Board resolves to establish ‘no-kill’ standards for RivCo’s animal shelters

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) - The Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved a resolution declaring that Riverside County's animal shelters will promote "no-kill" polices and practices that seek to ensure 90% of canines and felines who are impounded leave alive.   

"It took us a while to get here with this resolution," board Chairman Manuel Perez said. "This is from the county coming together and understanding the gravity of the issue. The goal is to save as many animals as possible."

The measure, among other things, contains a pledge that the county will "work collaboratively with public and private partners, animal welfare organizations, veterinary professionals, contract cities and residents ... to reduce euthanasia."

The 90% no-kill goal will entail greater emphasis on free or low-cost spay and neuter clinics, enhanced "return-to-owner" programs that unite lost pets with their loved ones, adoption campaigns and expedited "trap-neuter-return-to-field'' programs that were inaugurated in March 2024.

County CEO Jeff Van Wagenen said a complement to the resolution is the newly activated "data dashboard'' available via the Department of Animal Services' web portal that depicts "intakes," or the number of pets impounded on a given day, along with "outcomes,'' showing whether animals have been adopted, transferred, returned to owners or euthanized.  

"With the goal of 90%, we're not prepared to plant a flag and say by `X' date, this will be done,'' Van Wagenen said. "We're reporting results as we go. Yes, there will be a financial impact."

He indicated the upcoming 2025-26 budget hearings may include a request from the Department of Animal Services for a $5 million outlay to hire over two dozen new employees to serve as caretakers, processors, control officers and administrators. The next fiscal year likely will also include a request for appropriations to expand space at each of the county's four shelters, where the kennels are constantly operating at maximum capacity, he said.

While no one complained about the motives behind the resolution, several residents addressed the board about its application.   

"This is nothing more than wasted paper,'' a woman identified as "Jennifer" said in a call-in comment. "If this is merely to placate the public, it will not do. All these people at the helm are not going to change anything. We will wait and wait and wait for change to occur."  

Another woman, "Mara," further dismissed the dependability of the leadership now overseeing the Department of Animal Services.   

"These self-proclaimed saviors gave you a pitch, and you fell for it,'' she said. "These so-called consultants have caused so many problems in California and other places. They're charlatans who show up and say, `We're the answers to your problems.'"

She was particularly incensed by the trap-neuter-return-to-field policy, which entails surgically fixing cats impounded at shelters, then turning them loose to become ``community cats,'' free to roam where they were originally found.

"They're getting run over in the street every day,'' she said. "While searching for safety, they're getting mangled."

Perez expressed dismay at the criticism, noting, "It seems like, no matter where we turn, it's never enough. We're willing to take it. But after a while, that's not going to lead us ... where we need to get to.''

The department is in the early stages of a reformation initiated last year by the county board.   

A lawsuit filed in August by Rancho Mirage-based Walter Clark Law Group is seeking a permanent injunction against the department's 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.''   

One organization has alleged the county has the highest pet "kill rate'' in the nation. In September, the board hired Austin, Texas-based Outcomes for Pets LLC Principal Adviser Kristen Hassen to rectify problems within the agency.

In February, the supervisors approved the Executive Office's selection of Mary Martin to head the department following a nationwide executive recruitment drive. Martin, who most recently served as assistant director for Dallas Animal Services of Texas, officially started her new job at the end of
March.