The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control announced that as of April 16, pet owners are no longer required to make appointments to surrender pets at any of the county’s seven animal care centers, including the Castaic Animal Care Center off Charlie Canyon Road.
Some animal advocates aren’t happy about it and contend the new system will add to the populations of shelters that are already overwhelmed, potentially forcing shelters to euthanize more animals.
According to L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who supported the move, animals are more likely to find homes this way.
“I’m hopeful that this new system will help us get pets into loving homes more quickly, equipped with background on their history that will set them up for success with their new families,” Barger said in a prepared statement. “It will also ensure we support residents with financial aid to keep their pets whenever possible and will prevent animals from being abandoned on our streets and in our deserts.”
The Department of Animal Care and Control adopted the “no appointment” policy to better care for surrendered animals. A department press release indicated that the move was informed by ongoing challenges with the prior appointment-based system and a desire to improve the quality of care for animals and support for pet owners in crisis.
Valencia resident Erica Sellers, who’s been active in trying to find homes for dogs at the Castaic shelter, said that, since she began, she’s helped save over 50 dogs just by sharing word online about animals that were close to being euthanized. She believes the new “no appointments” system will force shelters to reach capacity and euthanize animals at a much higher rate.
“This is the first thing you now see on L.A. County Animal Control’s website — an invite to surrender your animals with no appointment necessary,” Sellers wrote in an email. “The (Castaic) shelter is overwhelmed and also at capacity. Small dogs are being put in the cat room even. Dogs are starting to be euthanized daily. It’s very sad.”
According to Paul Maradiaga, Castaic Animal Care Center manager, at one point, the shelter did have an influx of strays and owner-surrendered animals, and the shelter utilized the cat rooms to keep three smaller dogs overnight. But as of Thursday, Maradiaga said they had no dogs in the cat rooms.
As for comments about the shelter euthanizing dogs on a daily basis, Maradiaga said that wasn’t the case in Castaic.
“We do see that negative context,” he said in a telephone interview. “We do see, ‘Oh, they’re just euthanizing. They’re not making an effort.’ That’s false. We have dedicated people here who, when they see the negative context on social media, it does affect the staff, because we’re trying. We’re here because we want to be here. We want to make a difference.”
Maradiaga added that even though owners wishing to surrender their pets are no longer obligated to make appointments, the shelter staff does still interface with them, and they do still have a conversation to encourage pet owners to explore various resources before choosing to surrender pets.
Those resources include food assistance vouchers, medical care vouchers, guidance with pet-friendly housing, rehoming assistance through partner networks and referrals to local rescue groups.
Maradiaga said that, if the shelter is full, his staff will also ask pet owners if they can hold onto their animals until there’s space. On occasion, they’ve been able to schedule appointments internally for a later date, giving the shelter time to place current animals in homes to free up space.
But that only works some of the time, Maradiaga said, adding that some owners just have no options and claim they must relinquish their animals right then and there.
Maradiaga wanted to make it clear that any recent influx of animals is not just due to surrenders. Many of the animals they get at the shelter are strays.
Christopher Valles, a spokesman for the Department of Animal Care and Control, attributed a larger number of strays to the previous appointment system.
“Limited availability often delayed the process for owners who could no longer care for their pets,” Valles said in a telephone interview. “The delay was distressing for both the pet and the owner, and situations led to animals possibly being reported as strays and sometimes abandoned in the parking lot of the animal care centers. This is something that we aim to prevent.”
Some individuals, according to the release from Department of Animal Care and Control, were abandoning pets in the open desert due to desperation, putting animals at risk and overwhelming Animal Care and Control staff.
As for pet owners falsely reporting their pets as strays to avoid wait times, the department indicated that doing so hindered staff from collecting vital information about the pets, delayed adoptions due to the 72-hour stray hold, and complicated the rehoming process.
With the new system, according to the department release, pet owners can surrender their animals, and those animals can be made immediately available for adoption.
Valles and Maradiaga agreed that it’s too early to tell if the “no appointment” system will be effective. They both said they’re hopeful it’ll ultimately improve the process of rehoming animals.
For more information and assistance with rehoming pets, go to AnimalCare.LACounty.gov/rehome-your-pet.
