FACING A SEVERE PET OVERPOPULATION in San Joaquin County, the Board of Supervisors is considering a requirement for all dogs and cats picked up or adopted at the shelter to be spayed or neutered.
“The animal control problem is absolutely out of control, and everyone recognizes it,” said Supervisor Steven Ding, who expects to bring the issue back to the board within weeks with a staff recommendation.
The problem is not only a matter of shelters running out of space but one of costs as well. The county is spending nearly $1 million this fiscal year to care for about 1,700 animals. The board letter suggesting the mandate calls the issue “a significant pet overpopulation crisis.”
Sheriff Patrick Withrow, whose office has control over animal services, said the average cost of capturing a stray pet and taking it to the pound has reached $600.
For Jill Antonini, development director for the Animal Protection League in Stockton, it’s a matter of humane treatment.
“There is simply not enough space for the number of unwanted animals,” she told the board.
Dogs and cats are abandoned, dumped in orchards or homeless camps, and left to fend for themselves. They face starvation, extreme temperatures, mistreatment and untreated injuries, she said.
A first step
Requiring animals brought to the county-run shelter to be spayed or neutered would be a meaningful “first step” toward a mandatory program for all pet owners, Antonini said.
But the idea of required spay and neutering among all pet owners faced immediate pushback from supervisors, who said such a move would be too heavy-handed.
Board members said they would be willing to consider spay and neuter requirements for animals brought to the county shelter. The cost of the procedures and who would foot the bill — the county or pet owner — still needs to be determined.
“Exploring a balanced ordinance now can help prevent unnecessary suffering and create a better system for everyone,” Ding said in a statement.
Individual cities have taken their own approach in dealing with strays.
Lodi is opening a new shelter that can house 30 cats and 27 dogs.
Stockton has tried other creative solutions. In March, the city sent 34 cats to a shelter in San Diego, where housing isn’t at a premium. Stockton also has offered a program that allows people to foster a dog or cat before deciding whether to adopt or return the pet.
Even using those methods, overcrowding has taken its toll. The Stockton shelter had to close for two weeks in October because of a pneumonia-like outbreak that endangered dogs. The spread of streptococcus zooepidemicus, also known as “strep zoo,” usually occurs in group settings such as shelters, where many dogs are housed in a confined space.
This story originally appeared in Stocktonia.