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Once upon a time, California collected numbers on how many dogs and cats wound up in animal shelters — and how many perished there.

In the most gruesome years, 6 of 10 shelter dogs were killed, and 8 of 10 shelter cats met the same fate, according to that data.

Bleak, bleak stuff. And, as the state never required this reporting, and there were no penalties for blowing it off, there were years when a quarter of California’s counties didn’t even bother.

So it makes sense that the state didn’t have great confidence in the numbers. But rather than addressing the reporting issues, it simply stopped collecting and publishing the information.

Problem gone?!

This data desert has been a huge thorn in the side of animal welfare folks who want hard numbers on what appears to be a growing problem of shelter crowding and euthanasia — data that can be compared, apples to apples, across counties.

Enter now Assembly Bill 332 from Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-San Jose, which would finally make data collection and reporting the law.

The Long Beach Animal Shelter is so overcapacity that staffers are keeping animals in their offices, and conference rooms. This room, meant for kittens, is now holding dogs, in Long Beach on Friday, February 3, 2023. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

Taba Depaep tries to calm on of the dogs at the Long Beach Animal Shelter which is so overcapacity that staffers are keeping animals in their offices, and conference rooms. This room, meant for kittens, is now holding dogs, in Long Beach on Friday, February 3, 2023. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

Dogs are seen at Riverside County’s animal shelter in Jurupa Valley. (Courtesy of Riverside County Department of Animal Services)

The Long Beach Animal Services Shelter is stocking up on bottles, formula and blankets as they prepare for the numerous litter of kittens that will soon be at their doors. (Photo courtesy of Tabare Depaep)

Susy Lara and her 9-month-old son Pablo meet Sapphire, a.k.a. Susie Q, at the OC Animal Care Pooches on the Patio adoption event in Tustin on Saturday, October 29, 2022. The shelter has about 140 dogs available for adoption. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A dog peers through the fence in a kennel at the Redlands Animal Shelter in Redlands on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A cat looks out from its cage at the Redlands Animal Shelter in Redlands Monday, April 15, 2019. Despite bein closed to walk-ins due to the pandemic and staffing shortages, the shelter’s euthanasia numbers have fallen dramatically in the last few years. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Dubbed the “Shelter Animal Collection Data Act,” it would piggyback onto rabies reporting mandates and require the Department of Public Health “to resume collecting important information about shelter animals so resources are better optimized to help pets find their furever homes,” Lee’s office says.

Apples, oranges, dollars, cents Now, to be fair, many shelters collect and report their own numbers on their own websites. And those numbers suggest that a great many more animals are exiting the shelters alive and kicking than back in the direst days — and kudos for this!

We thank the new laws banning puppy mill sales and pushing shelter pet adoptions, and the rescuers who take oodles of homeless lovies into their homes as fosters.

But … are the 60-plus California shelters counting intakes and euthanasia the same way? Are they counting foster exits the same way? Can we compare Los Angeles County to Orange County to Riverside County to San Bernardino County with confidence?

We at the Southern California News Group have endeavored to do this. We get that squishy feeling in our bellies. We would dearly love standardized, centralized data.

This should be a no-brainer. It’s a public purse issue involving hundreds of millions of public dollars, not to mention furry little lives.

To wit: Los Angeles County spends some $62 million a year on animal control. The city of Los Angeles, $27 million a year — and wants an additional $15 million next year. Orange County spends some $25 million, Riverside County, some $28 million, San Bernardino County, $9.9 million plus $35 million to build and renovate shelters — and so on.

“How can you spend all this taxpayer money, blinded?” asked Judie Mancuso of Social Compassion in Legislation, which is sponsoring the bill.

OC Animal Care took custody of 46 cats and kittens hoarded in an apartment on March 7. It’s asking for the community’s help finding them forever families. The first 35 became available for adoption on Saturday, March 11. Most are young adults in good health, shy at first, but quick to warm up, officials said, with friendly, gentle personalities. “With patience and care, these cats will make wonderful lifelong friends.” More info at http://ocpetinfo.com. (Photo courtesy OC Animal Care)

“There are games that are played in the data — the shelters don’t want to look bad,” she said. “They don’t want to admit, yes, we are killing for space, so they classify them as ‘aggressive’ or ‘sick.’ If we didn’t have the overpopulation problem, we’d be able to make most of those sick animals well. We could give training to address aggression problems.”

A test for aggression is to stick a fake arm into a dog’s kennel, she said. Of course, an animal that has been mistreated and/or wandering the streets is going to strike at it — “I’d strike at it, too!” Mancuso said. “They don’t really give them a chance.”

History The California Department of Public Health, which would get this data job if the bill passes, doesn’t take positions on pending legislation. But spokesman Ronald Owens explained the history of the situation to us this way:

“As part of a statewide rabies control program, CDPH requires that dogs be vaccinated against rabies, and state regulations require local health officers to submit reports pertaining to rabies control activities to CDPH.

“CDPH has no authority over city and county animal shelters. Historically, some local jurisdictions voluntarily included animal shelter intake and outcome data with their rabies control activities reports to CDPH. CDPH collated and included these auxiliary data, when available, in its annual rabies control activities reports.

“However, shelter operations data on ‘how many animals came into shelters, were adopted, returned to owners, or euthanized’ are not relevant to statewide rabies control and would not affect the requirement for dogs to be vaccinated against rabies.

