Board OKs new contract with nonprofit for Coachella Valley spay and neuter services

The Board of Supervisors today signed off on a new two-year contract between the Riverside County Department of Animal Services and a Thousand Palms-based nonprofit for low-cost spay/neuter services, in the county's ongoing effort to reduce pet overpopulation impacting shelters.

The compact with Animal Samaritans is retroactive to July 1 and will expire on June 30, 2026. The total cost will be $1.2 million.   

"The services provided by Animal Samaritans will benefit the citizens and animals who live in the desert region of Riverside County ... by providing localized spay and neuter services,'' according to a Department of Animal Services statement posted to the board's agenda.   

"The ability to continue to provide spay and neuter surgeries for animals sheltered or owned by a resident is vital to controlling the pet population and to allow adoptions to continue without delay, reducing the costs associated with housing adoptable pets for longer periods of time.''

Animal Samaritans, which has been active in the Coachella Valley since the late 1970s, provides spay/neuter surgeries that are 60% lower in price than what's typically charged for the surgeries in veterinary offices -- $200 versus $500 -- according to agency officials.

The nonprofit's spay/neuter clinics under the county contract will be available in Blythe, Indio, Palm Desert and Thousands Palms, though primarily Blythe and Thousand Palms, documents stated.

Animal Samaritans operates a "no-kill shelter" in Thousand Palms.    The county has been utilizing the SPCA-affiliated nonprofit's services since 2002.  

The Department of Animal Services' former director, Erin Gettis, signed the request to renew the county's contract with Animal Samaritans prior to leaving two weeks ago to take an administrative position with the Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley.

Her nearly three years as director were plagued by criticism of policies that animal welfare activists argue led to the county having the highest sheltered pets "kill rate" nationwide since 2022.

A lawsuit filed in August, spearheaded by the Rancho Mirage-based Walter Clark Law Group, is seeking a permanent injunction against the Department of Animal Services' humane euthanasia programs.

Clark called it a "ground-breaking case'' that's predicated on the 1998 Hayden Act. That legislation, authored by then-state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, states in part, ``no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home.''

On Sept. 17, the board approved a two-year, $2.69 million contract with Austin, Texas-based Outcomes for Pets LLC to scrutinize animal services' operations and recommend steps to correct problems, including shelters operating beyond capacity. The chief consultant will be Kristen Hassen, whom the county Executive Office lauded in documents for her "expertise in animal shelter management and strategic planning."  

"Hassen has the distinction of achieving a sustained 90% live outcome rate at three different shelters,'' documents said.   

However, some animal welfare activists have already begun appearing before the board during open public comment sessions, complaining that Hassen's work has been less admirable than touted by the Executive Office. One speaker said Tuesday that she has a history of focusing exclusively on "what's
happening inside shelter walls," not outside, ignoring community programs that prevent pet overpopulation in the first place.