The Castaic Care Center is now the Santa Clarita Valley Care Center, but other than that, it’s the same Castaic-based animal shelter and adoption center it’s always been.
City and county leaders, L.A. County’s Animal Care Foundation director, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies and members of the public gathered in front of the county-owned animal shelter Saturday to celebrate the new name and unveil its new entrance sign.
Under the name’s bold Roman Numeral lettering, the sign reads: Castaic, California.
The ceremony also included the Poppy Bloom Adoption Event: staff showcased animals at the shelter up for adoption during a “poppy parade” and adoption fees were waived for the day.
Paul Maradiaga, manager of the Care Center, said the name change may give the shelter a larger regional identity — which could help the shelter connect with more nonprofits when reaching out for partnerships.
“I think this is going to give us a good opportunity to bring awareness of where we’re located. We’re excited about the renaming,” Maradiaga said. “I think overall, it’s going to help us immensely, especially when we reach out for nonprofit organizations for assistance, like, ‘Hey, we’re in the Santa Clarita Valley. Any chance you can help us with our animals?’”
Maradiaga also stressed that Castaic’s local leadership has played a significant role in supporting the shelter.
“So much respect to the Castaic Council. They are so supportive of our care center, and we definitely appreciate that. We definitely want to continue that partnership with them,” Maradiaga said.
But some Castaic residents, used to being somewhat sidelined as far as name recognition goes in a county as large as Los Angeles, have expressed concerns about removing “Castaic” from the county shelter’s name.
For the county’s part, Kathryn Barger, L.A. County 5th District Supervisor, told The Signal that the name change isn’t meant to belittle Castaic’s role in supporting and maintaining the shelter.
“The name reflects the fact that that it’s a partnership with the City of Santa Clarita … but by no means is this to diminish the fact that this is in Castaic,” Barger said. “So that does not take away from the location or the importance of the Castaic community, who arguably provides most of the volunteers that support the shelter. And that’s not going to change.”
