cancer in humans, says Dr. Laur...
02/05/2025

“ …there are clear links between herbicide exposure and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and bladder cancer in humans, says Dr. Lauren Trepanier, professor of internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.” Link to studies in this article: https://www.humanesociety.org/news/dogs-lawn-care-and-cancer

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