Yucca Valley residents outraged over animal shelter findings
YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) - Up in the high desert, some residents outraged with the Yucca Valley Animal Shelter. On Tuesday, a 90-day review of the shelter's operations was presented to town council.
Among the findings in the report, the shelter reported a 53.76% euthanasia rate in 2024 and staff shortages.
News Channel 3 sat down with Curtis Yakimow, Yucca Valley Town Manager, to get answers. He says the biggest problem facing the shelter is the number of animals being dropped off.
"The real challenge, like all open admission shelters, is the number of unwanted animals that come into our door and it’s sad… the public is bringing an animal to the Yucca Valley animal shelter and saying I don’t want my animal, you deal with it.”
Curtis Yakimow, Yucca Valley Town Manager
But some residents say the shelter isn't doing much to help those animals.
“The shelter is just not following best practices that other shelters do. No volunteer program, no foster program, there’s very little community outreach.”
James Porter, Yucca Valley resident
"The shelter doesn't even list intake dogs online, so a concerned citizen who may have lost their dog doesn't have any ability to see whether the shelter has their dog except for physically coming into the shelter which has limited hours on the days they're open."
Susan Herring, Pioneer Town resident
As a result of the findings, town officials say they're working to:
- establish volunteer/foster programs
- modify adoption fees/rates
- enhance spay/neuter programs
- etc.
“We’ve already begun to address how we can better get our animal information to the public for adoptability. There is a place on website, pet of the week, things like that to get word out and encourage adopters... We’ve implemented emergency hires already to supplement our staff and relieve some of our full time staff to begin some of these programs to help.”
Curtis Yakimow, Yucca Valley Town Manager
Stay with News Channel 3 for more.
