A letter to County Executive Ron Sims signed late today 4 Councilmembers cites the report received today from the King County Animal Care and Control Citizens Advisory Committee, which describes “disturbing” concerns with disease control and the provision of sanitary shelter services, leading to high rates of disease, high levels of stress, and increased rates of euthanasia.

“The Crossroads shelter is unsuitable for the sheltering of animals, while the Kent shelter has been badly neglected for many years, and is plainly inadequate to provide for the animals’ most basic needs,” writes the Advisory Committee Chair and Vice-Chair in their cover letter.

“We asked citizens to report on our shelter conditions and the results are clear: rampant disease prevents animals from being adopted, euthanasia rates are too high, shelter conditions are plainly inadequate, cruelty and neglect calls are not answered in a timely way, and spay/neuter and community outreach efforts are minimal,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson, sponsor of animal control reform legislation adopted by the Council in May. “Both as an animal lover and a policymaker who sponsored reform legislation, I urge Executive Sims to prioritize and implement the recommendations outlined by the Citizens Advisory Committee.”

“Experts and concerned citizens are raising the alarm that King County is failing in its responsibility to these vulnerable animals. My own inspection of the small and outdated Kent shelter tended to confirm these claims,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine. “Immediate and decisive action is required to ensure that every animal in our custody is protected from injury and disease, cared for as we would our own pets, and given the best chance to be reunited with their families or placed in a loving home. Nothing less is acceptable.”

The Advisory Committee’s cover letter states, “One point on which we are unanimous is the deplorable state of (King County Animal Control’s) shelters …We found King County’s animal care program to be well beneath the standards that should be expected in a prosperous, compassionate, and generous community such as King County.”

Among the combined 47 specific recommendations from five subcommittees, the Advisory Committee identified several common themes:

• Immediate renovation of King County shelters in order to provide a basic level of humane care for the animals housed there,

• Prompt hiring of a shelter consultant to provide further, detailed advice on how to improve King County’s standards of care, and

• Overhaul of King County’s programs and policies to bring them in line with a model animal welfare program.

The Council in May adopted comprehensive reforms for animal care and prevention of cruelty sponsored by Councilmember Patterson to transform King County Animal Control into a model animal services program, with low euthanasia rates, high live-release rates and safe, sanitary, healthy and humane conditions. The Council specifically asked for recommendations that included how King County could:

• Implement a no-kill policy;
• Create an animal bill of rights to set standards for medical attention, hygiene, evaluation, nutrition, socialization, exercise and appropriate facilities;
• Increase the marketing of adoptable animals and spay/neuter programs to the public using community partners and local media;
• Develop performance measures on standards of animal care, adoption, euthanasia rates, and the investigation of animal cruelty.

The Council also re-established the inactive King County Animal Control and Care Citizens Advisory Committee and granted it a more comprehensive and strategic role. Members of the Committee represent a diversity of interests, including:

• Chair Julie White, Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project, executive director
• Vice-Chair Derek Yoshinaka, animal shelter volunteer
• Brenda Barnette, Humane Society for Seattle/King County, CEO
• Cheryl Bell, Friends of King County Animal Control, president
• Claire Davis, Coalition for a No-Kill King County, president
• Inga Gibson, Humane Society of the United States, Washington State director
• Annette Laico, PAWS in Lynnwood, executive director
• Kim Sgro, Pasado Safe Haven, former executive director
• Celeste Walsen, veterinarian