Dear King County, please don't throw the animals out!
King County may soon put an end to its animal shelter and control services, leaving approximately 1,000 animals a month with no place to go.
The closure of King County Animal Care and Control (KCACC) is on the table for the 2010 budget, which faces a $50 million shortfall in projected tax revenues.
Regardless of how the budget turns out, KCACC will have to be at least temporarily closed this fall while the county copes with potential flooding dangers in the Green River Valley. The animals currently residing at the KCACC shelter, located in Kent, will have to be relocated starting in October – but nobody knows where. For councilmembers, the flood work is likely adding to the allure of doing away with the animal shelter all together.
That’s where Seattle animal lovers come in. The budget could be submitted to the council sometime between September 14 and September 27th – so, starting right now we need to contact our council members (see below) and tell them it is inhumane and uncivilized for a community the size of King County to be without a centralized, government-run shelter and animal control.
King County Executive Kurt Triplett is hoping that smaller area shelters and non-profits will take in current KCACC residents. Seattle Humane Society has already declined since they are at capacity and struggling -- just like everyone else – and there are no other animal welfare agencies in the area that can take in 1,000 animals a month. Shelters everywhere are hurting right now and even so, they don’t have the resources to handle that level of growth. To suggest they absorb KCACC’s massive responsibilities is telling them to eat cake.
Each year, homeless, abandoned, lost and neglected pets of King County number between 10,000 and 12,000, according to KCACC.
Even if you're not an animal person, as a citizen of King County you should be concerned about losing the animal control services now available. Hate seeing strays in your neighborhood or packs of ferals roaming parking lots? Don’t like animals pooping and digging in your yard? Well, what if there was no one to call about these things anymore?
KCACC does a hell of a lot more than just adoptions. It takes in approximately 12,000 animals a year and it is the only open admission shelter in King County (meaning no animals are turned away regardless of condition/adoptability). KCACC is responsible for animal control in 34 cities and all of the unincorporated areas of King County. These services include:
• patrol requests
• trespassing cats and dogs
• stray dogs and cats, pick up.
• owner release dogs and cats
• animal pick-ups
• vicious animal complaints
• cruelty investigations
• animal bites
• barking dog complaints and petitions
• injured animal rescues
• "Dead-on-arrival" livestock/cats/dogs
• police department calls for assistance
• leash law violations
• loose livestock on roadways
Without KCACC, the local cities it serves would have to meet all kinds of needs they aren’t set up to deal with and it’s unlikely that they have allowed for that in their budgets. If our cities can’t step up to the challenge of providing animal control services, it is likely that an average of 1,000 animals would be abandoned monthly in King County and given that many people are still failing to spay or neuter their pets, we’ll probably see an exponential growth in feral animals.
Is a region as progressive and pet-focused as this one really going to sit back and let the county devalue animals in this way? How will you feel seeing hurt and hungry animals roaming our streets? Isn’t this area a little more sophisticated than that?
Okay, enough whining -- here's what we're going to do:
If you’re on Facebook, join the group “Stop King County from Closing Animal Control and Shelter” to stay up to date on upcoming rallies and other efforts to stop the closure.
Contact King County councilmembers now! Tell Triplett and your district councilmember that you are against closing the shelter and that our community needs KCACC. As taxpayers and friends of animals, we need to speak up! Who else is going to speak for them?
Kurt Tripplet
County Executive
kurt.triplett@kingcounty.gov
206-296-4040
Bob Ferguson
Council Vice Chair, District 1
206-296-1001
bob.ferguson@kingcounty.gov
Larry Gossett
District 2
206-296-1002
larry.gossett@kingcounty.gov
Kathy Lambert
District 3
206-296-1003
kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov
Larry Phillips
District 4
206-296-1004
larry.phillips@kingcounty.gov
Member since: 1992
Julia Patterson
District 5
206-296-1005
julia.patterson@kingcounty.gov
Jane Hague
Council Vice Chair, District 6
206-296-1006
jane.hague@kingcounty.gov
Pete von Reichbauer
District 7
206-296-1007
pete.vonreichbauer@kingcounty.gov
Dow Constantine
Council Chair, District 8
206-296-1008
dow.constantine@kingcounty.gov
Reagan Dunn
District 9
206-296-1009
reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov
Related links:
http://kcanimalcontrol.blogspot.com/
http://savekcacc.blogspot.com/
http://greenmonkeyfever.blogspot.com/2009/08/king-county-council-proposes-closure-of.html
Comments
Oh how very sad.
Great article.
Thank you for all this information! I have joined the group, and posted to my Facebook profile. I will also spread the word by tweeting. The city shelters need improvement it is true, but the thought of a city the size of Seattle not having a public animal shelter is inconceivable.
Rose De Dan
www.reikishamanic.com
Looks like the even employees at KC Animal Control want to shut the place down.
www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/ken/news/62290147.html
Sgt. John Diel, president of the Animal Control Officers Guild that represents 28 county officers, said he likes the idea of a regional group formed by the cities to replace the county in the animal care business.
"I look at it as a positive step forward because we no longer would be under county mandates and the county government," Diel said in a phone interview Friday. "We look forward to it as getting a fresh start."
The County Executive's Office and the County Council have battled over the last couple of years about animal care after a September 2007 citizens committee report called shelter conditions in Kent “deplorable.”
Councilwoman Julia Patterson joined Council members Dow Constantine and Reagan Dunn last October to ask the county executive to find an outside group to run the animal shelter operations
SOO SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD OMG
This is truly sad. I'm doing a research project on this and this website helped me alot. Thanks! Hopefully, they will do something about this. Soon.
This is an amazing article thank you so much. Hopefully we can all do our best to show that shutting down the shelter will put so many animals at risk.
super ninja
i like you
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