“CDPH stopped reporting data on shelter intake and outcome for several reasons. The data were incompletely reported and CDPH did not have the means to verify the data. In addition, because the data were not related to the statewide rabies control program, CDPH determined that we should no longer collect, analyze or publish them.”

So, there you have it. The bill goes first to the business and professions committee, but likely won’t get a hearing until next month. There’s no opposition on file yet.

It’s hard to fathom what the objections would be. And we’ll note that March 12-18 is Sunshine Week — “an enduring initiative to promote open government.” Standardized data on what happens in California’s animal shelters will help everyone do better, Mancuso said. It should save lives, and money.

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A helicopter with a shooter will fly over a portion of the vast Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico next week, searching for feral cows to kill.

U.S. Forest Service managers approved the plan Thursday to protect sensitive spots in the nation’s first designated wilderness area. The move sets the stage for legal challenges over how to handle unbranded livestock and other stray cows as drought deepens in the West.

The Gila National Forest issued the decision amid pressure from environmental groups who raised concerns about nearly 150 cattle whose hooves and mouths are damaging streams and rivers. Ranchers, meanwhile, have criticized the plan to shoot cows from a helicopter as animal cruelty. They said the action violates federal regulations and will be problematic when carcasses are left to rot.

A section of the Gila Wilderness will be closed to the public starting Monday. A helicopter will launch Thursday, with shooters spending four days looking for feral cattle in rugged areas that include the Gila River.

Forest Supervisor Camille Howes said the decision was difficult but necessary.

“The feral cattle in the Gila Wilderness have been aggressive towards wilderness visitors, graze year-round, and trample stream banks and springs, causing erosion and sedimentation,” she said in a statement.

Ranching industry groups and other rural advocates are concerned that the action taken in New Mexico could set a precedent as more grazing parcels become vacant across the West.

Ranchers say fewer people are maintaining fences and gone are the rural neighbors who used to help corral wayward cows. Some have left the business because of worsening drought, making water scarce for cattle, and skyrocketing costs for feed and other supplies.

The New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association estimates roughly 90 grazing parcels are vacant in New Mexico and Arizona. Increased use of public lands — including hunting and hiking — also has resulted in knocked-down fences, the association said. Elk, too, are to blame for damaging fences meant to keep cows in check.

Tom Paterson, chair of the association’s wildlife committee, said the group has tried to find a solution that wouldn’t involve shooting feral cattle. He pointed to a recent directive issued by the New Mexico Livestock Board that allows neighboring permittees to gather and herd the cattle out.

With snow on the ground, access is limited. Paterson said federal official are not giving enough time to see if the directive will work. His organization also has accused the U.S. Forest Service of skirting its own regulations that call for a roundup first, and shooting as the last resort.

“Easy is not an exception to their own rules. Frustration is not an exception to the rules,” he said. “Our society should be better than this. We can be more creative and do it a better way where you’re not wasting an economic resource.”

Environmentalists in dozens of lawsuits filed in courts around the West over the years have argued that cattle ruin the land and water by trampling stream banks. They applauded the Forest Service’s decision.

“We can expect immediate results — clean water, a healthy river and restored wildlife habitat,” said Todd Schulke, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The position marks a shift from the environmental community’s stance on shooting other wildlife — from a fight over protecting bison at the Grand Canyon to annual complaints about the actions of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, an agency often vilified for killing birds, coyotes, wolves, mountain lions and other animals.

Just last month, environmentalists sued in Montana over a program aimed at managing grizzly bears. In 2021, conservation groups settled another lawsuit over Wildlife Services’ practices in Idaho. Environmental groups there and elsewhere have long claimed that the agency’s predator-control activities violate environmental laws.

But in New Mexico, the Center for Biological Diversity contends that water quality issues will only worsen if feral cattle aren’t removed. The group estimates that 50 to 150 cows graze, unauthorized, in the Gila Wilderness, a remote stretch that spans more than 870 square miles (2,253 square kilometers) and is home to endangered Mexican gray wolves, elk, deer and other wildlife.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association had asked the Forest Service to hold off on lethal action for a year after the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association had reached an agreement with federal officials following last year’s operation. The New Mexico group is expected to challenge the latest decision.

According to the Forest Service, the feral cattle problem dates back a half-century, when a cattle operation went out of business and subsequent grazing permits were suspended. Hundreds of unauthorized cattle have been removed over the years.

In 2022, a Forest Service contractor killed 65 cows in an aerial gunning operation similar to the one planned for next week.

Photos shared by ranchers of the 2022 operation showed dead cattle upside down in the Gila River. Federal officials said those carcasses were pulled out of the water. A survey done 90 days later found that no carcasses remained. Scavenging birds and other animals consumed them, officials said.

The upcoming operation will cover about 160 square miles (414 square kilometers).

No carcasses are to be left in or adjacent to waterways or springs — or near designated hiking trails or known, culturally sensitive areas.

The work, namely noise from the helicopter, also can’t interrupt the breeding season for the Mexican spotted owl, the southwestern willow flycatcher and other endangered species. The aerial gunning operation is expected to be complete before April, when the season begins for Mexican gray wolves to have pups.

Environmentalists used to point to the removal of livestock carcasses as a preventative measure to limit conflict between wolves and ranchers. However, federal officials stated in documents that were released this week that there’s no scientific research or observational data to suggest that once wolves scavenge on a livestock carcass, they become habituated to cattle.

Categoria: animals

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